Do you feel better or worse off than you did in 2009?

  • Income/wealth - do you feel more comfortable about your income now, or back then?

I was young then but my parents income was almost at it's peak in 2009. Before then the house hold income was less than £14k for 3 of us. She got a new job but got made redundant not long after 2009 so she decided to start a degree. My farther was diagnosed with a myriad of illnesses, both physical and mental, therefore making him eligible for benefits. I have no idea about the specifics, or whether my dad claims the benefits but my parents seem fairly comfortable compared to what I remember growing up. I suppose the fact they don't fund me anymore helps.

Generally I'd say things have improved for my parents since 09.

  • Housing - how has your situation differed between the timeframe, or has it stayed the same?

    But speaking for my parents they've lived in the same place since about 2009. My mum is happy enough here. A few years before 2009 (around 2006/07?) we were made 'homeless' as my parents simply couldn't find a place to live within rental budget thanks to the very low house hold income. The council put us up in a temporary house for a few years and eventually a local housing association gave us a house, which is actually pretty decent.

I genuinely feel the government needs to do something about the fact fewer and fewer people are going to be owning their own homes. Stronger tenants rights are a must, if we are aiming to provide housing stability to people in the future. The way the rental market is at the minute is simply not good enough.

Thing's haven't really changed since 2009. But not long before 2009 things weren't good at all. So again, I'd say things have got better.

I don't live at home anymore, so again it's hard to compare.

The notion of owning a house my self doesn't really seem a realistic one. Part of me is annoyed by that, because I'd love to own my own home and have the stability that comes with it. But on the other hand I've never not lived in rental accommodation, so home owning is kind of a foreign idea to me.

  • Education - has anything changed? School leavers, have the increases in eventual fees put you off? Current students - did you notice any differences when fees went up?

I left school the year before the fee increase, I dropped out of my degree and started again. But thanks the Welsh Assembly, the free increase made no difference to me. But there is a clear difference in the number of people in my year and the years above. My friend studying the same degree had a class size at least twice as large. The fee increase seemed to make a real difference in the first couple of years in my opinion.

  • Economy - how do you feel about this?

Ever since I've become self dependant the economy has been weak. I don't really know what the alternative is like. But from my experience, the economy hasn't really effected my own life, or my parents life. Like I've said, my parents seem better off now than before recession and my mothers wage actually peaked mid recession. Her redundancy wasn't linked to a weak economy, so that would have happened either way.

Personally I feel fairly confident regarding the economy, it seems to be on the up to me. But again, it's hard for me to compared it as I have no experience of pre-recession.

  • Work and welfare - are you in a job, applying or trying to change? Do you receive any benefits and how has that changed in the time? Have you been made redundant, struggled to find work, or found lots of it? Have any changes to social security including things like disability allowances and the bedroom tax affected you?

Like I've touched on, my mother was made redundant but not due to the economy. She did find it hard to find another job but that's got as much to do with the fact she can't speak Welsh as it has to do with the economy. I believe my amount of social security my parents receive has decreased since I left home, but not in line with the amount of money that was needed to sustain me.

I'm looking for jobs/further study and I have to be honest, it scares the shit out of me. I'm really worried I'm not going to have anything to do upon graduation, I'd love to continue studying but money is rapidly making that an impossibility. The job market is so competitive, despite wanting to work in a field which is growing and lacking in available employees. Everyone wants experience, but no one will give you experience. Grad jobs are not what I want to do, boring, poorly paid and amazingly competitive in the line of work I'm interested in.

I didn't at all go for an irrelevant degree, but getting stuck in a rut where I am working to get by but my degree is an irrelevancy is something I'm really worried about. If that's what it comes to then fine, shit work is better than no work. But I'd be much happier to work for a terrible wage in a relevant field and gain experience, but even that is seemingly hard to do.

Employment is probably my biggest worry.

  • Health - have you had issues with changes to the NHS, as an employee or patient? For those with long term conditions, has anything changed that you feel could be put down to change in government?

The NHS dental system is an absolute mess. My mum can't find a dentist within 50 miles of home (and she doesn't drive.), so her teeth are getting worse and worse and there isn't much she can do about it.I've had nothing but terrible experiences with the NHS dental system.

But that isn't a result of the current government actions, it was just as buggered up with the previous one.

  • Travel - how do you feel about the state of travel, private or public Culture - has anything changed?

Public transport where my parents live is amazingly poor. Buses are very expensive and infrequent. My dad can''t drive due to health and my mum can't drive because she has the spatial awareness of a bookshelf. They get by and don't moan too much though. My dad has a disabled persons bus pass which is superb.

There hasn't been an major change in travel since 2009 though.

  • Immigration - what has been your experience and where do you see this heading?

I was born in Manchester and grew up in North Wales.

There has been a very noticeable change in the diversity of where we lived in North Wales. When we moved, everyone was white and from the UK. My primary school was literally 99% white. Now there is a far more diverse make up, Chinese and Japanese immigration seems to have been huge, by far the biggest change. Though there are more immigrants of all sorts, especially eastern Europeans.

It doesn't bother me, doesn't specifically improve the area either. It's neither here nor there.

Where we lived in Manchester has almost completely transformed though. The area was largely white people from the UK, with a significant minority of Jewish families from all over. Now the Jewish families have moved from the area, and the area is increasingly made up of Muslim Asians. Again, it really bother me.

TL;DR Personal circumstances have changed massively. But governmental and economic changes haven't really made much difference at all to me or my parents.

On a personal level things have got better for me since 2009. I left school, left home (where I was pretty unhappy), started uni and now live with my girlfriend of god knows how many years now, I'm happy.

I'm worried about employment in the short term, but presuming that falls into place I'm fairly confident about the future.

Growing up in a very poor house hold with little stability in terms of housing or family relationships has perhaps made me realise that shit isn't that bad. Perhaps I won't ever own my own home,

/r/unitedkingdom Thread