Latest news with #GrahamCowley
The Sun
26-04-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
It's shocking idle young brats won't get out of bed for less than £40k but I know exactly what's to blame
IF I'd told my parents in the 1990s that I couldn't be bothered to get a job unless I was paid the equivalent of £40,000 a year, I can imagine their reaction. And it would not have been pretty. 7 7 Even my friends would have thought I was a jumped-up little madam who had lost her mind, because back then, getting your first job wasn't about the money. It was about getting your foot on that first rung of your career ladder. Now, it isn't. This week, House of Lords peers visibly gasped when an employment adviser told how kids are now 'on the internet 24 hours a day, and don't want to work for anything less than £40,000'. I was horrified when I heard that figure too. What a generation of entitled upstarts. Graham Cowley was giving evidence to a government inquiry into why there are almost a million 16 to 24-year-olds not bothering to work or study. Easy buck There are now so many of them not in employment, education or training that they have been given the acronym Neets. How absolutely gruesome. And it's shocking to me that they don't want to get a job and make something of their lives unless they are earning such an unrealistic salary. But is it any wonder, when they are on the internet 24 hours a day and often getting influenced by influencers who wouldn't get out of bed for less than £40,000 a month, never mind a year? They are seeing how you can make an easy buck with no real work, training or qualifications. Like Tories a decade ago, Labour need to show some steel to turn round number of 'inactive' Brits and they know it They are seeing their peers being chucked money for wearing a thong on a Dubai beach or flashing their new eyelashes. That must make the average kid quite jealous. It's easy money for not much work. But to sit on your backside sulking while hoping to become the next big content creator or get that dream salary to materialise is just madness. My generation lived in the real world when we started out. It is the only one we had. We knew that £40,000 a year didn't happen with a click of an influencer's fingers. Allowing these deluded youngsters to live off the Bank of Mum and Dad only encourages them to wait for that luxury salary Jane Atkinson My first job at 18 had a £6,700 salary, which is about £18,000 in today's cash, at a news agency in Darlington. Not very glamorous or lucrative, but I remember the exact figure because I was proud of that wage, that I was able to pay for my own flat and car. Kids now don't seem to realise that a proper job can give self-worth, pride, achievement and respect — regardless of the salary. It can be good for your mental health. With youngsters turning their noses up at starter salaries it is unsurprising that so many are suffering from depression. We also had the stumbling block of our parents' expectations to deal with. Mr Cowley told the inquiry he believes kids should be taught again that 'you need to put a shift in to get what you want in life'. I agree. And that is their parents' job. I find it baffling they are not getting this life lesson. Deluded youngsters The Lords responded to Mr Cowley's statement, with one saying young people 'are not stupid' and have actually decided 'it's more comfortable to stay in the house than it is to go and try and find your way through life' on low pay. Unless they are on benefits 'the house' for this lazy lot is the one belonging to their parents. Which means their parents are letting them down. Allowing these deluded youngsters to live off the Bank of Mum and Dad only encourages them to wait for that luxury salary. And then there is, so importantly, the issue of benefits. The Government says it is fighting to bring the number of Neets down by helping them get jobs, encouraging studying — and cutting benefits for these workshy, greedy layabouts and scroungers. This needs to happen. And fast. When Graham Cowley heard those gasps from the peers on the Lords social mobility policy committee he responded by saying: 'You may laugh, but that is the reality.' And that reality is a tragedy. FRED'S DOC SO BRAVE THE torrent of abuse that Freddie Flintoff has received on social media and forums over his documentary about his Top Gear crash is cruel, nasty and wrong. The former cricketer is being slated for his 'sob story' and slammed for taking a £9million compensation payout, even though the cash came from insurance policies, not licence fee payers' pockets. If anyone deserves criticism here it is the BBC, not him. Freddie says they pushed boundaries with their driving stunts and used him like a 'piece of meat' to boost viewing figures instead of thinking of his safety. Former Top Gear host Steve Berry has since revealed he was told to keep quiet about a crash he suffered while filming the show. Fellow ex-host Richard Hammond once warned about safety issues and weeks before Freddie's crash, presenter Chris Harris said someone could be killed if safety procedures weren't tightened. Freddie nearly was. He now knows he was stupid to get in that car. But many employees fail to do the right thing when they are scared for their job. I wish he had given some of the documentary cash to charity. But he wasn't stupid for doing the film in the first place, he was brave. And if that bravery saves just one boy racer from an accident behind the wheel of a car in the future, that can only be a good thing. PATSY IS JUST RUDE SINCE being booted off Celebrity Big Brother, Patsy Palmer has been a tricky interviewee. Presenters AJ Odudu and Will Best were met with a stony silence when they brought up Mickey Rourke and the broccoli incident in the house. Brave Lorraine Kelly still invited the stony- faced EastEnders star on to her chat show, and managed to cover up the silence with her lovely, trademark giggle. Patsy took to social media afterwards, writing: 'There's nothing awkward about silence. It says it all!' Unless you're doing a live interview, Patsy, and then it just says you're rude. FLO AND BEHOLD 7 FLORENCE PUGH certainly made sure she grabbed our attention at the premiere of her new Marvel film Thunderbolts, squeezed into the tiniest