I sincerely hope that these kids remember what this Government has done to them when they come to vote at the next general election. It was THIS GOVERNMENT that promised NOT TO introduce University fees. Remember, remember, remember.....you can't believe ANYTHING that they say. It has been one lie after another. I don't think that they even know the truth.

judy, Liverpool, england

The young are shelling out for all the fnal salary pensions..hey ho but not for my very expensive money purchase scheme and all those oap's who have never contributed a been towards thieir retirement..tip of the ice berg..this pension thing and crippling young folk financially..

toni bates, havant,

The person who posted about moving to Seattle (or the US in general) is right. For graduates with engineering and science degrees a starting salary of $70k-$85k would be the norm. Plus you pay a lot less in tax and most corporations have health care insurance that out classes anything I've seen from the NHS.

Though of course you have to get the job and then get a visa...

James, Seattle, USA,

The problem stems from voter apathy among young taxpayers. Politicians devise measures that will deliver their party the maximum number of votes. There is no incentive to look after the iPod generation, because of the low voter turnout among this demographic.

Rebecca, London,

Hang on, I'm a recent graduate with a decent degree (Masters in Engineering, not some joke of a BA in David Beckham Studies) and I'm on £21k - I could have gotten up to £23k if I'd taken a less appealing job in a worse location, but not realistically a lot higher as a starting salary.

Is the mean graduate starting salary *really* £27k? Or is that just for stockbrokers in London?

Alex, Bristol,

I agree completely with this and know so many British graduates my age who have either already emigrated (like me) or are making plans to do so. Why work hard all our lives for so little reward?

V Jones , Brussels, Belgium

William P. from Paterson, N.J., if Hillary is elected we, in the USA, will be in the same tax swamp as the Brits.

Bill Rouse, Tampa, Florida

Socialism at its finest.
Of course, this is not to say that America doesn't have problems, we do. But I know if I was diagnosed with cancer, I'd be much more likely to survive it in America than Britain. I'd rather be poor and alive, than a dead socialist. The Canadians come down to America to get medical care. Gee, I wonder why. Perhaps it's because they don't want to die while on waiting lists.

josh, Los Angeles, USA, CA

lol that'll keep the college educated in the country. The awesome thing about globalization is that people dont have to put up with this kind of BS anymore. The place you live in sucks? Move somewhere else.

Faye, USA,

£27k average graduate starting salary? Some mistake there I think. Perhaps this is based on City-only figures (typical!)

This report confirms what many twenty-somethings in semi-professional and professional capacities have been feeling for a while now: everything money-wise is stacked up against us! We have had to pay for our higher education and stretch ourselves vastly to buy a place to live (and we get pay the £125k stamp duty burden to rub salt into the wound!) Compare the finances of 30yr olds to the projected finances of current 25yr olds in 5 years time and you'll get the drift; the former is likely to have zero student loan repayments and 25%-of- take-home mortgage repayments instead of 50%-of- take-home. What happens to economies when you have such a disparity in the finances of generations?

Dan, Peterborough, England

There is no such thing as a free lunch! If you want all those government programs and benefits, you have to pay. If you want to change things, then vote with your feet, emigrate. Do not a solution from a politician. The only interest they represent is their own.

William, Paterson, NJ, USA

Glad to see that my choice to stay out of university is vindicated by the figures shown here. I'm now 23 and was among the first to study for the ill concieved AS/A2's, after receiving straight A's in my Gsce's i decided to leave education mid way through my "A-levels". I didn't like the rushed attitude to the courses and i couldn't help but think i was just being groomed for a similar experience at university. All i knew then was that I really did not want the crippling debt or the real uncertainty of post university life so i left my A-levels in my first year hoping to "work my way up". I'm just sad that I didn't get to follow my true passion at university as I was too concerned with how i would be able to pay off debts and live a decent life with no guarantee of a career at the end of my course. I can at least now look at my choice as being logical as I have no real monetary worries and I earn an above average salary. Just a shame others can't be as happy with where they are in life

Jamie dawes, Leicester, UK

I graduated with a Masters in Chemistry from St Andrews and know at least 3 people who have grad. starting salaries of £30,000 and I have an interview for a job offering £38,000. I have a larger student loan than most and do know IR and politics graduates who started at £21K. The degree done evidently affects the salary but I do also know someone who graduated with a BSc who is getting £17,000 a year and at least £4,000 of that disappears in tax/council tax and NI. There is something so definitely wrong here.

