Unlike previous generations of workers, young people are prioritising stability over chaos and community over churn

For decades, we’ve been told that the modern workplace is a playground of freedom and choice. Flexibility, agility and autonomy have become buzz words in an employment marketplace saturated with an endless choice of job opportunities.

But the reality for most workers, especially younger ones who have recently joined the job market, is that jobs vanish as quickly as they appear, benefits are slashed, exploitation is rife and career paths once paved with middle-class respectability have crumbled under the relentless march of automation and the ubiquity of the platform economy.

Oli Mould is professor in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London