Rarely do I read an article that captures and describes the impact of economic uncertainty on personal decision making as well as The Lean Years.
Written by Millennial and freelance writer Melina Coogan (Twitter handle @melinacoogan), The Lean Years describes the economic angst of many Millennials (and those older).
Key quote:
One of the reasons that I'm scared to have children is because I can't give them everything my parents gave me. I was raised in the roaring 90s and things were different. I call this time now 'the lean years.' ... It's not that my kids won't eat or have a nice place to sleep. It's just that it feels irresponsible to even consider having another little person around to pay for when my finances are uncertain. There- that's a good word for it. Uncertain.
The article goes on to point out that most of the good things in life are free, so things really aren't that bad.
But despite the happier ending, the impact of today's uncertain economy and the lack of stable, predictable earnings on Coogan are quite clear.
When you aggregate the impacts of economic uncertainty on the entire generation, you get a wide range of 2nd order economic and societal impacts.
These include (but aren't limited to) lower marriage rates, lower birth rates, lower home ownership rates, higher income inequality, greater levels of poverty - it even changes where people choose to live.
Because many of our institutions and businesses are built on the assumption of substantially greater employment stability and security than currently exits, the impacts of economic uncertainty are large, disruptive and not fully understood.
But we do know it's changing industries and creating both threats and opportunities for small businesses.
We cover this powerful trend in our Economic Uncertainty section.
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