leather bra and skirt number. It was eye-catching for all the wrong reasons – and I'm pretty sure she had her top on back to front. It looked as though she had borrowed the outfit from someone half her size. SEEING Pope Francis's close friend Sister Genevieve Jeanningros quietly sobbing as she said her final goodbye to him on Thursday was a reminder that the late Pontiff was also just a man who had friends, family and loved ones. 7 And it highlighted just how disgusting all those people were who said they had come to mourn him but actually stopped for a tacky selfie as they passed his coffin. Finally, the Vatican asked people to stop taking photos. You would think that some things really shouldn't need to be said. I HATE being told what to do. And despite the boss at the biscuit factory where McVitie's chocolate digestives have been made for the last 100 years saying that we should eat them with the chocolate on the bottom, I won't be turning mine the other way up. I don't think I've ever met anybody who eats them with the chocolate facing down. It makes them look like a boring digestive. And that takes all the fun away. PADDINGTON the musical is coming to the West End. Which could be amazing. But according to its creators, the plan is for this show to be less of the marmalade sandwiches type of fun, and more about exploring 'the politics of Paddington' and honouring the fact he is a refugee. Cheery.
Telegraph
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Young people are right not to get out of bed for less than £40k
Lockdown made them too nervous to venture out of the house. They are addicted to TikTok and online entertainment. They are not respected, or given the right training, or offered enough help. There have been lots of different explanations offered for why almost a million 16 to 24-year-olds are neither working, training nor studying. But as one expert told a House of Lords committee this week, there is a far simpler explanation: it is not worth the hassle of getting out of bed for less than £40,000. If that is true, it would be easy to condemn them as idle and feckless. But they are also completely right. Until we fix a dysfunctional welfare and tax system it isn't going to change – because people won't bother to work unless it pays to do so. It was the kind of hard truth that was not meant to be mentioned in polite society. Appearing before a House of Lords social mobility committee this week, Graham Cowley, who works with young people not in employment, education nor training – or 'Neets' – argued that lots of them 'don't want to work for anything less than 40 grand'. While the Lords gasped in horror, he reminded them 'you may laugh, but that is the reality' – and he is completely right. The UK faces a growing challenge that many young people are no longer bothered to either get a job or even to prepare themselves for one. According to the official figures, 595,000 16 to 24-year-olds are classed as 'inactive' while another 392,000 are 'looking for work', but perhaps not very actively since they don't seem to be having much success. The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, has suggested that they may be addicted to online pornography and video games, while the Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has suggested that especially since Covid many of them find the concept of work 'too stressful'. From coaching, to encouragement, to more stringent medical checks there are lots of different suggestions about ways of getting them out of the house and into a warehouse, factory or retailer to start their career. The trouble is, it is hard to believe any of that will make any significant difference. It is hard to know what exactly Stride is going to do about online pornography, and Kendall can't turn back the clock and reverse lockdown – as desirable as that might be. In reality, there is a simpler solution. Although it might come as a surprise to some of the people on the Lords committee, most people work just to make money. Many teenagers and 20-somethings have worked out for themselves that the UK's welfare and tax system has become so bloated and inefficient that getting a job hardly pays any more. They are just making a rational choice. To start with, taxes are far too high, and they become even higher as you start to climb your way up the career ladder. According to the Centre for Policy Studies, the effective tax rate even for someone on the minimum wage has more than doubled in the last decade alone, rising from an effective 11pc in 2015 to more than 21pc now. Even worse, if you study for a degree, the repayments on the loan you will have to take out to finance it kick in at far too low a level, and you will be charged a punitive rate of interest. On some plans you start repayments on just £25,000 a year, and you will be charged 7pc interest on the debt you have taken on. On almost any graduate job available, you will have to start repaying your loan, significantly increasing your effective tax rate. Next, wages are not high enough. Wave after wave of mass immigration has driven down salaries, especially for the relatively low-skilled, entry-level jobs that are typically all that is on offer to teenagers and 20-somethings making their first steps into the workforce. The average non-graduate salary is now £29,000 in the UK, up from £22,000 a decade ago, but once the cost of living and the extra taxes are taken into account it has gone down in real terms. Even worse, while many Neets may imagine they will finally stir themselves to get out of bed in the unlikely event that someone offers them £40,000 a year to do so, they probably won't find that very worthwhile either. As soon as they get a promotion or a bonus they will start paying tax at 40pc, and, given the Chancellor does not show much inclination to ever raise thresholds again, that will probably be the rate for someone on the living wage by the end of the decade. If they climb further up the ladder, child benefit starts to be withdrawn, and as the personal allowance is tapered away their marginal tax rates soon climb to 60pc or more. Staying in bed will become more and more tempting. It is a crazy system, and one that is dragging down the entire economy. There is no point in accusing the Neets of being lazy, or not bothering, of being addicted to the web, or lacking the spine of earlier generations. It is insulting, it is not fair, and even if there was some element of truth to it, there is not much we can do about it anyway. Instead, we need a wholescale reform of the tax and benefit system. If we have to cut spending to pay for it, then that is the only option. An entire generation is making a perfectly rational decision that work does not pay enough to be worthwhile any more – and until that calculation changes there is very little prospect of the economy ever starting to recover.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Young people are right not to get out of bed for less than £40k
