Much has been written about the deteriorating mental health of young people in recent years; survey after survey finds reported rates of depression, anxiety and other mental and behavioural disorders rising in teens and young adults.

For all the headlines, there have been several thoughtful challenges to this narrative. One is that shifts in the language used to talk about mental health mean subtle changes in survey wording can produce dramatically different trends. Another is that while young people may now be more likely to say they feel sad or worried, this has not generally been matched by an increase in more concrete markers of distress.

But two sources of economic data that have been underutilised in this debate suggest the deterioration is quite real.