The precarity of young people’s housing and labour market experiences in a rural context

Abstract

Young people’s housing, economic and labour market circumstances have become increasingly insecure due to combined effects of the 2007/08 economic crisis, neoliberal welfare reforms and the shortage of affordable housing. Discussions of young peoples’ experiences in these domains have largely neglected their spatial variability but evidence suggests that young people living in rural parts of the UK have distinctive experiences of housing and labour markets, including considerations of both educational and employment opportunities. By drawing on qualitative data from young people and housing professionals, this paper explores some of these rural distinctions and frames them within the current socioeconomic environment. It argues for a more geographically-nuanced understanding of contemporary housing and labour market issues as rural youth potentially face greater precarity than their urban peers.