I think that the perception of how bad a situation is might be based not only on objective figures, but also on some subconscious comparison of the expected duration of the crisis to expected duration of the remainder of one's career. I know that this may start another fight about pension pots and all the likes, but folks in their 50s and 60s are generally far better off and far more secure financially than the youngsters who haven't even paid back their training debt yet. Nonetheless, the younger guys and girls seem not to succumb to much negative talks. Why? Perhaps because they have the realisation that 1 or 2 years are not any sizable fraction of the 30-40 years of career they have got ahead of them. If you are 25, 2 years equal 5% of your time between now and 65. If you are 60, 2 years are already 40% of your time to 65. Massive difference.