Lockdown made them too nervous to venture out of the house. They are addicted to TikTok and online entertainment. They are not respected, or given the right training, or offered enough help. There have been lots of different explanations offered for why almost a million 16 to 24-year-olds are neither working, training nor studying. But as one expert told a House of Lords committee this week, there is a far simpler explanation: it is not worth the hassle of getting out of bed for less than £40,000. If that is true, it would be easy to condemn them as idle and feckless. But they are also completely right. Until we fix a dysfunctional welfare and tax system it isn't going to change – because people won't bother to work unless it pays to do so. It was the kind of hard truth that was not meant to be mentioned in polite society. Appearing before a House of Lords social mobility committee this week, Graham Cowley, who works with young people not in employment, education nor training – or 'Neets' – argued that lots of them 'don't want to work for anything less than 40 grand'. While the Lords gasped in horror, he reminded them 'you may laugh, but that is the reality' – and he is completely right. The UK faces a growing challenge that many young people are no longer bothered to either get a job or even to prepare themselves for one. According to the official figures, 595,000 16 to 24-year-olds are classed as 'inactive' while another 392,000 are 'looking for work', but perhaps not very actively since they don't seem to be having much success. The shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, has suggested that they may be addicted to online pornography and video games, while the Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has suggested that especially since Covid many of them find the concept of work 'too stressful'. From coaching, to encouragement, to more stringent medical checks there are lots of different suggestions about ways of getting them out of the house and into a warehouse, factory or retailer to start their career. The trouble is, it is hard to believe any of that will make any significant difference. It is hard to know what exactly Stride is going to do about online pornography, and Kendall can't turn back the clock and reverse lockdown – as desirable as that might be. In reality, there is a simpler solution. Although it might come as a surprise to some of the people on the Lords committee, most people work just to make money. Many teenagers and 20-somethings have worked out for themselves that the UK's welfare and tax system has become so bloated and inefficient that getting a job hardly pays any more. They are just making a rational choice. To start with, taxes are far too high, and they become even higher as you start to climb your way up the career ladder. According to the Centre for Policy Studies, the effective tax rate even for someone on the minimum wage has more than doubled in the last decade alone, rising from an effective 11pc in 2015 to more than 21pc now. Even worse, if you study for a degree, the repayments on the loan you will have to take out to finance it kick in at far too low a level, and you will be charged a punitive rate of interest. On some plans you start repayments on just £25,000 a year, and you will be charged 7pc interest on the debt you have taken on. On almost any graduate job available, you will have to start repaying your loan, significantly increasing your effective tax rate. Next, wages are not high enough. Wave after wave of mass immigration has driven down salaries, especially for the relatively low-skilled, entry-level jobs that are typically all that is on offer to teenagers and 20-somethings making their first steps into the workforce. The average non-graduate salary is now £29,000 in the UK, up from £22,000 a decade ago, but once the cost of living and the extra taxes are taken into account it has gone down in real terms. Even worse, while many Neets may imagine they will finally stir themselves to get out of bed in the unlikely event that someone offers them £40,000 a year to do so, they probably won't find that very worthwhile either. As soon as they get a promotion or a bonus they will start paying tax at 40pc, and, given the Chancellor does not show much inclination to ever raise thresholds again, that will probably be the rate for someone on the living wage by the end of the decade. If they climb further up the ladder, child benefit starts to be withdrawn, and as the personal allowance is tapered away their marginal tax rates soon climb to 60pc or more. Staying in bed will become more and more tempting. It is a crazy system, and one that is dragging down the entire economy. There is no point in accusing the Neets of being lazy, or not bothering, of being addicted to the web, or lacking the spine of earlier generations. It is insulting, it is not fair, and even if there was some element of truth to it, there is not much we can do about it anyway. Instead, we need a wholescale reform of the tax and benefit system. If we have to cut spending to pay for it, then that is the only option. An entire generation is making a perfectly rational decision that work does not pay enough to be worthwhile any more – and until that calculation changes there is very little prospect of the economy ever starting to recover. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Internet-obsessed and job-shy Gen Z 'refuse to work for less than £40k' as number of those out of work and education nears 1 million
