Aside from a privileged few who can rely on the Bank of Mum and Dad, the adult lives of millennials in the UK have been characterised by insecurity in both employment and housing. Research from the Work Foundation has revealed that 1.4 million people in the UK face the “double jeopardy” of insecure employment while living in the private rental sector with millennials most affected – people aged 25-34 are 6.2 times more likely than workers of other ages to experience this dual insecurity.
This group are particularly exposed and should be a focus for politicians. Older workers are more likely to have managed to get on the housing ladder before the intensification of the housing crisis (albeit often with eye-watering mortgages), and younger workers are increasingly living at home with their parents. Zero-hour contract workers like Maria face the prospect of a pay penalty of £3,200 a year while facing a private rental market that has seen renters having to stump up an extra £254 per month since the pandemic. This insecurity is not hidden – it affects workers in very visible and vital parts of our economy – in supermarkets, delivery services, nurseries and care homes.
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Cycling in and out of insecure jobs while trying to keep a roof over your head has health consequences we are only just beginning to understand. Both insecure work and bad housing have been proven to harm health in a multitude of ways. People in insecure jobs are more likely to experience anxiety, depression and physical health issues, while those living in substandard housing, which is often the case when renting, are at higher risk for respiratory problems and other chronic conditions.
With 2.8 million people out of work due to long-term ill health in the UK – having seen record growth since the pandemic beyond that of comparable international neighbours – politicians cannot afford to ignore these risks. Getting Britain working again, as the government pointedly intends to do, means confronting the harm that insecure housing and employment pose to population health in the short-term and into the future.
So, are the first 100 days of the new Labour government cause for quiet optimism for millennials stuck in insecure housing and work? Deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, is leading two major pieces of legislation, the Employment Rights Bill, which was published this week, and the Renters’ Rights Bill, which was debated for the first time. Have they grasped the scale of the problem and will the reforms go far enough?
On employment rights, there are 28 significant reforms on the table aimed at modernising employment practices and improving insecure work. The bill proposes to end exploitative zero-hours contracts and other forms of contractual ambiguity by ensuring workers move to ‘guaranteed hours contracts’ that reflect the hours they actually work over a three-month period. There are planned protections against unfair dismissal from day one of employment and the government are promising to usher in a new era of flexibility by making flexible working the default where possible, though they appear to be offering employers a lot of leeway on this issue. These are positive moves that can help negate the most pernicious forms of insecurity but the laws are unlikely to come into action until 2026 and are subject to consultation which risks the proposals being watered down.
