The youth service in England and Wales : report of the Committee appointed by the Minister of Education in Nov., 1958.

  • Great Britain. Ministry of Education.
Date:
1960
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The youth service in England and Wales : report of the Committee appointed by the Minister of Education in Nov., 1958. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    29/144 (page 23)
    In particular, the provision of family allowances may be a factor in the earlier marriage and the raising of a family; this, in turn, has social consequences which we mention elsewhere. 88. It is not possible for us to assess the impact on youth which social security has made. There are undoubtedly those who hold that it has led to a less responsible citizen: this perhaps springs from an insufficient realisation that it is made and paid for by nearly every member of the community. On the other hand, it can be argued that with the banish- ment of fear and want, a better citizen will evolve. It is sufficient that we should draw attention to this considerable change, which has taken place since the Youth Service was introduced, as it is part of the background of young people today. MONBY TO SPEND | 89. The widely-held assumption that most young people today have much more money to spend than pre-war generations is well-founded. In this section we discuss how much they have to spend and what they spend it on ; and we suggest the relevance of this new spending power to the Youth Service. 90. In 1938, according to a Ministry of Labour survey, boys between 15 and 20 who were at work earned an average of 26s. Od. and girls of 24s. Od. a week. Most of this money seems usually to have been handed to parents, leaving only a few shillings weekly for discretionary spending. Before the war, then, it is roughly true to say that adults had a monopoly of spending power ; most adolescents in work were economically dependent. By com- parison, in mid-1958 youths between the same ages and in work earned an average of £5 12s. Od. and girls of £5 6s. Od. a week. The majority of young people today appear to give their parents between £1 and £3 a week if they are living at home.* According to Mr. Mark Abrams,f on the average about £3 a week is left to each for discretionary spending. 91. This trend in earnings is not necessarily a continuing one. To some extent it has been caused by the shortage of young entrants to employment during a period of industrial expansion, a shortage which will probably disappear as the “ bulge ” leaves the schools. Indeed, since a larger number of entrants to industry will have to acquire skills, the upward trend is not likely to continue in the immediate future. There might even be a slight downward trend foratime. There are, of course, wide individual variations between those high earnings of some young people which tend to be publicised, and the lower earnings of quite substantial numbers, particularly those who are acquiring skills, and grammar-school pupils who earn only pin-money, if they earn at all. 92. Again, there are regional and occupational differences in the way this increased money is handled, and so in its impact. We have been told of some working-class areas of the North, centred on a few long-established industries, in which the tradition that teenagers hand their wage-packet to their parents and receive pocket money in return still largely holds. The -* Central Office of Information survey. ; + Director of Research for the London Press Exchange, Managing Director of Research Services Limited. Mr. Abrams kindly made available to the Committee figures based on his recent research.