Alan Dee – £60k by the time you’re 35? Oh you poor misguided teenagers...

Just as any series of Big Brother or I’m A Celebrity offers the reassurance that there are at least a handful of social misfits or Z-list boneheads out of circulation for a while, The Apprentice serves as a signal reminder that whatever you think of that young, brash, self-regarding and inept go-getter in your workplace things could be so much worse.

The motley collection of booted and suited entrepreneurs in waiting whose real-life careers are going so swimmingly that they can all be spared for several weeks to jump through hoops for Lord Grumpy of Wrinkleface are uniformly appalling, of course, but they’re selected to be that way for entertainment value.

But it’s entertainment, not an example – and casting the spotlight on sharp-suited snake-oil sellers like these can only help contribute to the wildly unrealistic expectations today’s teenagers apparently have about their earning potential.

Never mind that the world economy is going to hell in a handcart, that those unsporting Chinese will work for a pittance to make the things we want to buy, and the worrying news that one in three firms finds it necessary to run remedial classes in simple English and maths for new recruits because the schools have done such a bang-up job in preparing the next generation – teens still reckon that they’ll soon be coining it.

Ready for a sharp intake and hollow laugh? A new survey has found that the average teenager expects to be paid more than £60,000 a year by the time they are 35. You heard.

On leaving education, they reckon they’ll be on around £16,600, which isn’t that far out if you ask me – as long as you’re a graduate and you can find a job in the first place.

But in their rose-tinted world, that’s going to have more than doubled to £35,400 by the time they are 25.

And there’s no stopping that upward salary surge – by their mid-30s they expect to be savouring that £60k plus salary and living the dream. Yes, honestly. Will you tell them, or will I?

Here’s the truth – average earnings for those under 21 are just £8,595, and that’s an average. That means some people will be earning more – but some will be earning even less. That’s just simple maths, and if they had been paying attention in school they’d realise that.

And that’s not all, of course. If you’ve never seen the disbelieving look on the face of a bright new recruit when they get their first pay slip and realisation dawns about nasty things like tax and national insurance, it’s an experience to savour.

The problem is, of course, that the years of easy credit and cheap gadgets has given a whole generation the silly idea that they can live high on the hog without being able to back it up with hard cash. I believe the global banking industry make a similar mistake, you may have heard about it.

Perhaps we should introduce some sort of Tell The Truth About Your Salary day when everyone still in work has to wear a badge detailing what they actually earn, just to put the youngsters in the picture.

But look on the bright side, at this rate it will be a good while before any of them have to start paying off their student debt...