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American greatness was long premised on the common assumption was that each generation would do better than previous one. That is being undermined for the emerging millennial generation.
The problems facing millennials include an economy where job growth has been largely in service and part-time employment, producing lower incomes; the Census bureau estimates they earn, even with a full-time job, $2,000 less in real dollars than the same age group made in 1980. More millennials, notes a recent White House report, face far longer period of unemployment and suffer low rates of labor participation. More than 20 percent of people 18 to 34 live in poverty, up from 14 percent in 1980.
They are also saddled with ever more college debt, with around half of students borrowing for their education during the 2013-14 school year, up from around 30 percent in the mid-1990s. All this at a time when the returns on education seem to be dropping: A millennial with both a college degree and college debt, according to a recent analysis of Federal Reserve data, earns about the same as a boomer without a degree did at the same age.
[...] Like medieval serfs in pre-industrial Europe, America's new generation, particularly in its alpha cities, seems increasingly destined to spend their lives paying off their overlords, and having little to show for it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @08:12PM
You don't get it!
The spread is a bell curve.
The mean has shifted left.
The right-most, those with self-control, prudence, thrift(!), foresight, planning, intelligence, schooling, contacts, social skills, etc. are fine.
But where the line on the bell curve for 'poverty', on the left, used to have 20% of the 18-34s.
Overall, humans haven't gotten stupider or smarter, not much. But the social situation has changed dramatically and that dollar axis just seems to keep sliding...
This is the point of statistics. Maybe eating oranges gives +5% cancer rate; if so, you'd know many orange-eaters who were cancer-free. Effects must be measured in aggregate, as local jitter overcomes all the small impulses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 07 2017, @08:43PM
Your point being what? That prudence, self-control and all the rest of it are desirable? They improve life outcomes? We knew that.
How does your observation (inasmuch as it's not speculation) translate into a proposal different from the GPP's? "Hey kids, think about your expenditures and try to match them to your financial capacity!" Or are you arguing for some kind of law banning under-30s from getting credit? Because that would surely prevent a lot of misery (and cause plenty more).
So it's tough to be young and in debt. It's easier to be in debt than it was in previous years owing to lots of people doing PR work for the Bad Decision Fairy. This whole thing seems to motivate more people learning life skills - as the GPP was saying.
So what's not to get?