Governments play a role in supporting shared prosperity by helping to ensure all groups in society benefit from economic growth. The adverse shocks of recent years have created challenges for economic inclusion and opportunities for young people, who tend to have lower incomes, lower savings and less secure employment than their older peers. Balancing interests across generations is essential for creating long-term shared prosperity and can help foster economic growth, build institutional trust, and promote social and environmental sustainability.
Only 37% of people in OECD countries believe that their government adequately balances the interests of current and future generations, a share which is similar across all age groups (Figure 3.10). Mexico (63%) and Switzerland (52%) are the only OECD countries where a majority are confident that their government achieves this balance. In 12 out of 30 countries with data available, young people (18-29 year-olds) are less confident in their government’s performance on this measure than the average for their country. In 17 of 30 countries, people aged 50+ are more sceptical. Governments could improve confidence by embedding intergenerational perspectives into their actions to ensure inclusive policy outcomes for all age groups (OECD, 2020).
Access to education and training opportunities are important for enabling younger people to benefit from economic growth. The share of 15-29 year-olds not in employment, education or training (NEET) fell from 16.0% of young people in 2012 to 13.1% in 2019 and 12.6% in 2023 (Figure 3.11). However, NEET rates increased in 15 out of 36 OECD countries, with 9 seeing increases of over 1 percentage point. The lowest NEET rates in 2023 were in the Netherlands (5.4%) and Iceland (6.7%). The largest reductions since 2019 have been in Greece (-6.9 percentage points) and Italy (-5.8 p.p.). Spain managed to reduce its NEET rate by 8.7 p.p. since 2012. Governments can help to reduce NEET rates through measures such as improving the responsiveness of education services and improving access to training.
Across the OECD, 60% of young people are concerned about being able to find or maintain adequate housing (OECD, 2023). Between 2015 and 2023, house prices grew faster than income levels in 27 out of 33 OECD countries (82%) with data available (Figure 3.12). From a base of 100 in 2015 (the reference year), the index of the ratio of house prices to incomes rose to 116 in 2023. This makes homeownership increasingly difficult for many, particularly younger people, who need greater resources than before to purchase their first home. The greatest increases over this period were in Portugal (154), Canada (138) and Luxembourg (130). Overall, the index was also higher in 2023 than in 2007, when it averaged 113 across the OECD. However, in 17 of 32 countries with data available, the ratio was lower in 2023 than in 2007.
