Young Women’s trust have released their latest research ‘COSTING OUR FUTURES: Young Women in the Cost of Living Crisis 2023’ and have compared this year’s survey responses to their 2022 survey.
“In 2022, our annual survey highlighted the devastating impact the cost of living crisis was having on young women. This year, we found that things have gone from bad to worse.’’
On average, women earn £5,000 less a year than young men the same age. They are therefore more likely to be struggling in the cost-of-living crisis.
Over 4000 young women and 1000 young men were surveyed, and nearly half (46%) of young women said that their finances had gotten worse over the last 12 months, whilst only 31% of young men said the same. This figure rose considerably for young women from the previous year (38%), whereas for young men there was very little change (30%).
Key Findings
- 56% of young women described their current financial situation as uncomfortable. This has increased from 49% in 2022. In comparison, just over 40% of young men said the same both this year and last – so young men’s experience seems to be stabilising whereas young women’s has got substantially worse.
- Almost a third (32%) of young women have been unable to afford food or essential supplies, up from a quarter last year. This compares to 21% of young men.
- 1/4 of young women have fallen behind on rent or bills in the last year – only 16% of young men said the same.
- 62% of young women say it’s a real struggle to make their cash last to the end of the month, compared to 48% of young men. In 2022 these figures were 54% of young women and 44% of young men.
- Over half of young women with sole childcare responsibility (52%) and 40% of those with joint childcare responsibility say that they are in debt ‘all the time’, compared with a third of young women overall.
- 40% say their mental health got worse in the last 12 months, compared to 27% of young men.
- Almost 3 in 5 (58%) of young women agree that they will have to put off having children until they can afford to have them.
What do young women need?
- Fair and equal pay.
- Tackling the barriers to work for young women – by increasing the availability of affordable, flexible childcare; more inclusive recruitment processes; and better rights to flexible working.
- More support for young women to progress at work – more transparent career paths and routes to promotion.
- Better job security – limited use of zero-hour contracts (unless the employee requests this), and a guaranteed minimum of hours per week.
- Action to tackle discrimination in the workplace – more robust reporting mechanisms and more support for young women to challenge discrimination.
Key Recommendations
In the short term, to help young women who are struggling right now, we need:
- The government to go further in the forthcoming extension to the National Living Wage, so that 18-20 year olds receive it too.
- Increased support through the benefits system, through an Essentials Guarantee which makes sure the basic rate of Universal Credit is always enough to cover the costs of essentials.
- The government to listen to the voices of young women as they create policies to respond to the cost of living crisis.
