Millennials struggling to make ends meet | Letters
Sam Webb says it’s unlikely he’ll ever own his own home. Róisín McLaren says you can’t build a life on a zero-hours contract. Boomer Naomi Clayton says she went without food and furniture to afford her first house
Sajid Javid’s comments reported in Peter Walker’s article (‘£90k is a lot of avocados’: Javid defends millennials who can’t afford a home, theguardian.com, 16 November) could not be more accurate. As a 24-year-old, I am so often forced to listen to my elders’ indignation for my choosing to take a holiday, or have a meal out with friends when every penny I earn should be saved for a house. When you consider increasing prices and decreasing availability of property in the UK, along with the banks’ appetites to lend being lower than ever, it’s unlikely I will ever own my own home. Perhaps I just need to accept that thousands of us are destined to spend the rest of our lives throwing all of our money at the people who own the properties we rent from them while they complain about how irresponsible we are.
Sam Webb
Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands
• Have you heard about the massive discounts available for the under-25s? Unfortunately not; in reality the only thing reduced for us is our wages. Under-25s are excluded from the pitiful “national living wage”. From 21-24 we can be paid as little as £7.05 per hour, and for 18-20 a shocking £5.60 for doing exactly the same hours in exactly the same job. Even working full-time a 24-year-old might get as little as £14,500 per annum. And we’re far more likely to be on a zero-hours contract. You can’t build a life on that. We want to move out, start families, make our own way in the world. We’ll never do that while being exploited as cheap labour for big retail and catering businesses. It’s time to fight for a real living wage for all.
Róisín McLaren
West Calder, West Lothian
Source: Guardian Transport
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