回想我作為一名教師在馬德里工作的三十年氮昧，我意識到框杜，當(dāng)今這一代年輕人，比我那時候貧窮多了
我曾經(jīng)花半個月的教師薪水郭计，從馬德里飛回家霸琴，搭乘西班牙空中的士（此家航空公司2007年已歇業(yè)）或者Aviaco的飛機(jī)，在旁邊的卡耀廣場里的電話亭昭伸，投入一個100比塞塔的硬幣梧乘，只不到一分鐘的時間，給我媽媽打個電話以慰想家之情庐杨。然后回到城中暴熱的40C沒有空調(diào)的蟑螂大量出沒的寓所选调。我真要感謝房東（幫我殺滅蟑螂）和VIPS咖啡店（旁邊唯一有空調(diào)的讓我蹭）。和老人們一起說說是多么容易灵份，嘿仁堪，你們這些年輕人玩著蘋果手機(jī)，周末坐廉價的瑞安航空班機(jī)回家填渠，覺得很糟糕嗎弦聂？我們比這更慘呢。
其實(shí)不然氛什，真的莺葫。
上個星期，正好是我離開大學(xué)30年枪眉，我開始在馬德里當(dāng)一名托福（teaching English as a foreign language捺檬，作為外語的英語教學(xué)）英語老師∶惩回來后堡纬，我邊啜飲著地道的西班牙加奶咖啡，邊讀一篇報道蒿秦，關(guān)于當(dāng)今20-30歲的年輕人相比出生于1960年代的人（就是我的年紀(jì)）烤镐，是怎么生活更加拮據(jù)的。
在其他地方棍鳖，我們高度關(guān)注個人的故事都會談到這些真實(shí)的發(fā)現(xiàn)职车，年輕的成年人毫無疑問地有更多債務(wù)，收入的大部分要付房租，能存下的錢所剩無幾悴灵，幾乎都沒有資格擁有一個家。工業(yè)革命以后骂蓖，每一代的英國工人都比他們上一代過得好积瞒，并逐漸（若有間斷的話）享有更好的住房，消費(fèi)品和退休金登下。當(dāng)今這一代卻第一次看到生活水準(zhǔn)開了倒車茫孔。有蘋果手機(jī)也于事無補(bǔ)。
回到馬德里被芳，當(dāng)托福英語老師仍是廣大英國畢業(yè)生的不二通道缰贝，最大的目標(biāo)國家就是西班牙和日本。今天的老師比我這一代是更差了呢還是更好了畔濒？
在1980年代中期剩晴，我稅后每月拿回家90，000比塞塔（西班牙貨幣）侵状，在歐盟前約值470英鎊赞弥。算通脹的行家告訴我1986年470英鎊相當(dāng)于現(xiàn)在每月1300英鎊。但我付的房租（四房合租）是15000比塞塔趣兄，放在今天約合220英鎊绽左。那樣我有很大一塊剩余的錢可以出去消費(fèi)。我回想當(dāng)初幾乎都不做飯艇潭，晚上9點(diǎn)教完課就到飯店吃飯拼窥，這都成了慣例。而且我每晚都打出租車回家蹋凝，如果懶惰的話鲁纠，上班也打車。
我打電話給馬德里的學(xué)校問現(xiàn)在的老師每月稅后凈收入是多少仙粱，有一個老師告訴我房交，現(xiàn)在一個新老師的每月薪水在800 - 1200歐元。有些學(xué)校付得高些伐割，英國文化協(xié)會（設(shè)立在其他國家）就是特別例子候味。但就算今天一個青春煥發(fā)的大學(xué)畢業(yè)生能掙1200歐元，比我當(dāng)時的1480歐元（用1300英鎊換算的）還是少了相當(dāng)一塊隔心。幸運(yùn)的是馬德里的房租無論哪個區(qū)都不像倫敦那樣瘋高白群。一個老師告訴我他在市中心雷蒂蘿高檔地區(qū)附近的兩房合租，每月租金是425歐元硬霍。那樣還剩大約800歐元消費(fèi)帜慢，可算起來今天仍然比我30年前當(dāng)托福英語老師要差了10% - 20%（但請往好的方面看，馬德里顯然是歐洲最令人興奮的城市）。
當(dāng)他們回到英國粱玲，面臨的問題是躬柬，如果沒有父母的財(cái)政支持要買個房子幾乎不可能。我從房屋階梯投資當(dāng)中賺到不少錢抽减，比我過去17年在《衛(wèi)報》掙到的所有還要多允青。房地產(chǎn)價格相對于薪水收入，是成指數(shù)的增長卵沉，尤其是東南片區(qū)颠锉。但這種情況再也看不到了，至少這一代人來看史汗。所以琼掠，為什么年輕一代不反抗？很簡單停撞，他們承擔(dān)不起瓷蛙。
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原文：
The younger generation getting worse off, why are't they rebelling?
