Young people face a testing time ahead after Covid – Eleanor Bird

A recent UK-wide study, published last month, found that young people are among those hit hardest psychologically by the effects of the Covid-19 lockdown. This follows initial analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies that low earners are seven times as likely to work in an industry that was shut down.

Scotland’s young people will need our support

This age group spans late teens and early twenties and is often – entirely wrongly - referred to as ‘Generation Snowflake’. This follows Generation Y, that has been widely reported to be the first in decades to be worse off than their predecessors. This is, in large part, thanks to a rise in zero-hours contracts, ten years of ideologically imposed Tory austerity and the threat of a further erosion of employment rights through a right-wing Brexit that Edinburgh and Scotland resolutely rejected.

This administration is dedicated to improving the life chances of our young people, through measures such as the promotion of Edinburgh as a fair work and living wage city, and will continue to take the necessary steps to support them into secure, sustainable positive destinations.

Yesterday many of our young people received their exam results – in very difficult circumstances – and will now be considering the future ahead of them. What I’ve come to realise, however, largely due to my time as a mature student, is that rather than any one date or milestone, it is in fact our experiences of lifelong learning and development that will ultimately have the biggest effect on us.

The resilience of our young people never fails to astound me and as we move through the phases of recovery and into the new normal, I find myself constantly reminded of one of my favourite sayings – never more relevant than now – “The best is always yet to come”.