A FORMER Cabinet minister has said that Britain’s “deep social mobility problem” is getting worse for young people after research found that 51 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds believe social background determines chances of success in life.
Alan Milburn, chairman of the Social Mobility Commission, said young people “feel like they are on the wrong side of a profound unfairness” in society.
The Government advisory body’s findings, based on a poll of almost 5000 people by YouGov, conducted before the General Election, showed that 40 per cent of those aged 65 and over also thought a person’s background and family was the main factor in where they end up in society.
Less than a third of those surveyed – 32 per cent – believed everyone has a fair chance in life regardless of their background, 30 per cent of young people thought it was becoming easier to move up in British society, and a fifth believed they have a better job security than their parents.
It also found that 49 per cent identified as working class, while 23 per cent who said that they grew up in a working-class family thought their social background had held them back in their working life.
Only one per cent of people said they were upper class.
The poll pointed to a geographical divide, with 71 per cent claiming there were “fairly or very” large differences in opportunity depending on where a person lives.
People in Scotland, Wales and the North East were the most likely to think that such differences exist.
The research also found that more than three-quarters (76 per cent) thought that poorer people have less opportunity to go to a top university, and 66 per cent thought poorer people have less of a chance of a professional career.
Milburn said: “Young people increasingly feel like they are on the wrong side of a profound unfairness in British society – and they are unhappy about it.
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, what could be dubbed the ‘revenge of the young’ was evident at the General Election with record numbers of young people turning out to vote.
“Down the generations, hope has been a defining characteristic of the young, but this poll suggests that today youthful pessimism is becoming the norm.”
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