State Of The North 2017: The Millennial Powerhouse

Monday 20 November, 2017 Written by IPPR North

In 2030 the northern powerhouse will be run by the millennial generation. For the first time they and their successors will make up the majority of the electorate, and will form the overwhelming majority of the workforce: millennials (aged 22–37) and ‘Generation Z’ (aged 21 and younger) will be a political and economic force for change in the North and across the country.

This new generation must unlock northern potential much more effectively than their predecessors. They will have to meet significant new challenges, and seize new opportunities that arise.

To meet these challenges the North’s millennials need to push for devolution. In the 21st century, the country and the world will need the North’s assets more than ever before. Without devolution they will continue to be wasted, as they were throughout much of the 20th century.

State of the North 2017 finds that by 2030, Millennials and Generation Z will make up over 50 per cent of the Northern electorate for the first time, and sets out the challenges and opportunities facing the Northern Powerhouse in the future. T

They include:

Brexit will have nearly twice the impact on the North’s GDP as it will on London’s.
Automation is a bigger risk for jobs in the North. The North East is the most at risk, with 47.8 per cent of jobs in high-risk occupations, followed by Yorkshire and Humberside, with 46.8 per cent of jobs in high-risk occupations.
The ageing population will require 2.7 million more working-age people or for a significant number of people to work longer.
Globalisation has created winners and losers. 2 million working-age northerners are in relatively poor households. That’s 300,000 more than in 2003/04-2005/6.
The North can lead the fight against climate change: it produces more than one third of the UK renewables total.

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