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1/Today's @bopinion post is about the Millennial generation, now approaching middle age. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-12/millennials-approach-middle-age-without-benefit-of-economic-boom
2/Every time I see a 35-year-old say "OK Boomer" on Twitter, I just have to laugh.
Because, that's us. We Millennials are the "Boomers" now. We're the ones the meme is making fun of, not our elderly parents.
Because, that's us. We Millennials are the "Boomers" now. We're the ones the meme is making fun of, not our elderly parents.
3/Remember a few years ago when people were writing about Millennials as if we were this young, rebellious generation intent on remaking everything about American society? https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/28/booming/the-truth-about-millennials-in-boomer-eyes.html
4/Well, guess what. Either next year or the year after (depending on your definition), the first Millennials will become eligible for protection under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. https://twitter.com/NewsyNick/status/1193200000525688832
5/But although Millennials are rapidly aging out of youth, many still live with their parents: https://twitter.com/graykimbrough/status/1170008633301708802?s=20
6/And fewer Millennials own their own homes, compared to earlier generations: https://twitter.com/graykimbrough/status/1096884365945114625
7/And fewer Millennials are married than older generations were at the same age.
8/And Millennials are having fewer kids.
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr-007-508.pdf
And those who do are having them later. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/american-women-are-having-babies-later-and-are-still-conflicted-about-it-2017-05-19
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/vsrr/vsrr-007-508.pdf
And those who do are having them later. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/american-women-are-having-babies-later-and-are-still-conflicted-about-it-2017-05-19
9/Why are so many Millennials failing to launch?
Is it culture? Are young people simply rejecting the traditional symbols of maturity - house, marriage, kids - in favor of an extended youth? Are they just a bunch of Peter Pans?
Maybe, but I doubt it.
Is it culture? Are young people simply rejecting the traditional symbols of maturity - house, marriage, kids - in favor of an extended youth? Are they just a bunch of Peter Pans?
Maybe, but I doubt it.
10/A more likely reason is economics plus education.
In the old days of unions, you could often make a decent salary right out of high school. Or at least right out of college.
Now you need to stay in school a lot longer.
In the old days of unions, you could often make a decent salary right out of high school. Or at least right out of college.
Now you need to stay in school a lot longer.
11/By the time you get that postgraduate degree and get out into the workforce, you're almost at the age when earnings traditionally plateau!
12/More of your youth spent in the classroom = less time to save for a house and kids before you hit the age when your biological clock starts ticking.
13/Now on top of that, add the fact that many Millennials graduated into the Great Recession, which added a permanent economic scar to their careers.
https://www.nber.org/digest/nov06/w12159.html
https://www.nber.org/digest/nov06/w12159.html
14/And the housing crash put an end to the steady wealth accumulation that middle-class and working-class Americans had known for decades prior:
15/And on top of that, add decades of rising inequality!! https://www.epi.org/publication/decades-of-rising-economic-inequality-in-the-u-s-testimony-before-the-u-s-house-of-representatives-ways-and-means-committee/
16/Are Millennials still living the roommates-and-Tinder lifestyle because they want to?
Seems unlikely. Seems more likely that they're living it because economically they have little other choice.
https://contexts.org/blog/sexual-attitudes-among-college-students-similarities-between-white-black-latinx-and-asian-students/
Seems unlikely. Seems more likely that they're living it because economically they have little other choice.
https://contexts.org/blog/sexual-attitudes-among-college-students-similarities-between-white-black-latinx-and-asian-students/
17/Millennials, as the saying goes, are getting old before they had a chance to get rich.
18/Little surprise, therefore, that so many Millennials are turning to socialism. http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/polls-millennials-and-gen-zers-are-dystopian-socialists.html
19/We need to start thinking of Millennials less as youthful rebels infused with idealism, and more as embittered adults heading toward middle age before their finances are in order -- Boomers who never got a chance to boom.
(end) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-12/millennials-approach-middle-age-without-benefit-of-economic-boom
(end) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-11-12/millennials-approach-middle-age-without-benefit-of-economic-boom
