The Tech Tribe 2009 Summary has already explored how much young people care for their health and environmental surroundings, and this consideration for their outer situation translates into an acute awareness of the recession for our Tech Tribe participants. A staggering 80% of them agreed that the recession is changing the way they think about the future. The recession has made a lot of people reconsider their futures with 50% now thinking it’s best to stay in education for as long as possible rather than try and find a job given the current climate. The older respondents especially seem to be reconsidering their options since they are the ones about to finish their respective degrees, with Gordon Brown foolishly stating that it may be best for university leavers to take gap years and skip the country for a while. Only a quarter of the students asked felt that they were not affected by the economic downturn at all. Half of the total Tech Tribe respondents felt that they are being personally being affected adversely. Of the 70% of Tech Tribe participants still in education, 50% still feel that even in a recession their degree/qualification is definitely worth getting in debt for, perhaps hinting at a desire to not be jobless in the wide world in the midst of the recession. Only 30% do not feel it is worth it to stick with their degrees with the threat of debt. The acute awareness and shift in mindset of young people created by the recession, while dampening can be considered positive in the fact that they may be able to be aware of the mistakes that launched their elders into such problems.

Yet despite this heightened awareness having a significantly impacted on the economic outlook of young people, there is a certain reality surrounding the debt of young people. Half of participants are actively looking for ways to save money now we are in a recession. Surprisingly however is the loyalty to credit cards with only 26% starting to save rather than buying on credit cards and just 22% reducing credit card limits to try and curb spending! Tech Tribe reports that a staggering 48% of 19-25 year olds have over £20,000 in personal debt. When that is added to the fact that 70% of respondents have less than £5k savings and the even crazier figure that 53% have less than £1,000 in savings, it is a pretty bleak situation. Especially when you take in to consideration that 10 years ago the average debt was around £2,000. However, around 60% of our Tech Tribe participants disagree that “debt is fine because everyone else is in it too”. In the harshest reality the ability to spend in any situation is, we think, due to the highest levels of debt, they are in so deep already that they feel any changes they make are unlikely to make any significant difference to their situation – it comes down to getting that well paid job.

It is fair to say that youth in the UK aren’t exactly having the best of times when it comes to debt and work. However this doesn’t mean they are down and out. Tech Tribe has revealed that even though work may not be easy to come by, young people are still up for it and their attitude towards work cannot be questioned. Our post on Vice magazine’s ad agency Virtue is a great example of how young people are making a positive impact and changing the work environments around them. Around 90% ‘agree’ and ‘agree strongly’ that ‘you have to work hard to be successful’. However they define success, they believe that there’s no short cut. Whereas perhaps a few years ago there was an idea of instant celebrity equaled success, the fall out from the 15 minutes has been exposed to all. In accordance, 46% of 19-25 year-olds ‘disagree’ and a further 20% ‘disagree strongly’ that fame is ‘easy to achieve and desirable’. We can also report that today’s 19-25 year-olds have a keen interest in being their bosses. 51% want to strike out on their own at some point. 22-25 year-olds were more emphatic with 23% ‘agreeing strongly’, compared to 19-25 year-olds (18%). This difference may be attributable to the older ones having had a bit more real world work experience: knowing the realities of work increases the desire to get away from authority and do their own thing. Young people want diversify their skills as 36% of 19-25 year-olds ‘agree’, and a further 13% ‘agree strongly’ that they ‘want more than one career in their lives’. Just 18% ‘disagree’ and only ‘3% disagree strongly’. This difference in strong opinion – whilst admittedly not overwhelming – does at least point to an emphatic suggestion that they’re not just putting up with the status quo.