‘Sometimes you don't feel human' -- how the gig economy chews up and spits out millennials

It is true that the unemployment rate among 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK is 12%, while in parts of Europe it is 40%. But that doesn't mean much if many of those people are in precarious "self-employment" -- the McKinsey Global Institute estimates this may be up to 30% of working-age adults across Europe. Huws says the notion of a career is being eroded, with young people often working a patchwork of different occupations. We laugh about George Osborne having six jobs; if he was a millennial, this would be par for the course.

... Dewhurst points out that the wider casualisation of work is a problem. She reckons about 50% of the union's members are millennials, although she stresses that the increase in political engagement among the young hasn't automatically resulted in mass union membership. She says millennials are used to outsourced work, and are adaptable and resilient. More than that, argues Huws, they have grown up in a climate of unpaid internships and terrifying probation periods, the first generation "expected to work for free". For many, all they know is being part of the precariat. Or, as Huws puts it in no uncertain terms, "today's model of the working poor".