Double-dip: The negative impact of inequality and the recession on young people

A wide range of organisations representing or working with young people have joined together with campaign group One Society to call for a more equal society. Social welfare charities, NUS and the youth wings of a range of trade unions and parties have issued a joint statement calling for policies that would close the gap between rich and poor.

Income inequality matters. Young people, already hit hard by the recession and now bearing the costs of the recovery, are doubly disadvantaged as they have come of age in a more unequal society than previous generations. Reducing income inequality would improve social mobility and the quality of life for all young people, across the social spectrum.

The good news is that inequality is not inevitable, and can be reversed. Government policy makes a big difference. It already has in staunching the rate of inequality growth. But now the challenge is to go further – to actually tackle the entrenched inequalities that have emerged over the past thirty years.

Today, Demos publishes three pamphlets which recommend a range of policies to tackle income and wealth inequality; not just at the bottom, but at the top-end too. One Society will be taking forward this menu of policy options to push the case that a more equal society is possible, plausible and would benefit all.

Politicians must grasp this issue quickly though, to start alleviating the shrinking of opportunities and the greater pressures many young people are currently faced with.

• Visit www.onesociety.org.uk and follow @one_society