YOUNG ARE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT JOB PROSPECTS

One of the most striking findings from YouGov's survey of young people for
The Daily Telegraph is their optimism about work.

Although roughly one in five, 18 per cent, doubt whether they will be able
to find a good job in the near future, far more - a total of 72 per cent -
think they already have one (25 per cent) or will soon find one (47 per
cent).

Moreover, the great majority apparently has little fear of ending up in jobs
with no prospects. As the chart shows, a large majority, 60 per cent,
expects to pursue a career between now and middle-age - as distinct from
drifting from one job to another. An even larger majority, 73 per cent,
expects positively to enjoy work.

Most people seem reasonably well satisfied with their education so far. Only
eight per cent describe the quality of their primary and secondary schooling
as "poor".

That said, the newly introduced AS examinations are by no means popular.
Among those who have sat AS-levels, more than half, 53 per cent, think they
are "a bad idea." Just over a third appear to approve of them. Satisfaction
with the performance of universities and other higher-education institutions
is also at high levels.

"Two thirds of YouGov's respondents rate their university or college
education as "excellent" (23 per cent) or "good" (45 per cent) and only 10
per cent take a distinctly dimmer view.

Governments of all parties have claimed that experience of higher education
improves young people's job prospects and, according to YouGov, most young
people agree.

More than 80 per cent of young people who are either in higher education or
have already graduated say their experience has improved their job prospects
either "a lot" (53 per cent) or at least "a little" (30 per cent).

Those who administer higher education maintain that alcohol is a far more
serious problem on campuses than drugs and YouGov's findings suggest they
are probably right - at least if university students are typical of all
young people today.

The figures headed "Drink" suggest that almost half of young people consume
alcohol seldom or not at all but more are moderate to heavy drinkers and
half admit that, when they do drink, they consume the equivalent of three
pints of beer or more.

The YouGov poll thus confirms what most people believe already: that binge
drinking is common among a considerable proportion of late teenagers and
their slightly older brothers and sisters. Drugs are a problem, but
evidently not on the same scale.

While 40 per cent of respondents confess to having experimented with
cannabis, only 12 per cent have occasionally used ecstasy, cocaine or crack
cocaine and only a small minority, 10 per cent, uses any of these drugs at
all regularly.

Even more significant is the fact that most young people do not want to see
ecstasy or the harder drugs made legal or even decriminalised. Fully 80 per
cent want to hold the line on ecstasy and 90 per cent on heroin and cocaine.

Predictably, a majority of young people takes a different view of cannabis's
legal status. Only 28 per cent think cannabis should remain illegal. As the
chart shows, more than double that proportion - a total of 64 per cent -
think it should be made legal or at least decriminalised.

Of the "three Ds" - drink, drugs and debt - debt appears to be the one that
weighs most heavily on young people's minds. More than half of YouGov's 17
to 22-year-old respondents admit to being in debt and 38 per cent owe more
than UKP1,500. One in 10 owes UKP10,000 or more.

Moreover, of the roughly half who are in debt, 40 per cent concede that they
are worried about the scale of their financial liabilities. Only 55 per cent
say they can handle their debts "quite easily".

Taken as a whole, YouGov findings by no means suggest that no young people
are in trouble or that all of them have a rosy future but they do
demonstrate a degree of confidence that suggests that the worst fears of
their elders about the next generation are largely unfounded.

YouGov elicited the opinions of 709 men and women aged between 17 and 22
online between June 26 and 28.