I have been doing some digging, looking for any statistical information, on European kid/teen/youth spending. Naturally I didn't find any, but I did find some interesting articles about the attitudes of young people, firstly stemming from the credit crunch, as it led to the full on recession. I have attached the articles below, & of course they are only anecdotal, but it's what I could find for now.
I'll keep digging!
1. 19-15yo STUDENTS
Are experiencing unprecedented feelings of insecurity, due to the recession, and its repercussion, especially jobs opportunities.
The 'promises' from majors European governments, "stay in education, you will have better jobs & more money! Education, education education!", have rang hollow, & they feel as if their opportunities will be highly restricted, as companies lay off jobs, rather than offer them.
Look at the following examples;
A] Riots against police in Athens, from Dec 2008, until now, by middle-classed students & teens.
B] FLASH-picnic protests in Paris supermarkets, highlighting that the unemployment rate for GenYers is 25-30%, compared to 6% in 1973.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/25/france-picnic-protests-appel-pioche
C] UK students are leaving university with average debts of 12,000 pounds [2007 figure]. If you add the non-student statistic, of the rising number of 16-14yo NEETS [Not in Education, Employment or Training] is 14%, double the national average...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/11/young-people-recession
Things look rather bleak for young people as a whole.
2. INCOME
The ATM machine of mum, dad & grandparents is drying up [they may be getting laid-off themselves], and with their own limited job opportunities, the spending power of young people, [if not quite in sharp decline], will probably be in a steady one. Thus I think very quickly, young people will enter...
3] THE AGE OF FRUGALITY
It is slightly ironic that young people in general are used NOT to having much money. They make do & mend with the things that they can beg, borrow, steal & SWAP from friends, parents & siblings so many of then don't feel as if they have much to lose anyway...they've survived this long, & with increasing awareness of how he recession bites, know they may have to take anything, until times get better.
BUT they ARE already TRADING DOWN. The general population & youngsters are switching brands...from a Starbucks Cap, to a McDonalds one, from a full basket at Wholefoods or Tescos, to an even fuller one at the discounters, Aldi or Lidl...Austerity is hot...if not cool.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jan/31/retail-shopping-habits-credit-crunch
http://www.marketingcharts.com/direct/lackluster-teen-spending-indicates-discretionary-recession-4397/
4] YOUTHFUL OPTIMISM
But I think there is an upswing to this...Creativity is frequently created in downtimes..from Punk in the 70's, Hip Hop in the early 80's & House music in the 90's, & even now, Urban [I REALLY hate that word!] music from the UK, the US & Jamaica, are creating RECESSION-story music provocative thoughts for our time.
To carry on in that theme, a trend for flamboyant make-up on the club scene, from Ibiza, London all the way to Iceland, as people will want to put aside the mundanity of the recession, in favour of the flamboyant & decadent...NB, cosmetic sales, do not tend to go down in recessions!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2009/jan/30/recession-rap-anthems
http://dirtydirtydancing.com/default.aspx?Album=Durrr%20-%2019th%20January&Image=DSC_9603.jpg
5] RESPONSIBILITY
Young people will probably reject ostentatious bling, for a more considered way of consuming. As they are trading down, they will look for more value from a product or experience, for their euros to go further.
Suffice to say, I don't think they are isolated from what is going on right now. They will be frustrated, so expect to see more signs of strikes, or protests [passive-picnic types, & violent]. But we'll also see burgeoning creativity in how they consume [swap parties, ebay etc] & how they Do It themselves.
I'll leave it up to this quote to sum it up...
"If it gets hard to borrow money to get a mortage, I can always got to plan B; become an artist, form a band, dj & live in a squat." Twig Garcia 19yo, London. [taken from the Ruby Pseudo blog]
http://rubypseudochatchat.blogspot.com/search/label/Finance
