How 1 in 10 youngsters think they’ll never retire

MORE than one in ten young people in Britain expects to work until they die, according to a report.

Rising life expectancy, the collapse of gold-plated pensions and the increase in the state pension age have made 12 per cent of 20 to 34-year-olds very gloomy indeed about their retirement prospects.

The only consolation in the research was the fact that socalled Generation Y work fewer hours than their contemporaries abroad.

Of the 18 countries surveyed by recruitment giant Manpower, Britons and Australians had the least demanding working lives, putting in 41 hours a week.

Meanwhile, the French have a 44hour week, while Indians are the hardest workers, notching up 52

Japanese are the gloomiest

hours. Despite suffering from skyhigh unemployment and a deep recession, the Spanish appear to have the sunniest disposition, with just 3 per cent believing they will have to work until they drop.

The gloomiest group were the Japanese, with almost four in ten – 37 per cent – convinced they will never be able to retire.

Globally, most younger people expect to work for longer than their parents, with more than three in ten (32 per cent) saying they will work until they are 70.

In the UK, the state pension age is rising to 68 for both men and women by 2046. In 2010 a women was able to retire aged 60.

Earlier this week Lord Turner, architect of radical workplace pensions reforms, warned that it might have rise to 70 by 2030 to make it more affordable for the government.

Younger people are also working as hard – if not harder – than their parents, according to the report by Manpower.

Globally, more than eight in ten (83 per cent) said they work more than 40 hours a week.