Gen Z earning more than millennials did at the same age, says thinktank

Generation Z workers are earning more in their early careers than millennials did at the same age, according to new research from the Resolution Foundation, marking a break from a period of stalled generational pay progress. The thinktank found that real weekly pay at age 24 for those born in the late 1990s was 12% higher than for cohorts born in the late 1980s [1]. Those born in the early 2000s are also out-earning any generation at that age going back to those born in the 1950s, a decade defined globally by post-World War II economic expansion and the emergence of the baby boomer generation [1][2]. Charlie McCurdy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said that while millennial living-standards stagnation has been well documented, the oldest members of Gen Z have now enjoyed a "mini pay rebound" [1]. The gains have been sharpest at the bottom of the pay scale. The lowest-paid workers saw their pay rise 36% in real terms between 2012 and 2025, driven by an escalation in the minimum wage, especially since 2016 [1]. Workers aged 22-29 on median earnings recorded hourly pay growth of 15% over the same period, compared with 4% for workers in their 30s and 11% for all employees [1]. Millennials, born between the early 1980s and mid-1990s, were the first generation not to enjoy higher disposable incomes than their predecessors, a setback the foundation linked to careers beginning around the 2008 financial crisis and the long stagnation in real wage growth that followed [1]. The post-war era that earlier cohorts entered was marked by rising birth rates and mass consumerism, with television becoming a common innovation in American homes during the 1950s, though it took decades to become commonplace elsewhere [2]. The foundation cautioned that the Gen Z pay recovery is already under threat. Real wages may fall because of pressures including higher prices and weaker economic growth resulting from war in the Middle East [1]. Meanwhile, the number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training has reached about 1 million [1]. Former Labour minister Alan Milburn warned last month that Britain risks a 25% rise in that figure to 1.25 million by the early 2030s without urgent government action [1]. The Resolution Foundation stated that "for a significant share of younger members of gen Z, their careers have not got off the ground at all" [1].