More than half of people in their 30s are earning less than their parents at the same age – the first time the younger generation has slipped back in decades, according to researchers at Tilburg University and the social affairs ministry.

In particular, people in the lowest income brackets are struggling to climb the social ladder, the research shows. The researcher compared the salaries of 35-year-olds today with their parents when they were that age and corrected the results for inflation.

The results showed that in 2015, 49% of today’s 35-year-olds were better off than their parents had been, compared with 54% in 2005. This is the first time since WWII that the new generation has been in a worse financial position than their parents, researcher Daniel van Vuuren said.

The rise of short-term and temporary contracts and the surge in self-employment is further reducing job security and the platform economy will have an increasingly important role, Van Vuuren said. ‘Companies are demanding increasingly flexibility from youngsters against less social protection,’ he said.