{"id":215742,"date":"2025-06-26T11:25:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T11:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/215742\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T11:25:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T11:25:15","slug":"the-cold-hard-proof-that-30-year-old-aussies-have-never-had-it-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/215742\/","title":{"rendered":"The cold hard proof that 30-year-old Aussies have never had it worse"},"content":{"rendered":"

By SARAH BROOKES FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 01:42 EDT, 26 June 2025 | Updated: 02:21 EDT, 26 June 2025 <\/p>\n

Young Australians are barely earning more than previous generations as they rack up much larger student debts and take even longer<\/a> to pay them off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Average incomes for 30-year-olds increased by just six per cent from $59,496 in 2012 to $62,987 in 2022, an analysis of tax return data by the e61 Institute found.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the average HELP debt jumped 45 per cent from $19,485 to $28,260.<\/p>\n

Research economist Matthew Maltman said since the Global Financial Crisis in 2008, the wages of those under 40 had grown at less than half the rate of older Australians.<\/p>\n

He said a series of factors had slowed wage growth including a shift toward insecure and lower-paying service jobs, underemployment, award jobs and an oversupply of workers for available, high-quality jobs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr Maltman said the oversupply was driven in part by older Australians working for longer, which weakened bargaining power and slowed wage growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Rising employer concentration and a decline in job mobility may also have weakened young workers’ ability to climb the job ladder and move into higher-paying positions,’ he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senior research economist Jack Buckley said young Australians were taking on more student debt and taking longer than previous generations to pay it off<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"University <\/p>\n

University students are racking up higher debts and taking longer to pay them off as wage growth slows in Australia (pictured, students are seen at Sydney University)<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The report found young Australians today were more than twice as likely as their parents’ generation to have a university education (pictured, the University of Sydney)<\/p>\n

‘Young people are seeing up to 10 per cent of their income diverted to HELP debt repayments well into their mid-30s, just when many are trying to buy their first home and start a family,’ he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Buckley said one way to ease the financial burden on those with HELP debts was to spread their repayments over a longer timeframe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Given that university graduates tend to earn more over their lifetimes, the real issue may not be\u00a0the size of HELP debts but rather the timing of repayment,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Albanese government has responded to rising student debt by wiping 20 per cent off all student loans from June 1, 2025.<\/p>\n

For a young Australian with the average HELP debt of $27,600, this means around $5,520 will be cut from their outstanding balance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the report found most of the benefits of the policy would go to a relatively small group of recent graduates who will likely go on to have much higher lifetime incomes than the average taxpayer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The report found that many would eventually benefit from an inheritance, with the median recipient of a bequest around 50 years of age.<\/p>\n

It predicted the average inheritance would grow nearly four-fold between 2020 and 2050, driven by rising wealth among older Australians and fewer heirs due to long-term declines in fertility.<\/p>\n

The report also found young Australians today were more than twice as likely as their parents’ generation to have a university degree.\u00a0Up to 80 per cent were less likely to drop out of school before finishing Year 12.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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