Rebecca Comley, Tunbridge Wells, Kent

I'm a graduate no way near earning £27k!!! would be nice though!!! the taxmen already takes half of my salary from me, i find myself calling up the tax office each month to check to see if my tax code is definately correct!!!!!

James, London, UK

I seriously doubt that an average starting salary for a graduate is £27k odd. Should really give references for these funny numbers.

Blooperman, London,

So after all that they are left with something approaching the mean wage in this country doesn't seem too bad a deal at 22yrs old. The starting salary quoted seems a little high and if JoBloggs is a graduate, why the hell is he using '2' in his comment! The starting salaries here at my company, a scientific one, is practically half of the one quoted in the article. gordon Brown is not the only one to have raided pension plans the companies themselves frequnetly did so in the nineties.Not to mention the investment funds who bought companies with the sole aim of getting their hands on the pensions.

John, London,

I'd like to meet all those graduates who manage to get a job at £27K! I'm 34, nearly qualified accountant and still only earning £27K.

I'm sure the picture is far worse for all those graduates who fall into the below average earnings, still owe £13K, have to live at home and basically spend the rest of their informative, career building years trying to keep the wolf from the door and delaying life plans.

I know someone who has left University, unable to secure a full-time job, works temping for the local council and is actively prevented from applying for a full-time job within the council because they are reserved for the full-time employees already there!! That, I think, tells you everything about the attitude of this government to offering opportunity to the upcoming generations!

Jonathan, Coventry, UK

24 year old graduate here who left for the US last year - the UK boomers are fine but everyone else is left out in the cold. High tax, ridiculous property prices, draconian curbs on civil liberties and not being able to go out for a(n expensive) pint without worrying about getting into a fight with some yob - no thanks.

Expat, Florida, USA

"Who are these new graduates earning £27,155?"

I spotted that one too, I assume they work for quango's

Dominic, Manchester, UK

Move to Seattle.

Mr Wilson, Seattle, USA

Who are these new graduates earning £27,155?

Susan, Caton, Lancaster,

Russell - agreed.

Anyone who thinks that the brightest minds and hardest workers of this generation are going to work our socks off in order to support a burgeoning grey population is an absolute fool.

The society in which we live is increasingly restrictive on what one can do, what one can say, and how one can live. And yet simultaneously expects its citizens to pay more and more for less and less.

It's a joke, and having already spent time in Japan, I shall shortly be looking to the freer, cheaper, more fun locations of Hong Kong, Dubai or Sao Paulo.

I shall be taking my £80k a year (at 28) and Oxford education with me. Not without regret, of course. There are many things that I love about the UK. However, I feel that I would be stupid not to go. And that's a real shame. It's a shame that we are in a position where if you actually stay in this country as a young person, you are a moron, a mug.

Oh well...

Andrew, London, UK

its all a bit of an ugly circle, Government treats Graduates with valuable skills badly, resulting in the fact that they would prefer to find work in a more favourable desirable country, leading further to more imigrants taking the jobs of British graduates. Why would the average Joe Blogs Student want 2 stay in the UK? I feel the policies of Scotland should be widely followed and expanded upon, look after your own before you look after anyone else.

joe Bloggs, Belfast,

Given that people in there 50´s and above have been sold out by this government on their pensions I fail to see what other option there is but to tax those working more. For the majority of us in our 60's we prudently invested in what we were told to be a sensible pension arrangement to look after us in our old age. Similarly, those of us who weren't conned on the endowment policy scam engineered our mortgages to be fully paid up when we retired. 40 years ago we hoped that this foresight along with a meager state pension would allow us a reasonable quality of life when we retired. Then government screwed us all. Bad regulation allowed private pensions to go down the pan, Gordon Brown raided our pension pots for his social engineering programs and the state pension is an even worser joke than before. Now at age 60 we no longer have the luxury of time to try an redress this issue not of our making and refill our pension arrangements. Put simply you cant trust anyone these days !

Mike, Alicante, Spain

spot on. about time we had a report that higlights why people of my age (26) are looking to dubai and alternative european countries to live.

russell , solihill,