While the ravages of Covid19 on health no longer need to be demonstrated, other, quieter consequences are affecting French youth.
This Covid generation is threatened not only by precariousness and social distress, but also by a potential drop in income estimated over more than a decade.

Economic distress among France’s most vulnerable young people

The crisis is accentuating existing social vulnerabilities, and pushing thousands of young people into precarious situations. Indeed, the under-30s represent 35% of the population and almost 50% of the poor. The rising cost of living and job cuts due to the pandemic are pushing down the standard of living for students. According to a parliamentary survey carried out among 50% of young French people at the end of 2020, 30% of them said they had given up healthcare or essential purchases for financial reasons.

According to the report resulting from the same survey and published in December 2020, food insecurity is also deplored among more than half of these young people. Indeed, 55.8% of students encountered financial difficulties for food expenses during the second confinement.

Another factor has been added to the list of consequences of the Covid19 crisis for these young people: poor housing. There are few studies on this reality, but according to the Observatoire des Inégalités, it is indeed a significant form of poverty. Low incomes make it difficult to obtain a lease, as does the absence of a permanent contract.

From isolation to psychological distress, the invisible sorrows experienced daily by the Covid generation

If the most precarious are the hardest hit economically, the consequences of the crisis are such that even the most affluent are not spared social distress.
Indeed, the isolation and profound sense of abandonment that students have been facing for over a year is traumatic for these young people. Often left to their own devices and without any emotional support, they sometimes have no social interaction whatsoever, not only because of the confinements, but also because of the severed links with high schools and universities.

This feeling is burdensome for those who endure it, and can become more serious if other anxiety-provoking factors are added, such as financial insecurity.

 When it comes to entering the job market, France’s young people are still not spared.

Since last December, there has been an increase in unemployment in France. In the third quarter of 2020, the number of unemployed people in metropolitan France reached 2.7 million, an increase of 628,000 according to INSEE. Overall, this rate has risen more for young people (+2.6 points) than for other age groups.

This growth is worrying because the consequences of COVID-19 will be felt long-term by the French youth. Two American researchers, Hannes Schwandt and Till von Wachter, have explained that people entering the job market during a crisis suffer income losses for up to fifteen years. The IMF confirms this : by the time today’s young workers reach the age of 40, they will earn 7% less annually than if they had entered the job market last year.

At Break Poverty, we are committed to supporting French youth who are bearing the full impact of the COVID-19 crisis. It is crucial that we move forward together to combat these unacceptable situations of precariousness.

Photo credit : Neet2, Sutterstock.

Find out more about our Digital inclusion drive operation, which helps young victims of the digital divide and school dropouts during this period of health crisis.