Brexit. One of the most talked about topics on the News and the Internet. One of the most controversial topics at the present time. A topic which has the power to shape the future for young people such as myself.
After recently investigating the areas which voted 'remain' and 'leave', I found that 55.7% of voters in my country, Northern Ireland, voted to remain. This is contrary to the information I received via word of mouth that the majority of people who are of 'voting age' claimed to have swayed toward leave. The statistics show that people over the age of 45 generally voted to leave, while people under 45 generally voted to remain; thus proving that the younger generation wished to remain.
According to former NUS President Megan Dunn, young people will actually struggle to gain employment across Europe if Brexit were to go ahead; mainly due to the fact that "special visas" will have to be issued in order to work abroad. Dunn claims that it will "impact on your ability to acquire a job", and so deems Brexit as having a serious detrimental effect on young people.
In the worst case scenario, i.e. Brexit prompts another recession,young people will most likely suffer. This is because they will earn less due to the UK not having a buoyant economy, thus they will not be able to secure a job that they are fully qualified for, as companies will tend to go for experience in times of financial hardship.
A recent study conducted by PathMotion, a discussion platform between employees and candidates, highlighted that Managers and Executives in the top 75 UK graduate employers will lower their intake of university graduates (49% to be exact) if Britain were to leave the EU. This is critical in terms of young people gaining employment fresh from university: and could actually DIScourage foreign students from coming to various UK universities. However opposed to this, 25% of Managers and Executives claimed they would increase their recruitment levels if they were unable to hire EU graduates.
It is also commonly stated that Immigration is bad for the UK; and that economic, as well as social migrants, are to blame for unemployment problems arising in the UK. This couldn't be further from the truth. Statistically speaking, immigrants put more money into the tax system than they get out of it, with current NUS Vice-President Sorana Vieru claiming that Immigration "boosts the economy". The reality is that not all migrants come to the UK to do graduate-level jobs; yet the problem is that businesses will not want to set up and develop in the UK if Brexit were to happen. The point being made is that this will have an adverse impact on the graduate job market, and NOT Immigration.
The main reason that so many young people voted to remain in the EU was down to the economic effects it would have, and how it would affect their future, as it was revealed that Sterling is stronger in the EU. One of their main concerns was that living costs would dramatically increase, due to a potential rise in inflation. Ultimately they believed this would result in shrinking industries, thus there would be less jobs. However, it is important to realise that before Brexit talks even came into question, the UK (inc England, Scotland, Wales and NI) was not in the Eurozone. Does this mean that the UK have always been trying to distance themselves from the EU? Should people have been better prepared for Brexit? Will the UK thrive or struggle on it's own? Only time will tell whether young people will suffer or prosper from the decision made by the UK populous.
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