Life's tough out there for millennials (born 1980 to 2000). And several recent articles have extensive data illustrating this.
The New York Time's article We're Making it Too Hard for Millennials points out:
"The most educated generation in history is on track to becoming less prosperous, at least financially, than its predecessors."
It backs this statement up with the chart below, which shows despite being better educated "Americans between 18 and 34 are earning less today (after adjustment for inflation) than the same age group did in the past."
In addition to earning less, many millennials are burdened with school related debt. This combination is making it hard for millennials to live on their own.
The report chart below shows the millennials are much less likely to be homeowners than prior generations, but at the same time are facing rapidly increasing rental costs.
Because of this, millennials continue to live with their parents at much higher rates than past generations - even as the economy has recovered.
Pew Research's More Millennials Living With Their Families Despite Improved Job Market covers this topic with Pew's usual depth and quality.
The Pew chart below shows millennials are having a hard time moving out on their own.
These charts and articles nicely illustrate some of the economic challenges millennials face. They also show it's clearly a much tougher and economically uncertain world for young adults today than when Baby Boomers and Gen Xers were this age.
We cover the very important topic in more detail in our economic uncertainty section.
I also recommend reading our article The Lean Years, which describes the angst many millennials are dealing with due to economic uncertainty.
Comments