The raw portrait of a disillusioned generation: three out of four young people earn less than €950 and a third want to leave Portugal
Who are they, how do they live, what do young Portuguese people think and feel? Answering these questions was the objective of the study “Young people in Portugal, today”, organized by the Francisco Manuel dos Santos Foundation based on an investigation carried out in June last year with 4,904 people between 15 and 34 years old, representing the 2.2 million young people who have adopted this population in the country. Coordinated by Laura Sagnier and Alex Morell, the work presented this weekend at a conference in Lisbon. Here is the picture of a generation.
Low prices are transversal among young people: almost three in four (72%) deliver less than 950 euros net per month. Only a minority live comfortably on what they earn (19%). About half have an unstable contract and have worked four or five jobs, with a quarter (26%) thinking every day about leaving their job.
NET MONTHLY INCOME
“It’s something structural, which affects young people a lot and has different impacts depending, for example, on the economic conditions of the family of origin. Among the most disadvantaged young people, this reality has an even stronger impact”, stresses Vítor Sérgio Ferreira, sociologist and vice-coordinator of the Permanent Youth Observatory.
ACHIEVEMENT WITH WORK
There are 14% unemployed and, mothers, about a third have already lost their jobs after the pandemic.
Almost all agree that “there are fewer and fewer opportunities to find a job in Portugal for those who are now entering the labor market” and a third (30%) are sure they will live abroad. Those with fewer qualifications are more willing to emigrate.
Among young people who are no longer studying, 35% have finished higher education and 46% informed them of secondary or post-secondary education (courses in polytechnics that do not provide higher education). Asked why they didn’t go to university, about half (46%) point to economic reasons – lack of money (32%) and the need to work to support the family (14%).
Reasons for not going or not completing Higher Education
“There are inequalities in access to higher education, as it depends on the economic support that needs to be given. Hardly a minimum wage allows you to pay for studies for a student who wants to be displaced from their home, adding up income and expenses. Scholarships are limited and with low coverage rates. And it is a priority to invest in student residences”, argues economist João Cerejeira.
The vast majority of young people who went to college did so for the best job (69%) and the highest salary (63%). Despite the difficulties in the labor market, higher education “continues to guarantee young people a better starting position in most areas of life”, concludes the study.
The study paints a disturbing picture of the psychological well-being of young people. Almost a quarter (23%) have been medicated with anxiolytics or antidepressants (more women than men) and 12% regularly take sleep medication.
They say they feel a lot or a lot of social pressure to “succeed at work or in studies” (69%) and, secondly, to “not let the family down”. And 42% confess to having suffered some harassment or violence, whether at school, work or intimate relationships. But there is a huge difference between the sexes: 53% of victims were women and 32% men.
Overall, about 40% of young people consider that the life they lead is below or far below the expectations they had and a third say they are not very happy. Almost a quarter (23%) have tried to end their lives or thought about it (almost twice as many women as men) and 12% have “intentionally inflicted injuries on their body”.
Degree of happiness by age group
“The use of anxiolytics or antidepressants has been increasing in young people since 2019 and has risen even more with a pandemic. The percentage of young people with suicidal intentions seems to me to be very serious and needs to be well analyzed”, warns Margarida Gaspar de Matos, a psychologist specializing in young people, who has noticed an increase in the suffering of youngsters in clinical practice.
Among young people who have reached the age of majority, just over half (53%) declare they always vote, but few people ever vote (14%). “The feeling of distance from institutions and politicians is shared by the population in general, it is not a generational specificity”, says Vítor Sérgio Ferreira, noting, however, that young people “are very little represented” in the current political class.
In general, men show a little more interest in politics, but it is women who most often exercise the right to vote (56% compared to 49%). Ideologically, the middle position between left and right is the most common, with a little more women (33%) than men (26%) on the far left and the opposite on the far right (35% compared to 26 % of the women )
The most common is that young people do not have the habit of participating in any social or political action (35%) or only one per year (29%). “They are not exactly participatory, which implies lasting and formal commitments. There are more movements due to links linked to their living conditions and identity, whether by the environment, anti-racism or LGBTI”, says the sociologist. For the majority of young people (60%), euthanasia is justified “always or almost always” and 54% feel the same in relation to “renting bellies”. Women are much more tolerant than men, particularly in terms of immigration and sexual orientation.
They grew up in an uneven family environment: 75% claim that they are the mothers who do most or all of the household chores. When they leave their parents’ house and start to live a marital relationship, the imbalance remains, although more attenuated. On average, young women spend 40 minutes more per day on household chores than men.
Regarding childcare, young people show a much more egalitarian view than previous generations: the majority (60%) believe that mother and father should divide the time of paid leave in half.
“They show more and more willingness to change towards equality, but this will collides with the structure of the labor market, which continues to see men as the ideal worker. Women are still seen, in the first place, as a person with family responsibilities and only afterwards as a worker”, explains Diana Maciel, from the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies at the University of Lisbon.
And this is reflected in wages. In only 19% of young couples, women earn the same as men. Despite the progress, almost half (47%) of young males still show a “sexist attitude”, especially those with less education and younger (15-24 years compared to those older than 25). “Tendentially, the younger ones have a more polarized view of gender roles, which then fades with age”, adds the researcher.
Most young people (57%) still live with their parents or other family members; 29% already live in their own house with their partner, while 9% share a house with other people and 5% live alone. It is more important for men (70%) than for women (53%) to have a partner to feel happy.
Where they live
The vast majority want to have children; 17% do not know whether or not they want to become parents and 7% say they do not have this project (more they – 8% – than they – 6%). Among these, the most mentioned reason is “I don’t like motherhood / fatherhood and I have no instinct” (35%), followed by “I don’t want to give up my life / happiness” (19%).
sexual orientation
The first sexual intercourse occurs, on average, at 17 years of age. With regard to sexual orientation, 85% of young people claim to be heterosexual, 8% bisexual, 6% homosexual and 1% asexual. Among those who are not heterosexual, more than a third have not yet disclosed it to their family.
Two out of three young people do sport at least once a week – they (72%) much more than they (59%). Almost a fifth (17%) follow a specific diet, with “lactose-free” and vegetarian diets being the most prevalent (followed by 8% and 5% of young people, respectively). The vast majority (76%) do not smoke, but drink and 35% are alcohol consumers. On average, start going out at night at age 16 and 15% admit to getting drunk regularly. Regarding hard drugs, about 10% assume they have already tried it, although only 3% claim to use it currently. It is on social networks and video games that they are entertained for a large part of their free time. About 50% spend at least two hours a day on social media and one in ten five hours or more; more than half play computer or console for at least an hour/day and 21% bet online.