German labor market researcher forecast
«Young generation will be the richest ever»
Rarely has the world faced greater challenges than it does today. Many boys are therefore afraid of the future. Unnecessary, says labor market researcher Enzo Weber. The young generation will be the richest of all time.
First Corona, then Ukraine war and inflation and possibly soon an energy crisis. The world is in quite a turmoil right now. It is therefore hardly surprising that many young people are pessimistic about their future.
According to the German labor market researcher Enzo Weber (42), however, they have no reason to do so. He predicts a golden future for them. “The young generation will be the richest that has ever existed,” he says to “Spiegel”. Where does Weber get this optimism from? In the end, prosperity comes from technological progress and higher productivity. “And we will achieve this through digitization and ecological transformation”.
The older ones also had difficulties to cope with
Still, Weber says the road to getting there won’t be rosy. Because there are still some challenges waiting for the younger generation. «Everything would have been better without Corona and without war, no question. And yes, there are also difficulties, like demographic shrinkage, which will bring us problems in the pension system».
However, one also has to consider that the parents of the boys also had to cope with major tasks at the time, such as the oil price shocks or 9/11. However, this did not detract from the rise in living standards – on the contrary.
Losses due to inflation are offset later
One of the biggest problems, which is currently preoccupying many young people, is inflation. “Young people tend to be among the low-income people who are more affected by inflation,” says Weber. Nevertheless, a young person does not suffer from it any more than an older one: “Because they still have perspectives ahead of them”.
Weber goes on to say that although the tide is currently low in the wallet, this will be compensated for in the long term by starting work. This is much more difficult, for example, for long-term unemployed single parents with two children or a pensioner who lives on the poverty line.
Many jobs through digitization
The situation would be different if inflation turned into a recession. Weber draws comparisons to the corona pandemic: In the recession at the time there were fewer layoffs than in previous crises, but companies also hired fewer people. That’s where the problem lies. “If there is no fluctuation, it is more difficult for career starters to gain a foothold in the job market”.
But according to Weber, that’s still all in the future. He is convinced that digitization in particular will contribute a lot to the prosperity of future generations. “It will create many good jobs.” (ced)