IELTS Task 2 Sample Essay – Young

and Old People in the Job Market

Nowadays more and more people have to compete with young people for the
same jobs.

What problems does this cause?

What are some possible solutions?

This task 2 question was recently on the academic paper and it caused big problems for
most students. Many students failed to do something crucial and received a much lower
mark than they should have.

Below are two essays. One answered the question correctly and one did not. Can you
tell which one answered the question properly?

Answer 1

Those seeking a job are now facing stiffer competition from the younger generation.
This essay will suggest that the main cause of this is high youth unemployment and
propose free further education as a viable solution, followed by a reasoned conclusion.

The great depression of 2008 left a huge number of the world’s youth, particularly those
between 18-25 years old, out of work. This has resulted in a massive number of people
in this age bracket applying for every available job, whereas far fewer would have
applied in the past. For example, in countries like Spain, Greece and Ireland, over 25% of
young people find themselves without a job. However, it should be mentioned that
most of them have little or no experience and therefore should pose no real threat to
older people with lots of time on the job.

A possible solution to this problem is introducing universal third-level education. Free

tertiary education would lift many of today’s young adults out of unemployment and
put them back into the classroom, thus reducing the competition between young and
old. Germany recently introduced this very measure and it has been shown to be an
overwhelming success. Despite this, it is feared that there will be a glut of highly
educated graduates in the future and this may only exacerbate the problem.
In summary, the financial crisis has not only led to millions of young people losing any
hope of employment but also increased competition for jobs between generations.
Governments should consider providing the youth of today with more opportunities for
further study in order to ease this burden.

Answer 2

Those seeking a job are now facing stiffer competition from the younger generation.
This essay will suggest that the main problem this causes is higher poverty among older
people and propose lowering the retirement age as a possible solution, followed by a
reasoned conclusion.

Increased competition from today’s youth has left many over 50s in poverty. If a young
and old person apply for the same job, it is often the case that the younger individual
will have more qualifications and may also be willing to work for less money, leaving
many seniors without work and ‘left on the scrapheap’. For example, a recent survey
showed that since the financial crisis in 2008, fuel and food poverty has increased by
82% amongst the aged. Despite this, many of the older generation own their own
property and have large savings and therefore, are somewhat insulated from these
troubles.

The most viable answer would be to drop the age of retirement. Most industrialised
countries could afford to lower this from 65 to 60, thus allowing millions of people to
simply retire and be looked after by the state. For instance, Finland recently decreased
the retirement age for all government employees to free up more jobs for their
graduates. However, this initiative may be very unpopular with the business community,
who would have to pay for many of these early retirements.

In summary, the increased rivalry between young and old in the job market has resulted
in the impoverishment of many of our older citizens and countries should consider
reducing the age of retirement to solve this.

Can you tell which one got the higher mark?