Going back to Madrid 30 years on from working there as a teacher, I realised today’s generation are far poorer than I ever was
I used to pay half a month’s teaching salary to fly home from Madrid on an ancient Spantax or Aviaco plane, press one 100 peseta coin after the next into a phone booth in Plaza del Callao for a few seconds homesickness-filled chat with my mum, and return to a cucaracha-infested apartment with no air conditioning amid the city’s blasting 40c heat. I’d thank the lord for Cucal (to kill the cockroaches) and for the VIPS cafe (the only joint nearby with aircon). How easy it would be to join the chorus of old gits and say, hey you young people with your iPhones and cheap Ryanair weekends, you think you have it bad? We had it a lot worse.
Except we didn’t, really.
Last week, exactly 30 years after I left university and began working in Madrid as a Tefl teacher, I was back, sipping a cafe con leche while reading a report on how today’s 20- to 30-year-olds are far worse off?than those born in the 1960s (such as me).
Elsewhere on the site, we highlight personal stories that talk of the truth of these findings. Young adults are, incontrovertibly, in more debt, paying more of their income in rents, less able to save, and virtually disqualified from home ownership. Since the industrial revolution, each generation of British workers has been better off than the one before, gradually (if fitfully) enjoying better housing, consumer goods and pensions. Today’s generation is the first to see its standard of living go into reverse. iPhones are hardly compensation.
But back to Madrid. Tefl is still a rite of passage for many UK graduates, with Spain and Japan the biggest destinations. Are today’s generation of teachers worse off or better off than in my day?
In the mid-1980s I took home, after tax, 90,000 pesetas a month, which was worth around ￡470 in those pre-euro days. Inflation calculators tell me ￡470 in 1986 money is equal to around ￡1,300 a month today. But my rent (in a four-bed flat share) was just 15,000 pesetas, or more like ￡220 today. That left me with rather a lot to spend on going out. I recall barely ever cooking; eating out in restaurants after a teaching day ending at 9pm was the norm. I took taxis home every night and, lazily, grabbed one to work too.
I called schools in Madrid and asked to speak to teachers about their take-home pay today. One told me the typical figure for a newly arrived teacher was €800-€1,200 a month. Some schools pay more, the British Council in particular. But even if today’s fresh-faced university graduate is earning €1,200, that’s quite a cut from the €1,480 equivalent I was on. Thankfully rents in Madrid are nowhere near as mad as in London. One teacher told me his share in a two-bed flat near the Retiro, a central and upmarket location, was €425 a month. But if that leaves around €800 for spending, it suggests TEFL teachers are 10%-20% worse off today than 30 years ago (but please still go: Madrid is easily Europe’s most exciting city).
When they return to Britain, they face the near impossible task of buying a home without help from the Bank of Mum and Dad. I have earned more from my move up the property ladder than all the money I have earned at the Guardian in the past 17 years. This exponential increase in property values relative to incomes, particularly in parts of the south-east, will not be seen again, for a generation at least. Why aren’t the younger generation rebelling? Maybe they simply can’t afford to.
