Get involved in our new project on precarity!

We get treated like kids with pocket money wages and pay the poverty premium for it. We’re cheaper to pay and easier to fire. Many of us have gone from low pay to no pay. We’re the generation that thought we had it all until the crisis showed us our dreams were built on a house of cards.

We have nothing to show for and confused about our future. We’ve gone from Generation Y to Generation Why. It’s difficult to know what’s worse: expecting not to have the things your parents had, and preparing yourself for alternatives to getting a job, a house or even a degree – or assuming everything’s going to be OK, until you realise that your dreams have been privatised.

How we cope with this shock will affect not just how we can build a better future, but whether we can conceive of a better future at all. Young people cope emotionally in different ways – from being scared about what to do next to seeking advice from anyone who will listen. We also cope practically to try and make a living – from trying to save money through negotiating with the landlord to making money by selling stuff on the market.

How do you cope with trying to make a living? How are people developing creative ways of making a living where you live?

European Alternatives wants to hear from you! Whether you’re young or work with people who are. Using creative methods, we want to uncover your experiences on how young people cope with trying to make a living in cities across Europe. We’ll use your insights and ideas to develop scenarios, stories and a guide on how, through the process of coping with the crisis, young people are creating new ways of making a living.