Glued to their devices and unwilling to work for less than £40,000 a year, Generation Z is being shunted to the margins of society, an expert has warned. That was the message delivered to the Lords' social mobility policy committee by Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in Blackpool. Cowley, who was giving evidence on the factors behind economic inactivity among young people, informed the committee of a recent conversation with a colleague who told him that 'kids [are] on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don't want to work for anything less than 40 grand'. When his remark was greeted with dismay by members of the committee, Cowley added: 'I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.' His remarks followed the publication earlier this month of research by the Learning and Work Institute that showed 13 per cent of all 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are not in education, employment or training. That number, backed by figures published this year by the Office for National Statistics, equates to almost one million young people - the highest level since 2013. Sir Keir Starmer has said the number of inactive young Britons is a 'moral issue', with the Prime Minister warning of a 'wasted generation'. Cowley's remarks will do little to allay those concerns, particularly with the British jobs market increasingly becalmed following Rachel Reeves's budget last October, which left employers with less cash to fund pay rises and take on new staff. The Learning and Work Institute found NEET rates were significantly higher in Wales (15 per cent) and the North East (16 per cent) compared with London (9 per cent) and the South East (10 per cent). Stephen Evans, the institute's chief executive, said the number of NEETs who have never had a paid job is 'really very stark and very worrying'. 'It's not a massive surprise for 16 year-olds,' said Evans of research suggesting that 58 per cent of NEETs have never been in paid employment. 'But the fact that you've got people heading into their mid-twenties and half of them have never had a proper job is quite shocking. 'It is going to have a long-term impact on their career prospects if we don't do something quite urgently.' Cowley called for a stronger emphasis on instilling the importance of a strong work ethic at a young age. 'There's something about what's going on in the minds of these young people,' he told the committee. 'I believe if we were able to get to them earlier and imbue them with a sense of, "You need to put a shift in, to get what you want in life" then I think there's a real value in doing that.' Lord Watts countered that it was natural for young people facing the prospect of earning low incomes to feel deflated and conclude it would be 'more comfortable to stay in the house than it is to go and try and find your way through life'. As part of Labour's bid to overhaul the welfare system, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is planning a 'Youth Guarantee' for 18- to 21-year-olds. The initiative would require mayors and local authorities to ensure young people have access to an apprenticeship, training and education opportunities or assistance with finding a job. Those who refuse to take up work and training opportunities would lose their benefits, the government has warned.
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Workless youths won't get out of bed for less than £40k, Lords told
Workless youths who are 'on the internet 24-hours a day' won't get out of bed for less than £40,000, Lords have been told. Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (Neets) in Blackpool, said a colleague this week told him there were 'kids on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don't want to work for anything less than 40 grand'. Some on the Lords' social mobility policy committee gasped in response, prompting Mr Crowley to say: 'I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.' Mr Cowley was giving evidence as part of the committee's inquiry into why there are almost 1m 16 to 24-year-olds not working or studying. The Government is fighting to bring the number of Neets down from its highest level since 2013, when the economy was still recovering from the financial crisis, to reduce the country's ballooning benefits bill and boost the economy. Policies so far have focused on offering young people extra help to find jobs and cutting benefits to encourage people into work or study. However, Mr Cowley's comments will fuel concerns that young people have lost interest in the jobs market following the legacy of lockdowns and amid a rise in easy entertainment online. Mel Stride, the former work and pensions secretary, last year blamed pornography and video games for a surge in worklessness among young men. Most Neets are currently considered economically inactive, meaning they are not seeking employment. Official data shows that around 595,000 young people are classed as inactive, while 392,000 are unemployed but looking for work. The majority of young Neets are men, accounting for 550,000 of the 946,000 total. Mr Cowley said: 'There's something about what's going on in the minds of these young people. I believe if we were able to get to them earlier and imbue them with a sense of 'you need to put a shift in, to get what you want in life' then I think there's a real value in doing that.' Lord Watts responded by saying that young people 'are not stupid' and so if they assume they will 'earn low incomes and there's no future' then they'll likely lower their aspirations and decide 'it's more comfortable to stay in the house than it is to go and try and find your way through life'. PwC last month warned that a generation of workers were in danger of permanently drifting out of the jobs market, with economic inactivity on course to rise further. Experts have said that this rise in inactivity has been fuelled by a mental health crisis among young people who are still struggling with the aftermath of Covid. Before the general election, Labour said it stood ready to take 'the tough action necessary' to boost the career prospects of young people. It has since outlined a benefits crackdown and a 'youth guarantee' to ensure all those who are able to can access either work or training. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
