Recently, I have spotted a not-insignificant-amount of articles accusing younger workers of finding any excuse under the sun to avoid coming in to work.

Personally, I’m someone who enjoys coming into the office – and I’m not the only one – but I have sympathy for fellow graduates and younger people across the workforce who have really fallen out of love with the nine-to-five. As I look at my friendship group from school on social media, I’m surprised by the sheer variety of what they’re up to nowadays.

Some have finished university – undergraduate and masters – and are now a year or two into their working lives earning serious money. Meanwhile, some are laying down on a beach in South East Asia, or similar, with no degree but instead a job working at a local bar and an unwavering uncertainty of what they want to do with their lives. The question lies: who’s choosing the right path?

According to official figures, one in five 18 to 24-year olds with mental health issues were out of work between 2018 and 2022, and the number of young people out of work from poor health has doubled over the last decade. To me it comes down to four factors; politics, pandemic, economics and jealously.

Firstly, and arguably the most pressing issue, is the UK government.

As a country, we’re getting to the stage where most young people don’t trust politics. For a lot of us, this lack of trust comes from an innate inability for any party to stick to their campaign promises, sucking all motivation out of younger people who don’t see the point of contributing to an economy where our income tax will be either lost or wasted on pointless policies.