They're Back! Share of Adult Children Living at Home Highest in 75
Years, by Patrice Lee Onwuka, 4/12/18.
We laugh about the term "adult
children" as representative of a generation that failed to grow up. Now,
new data underscores that the percentage of young adults living with their
parents is not just common, but at its highest levels since after the
Great Depression.
According to Pew, 33 percent of 25 - 29
year olds lives at home with their parents or grandparents. 1940
was the last time that so many young adults were living at home with
parents and even then, only 32 percent of young people did so.
The percentage of boomerang kids had declined for three decades until bottoming out
in 1970 when it was as low as 12 percent. Then
the trend reversed and rose steadily for the past almost five
decades. Under the Obama administration, the share
of boomerang young adults climbed one percentage point each year.
Pew points to a few drivers:
Postponing marriage – The median age of Americans in
their first marriage has risen steadily for decades while the overall the share of young adults either married or living with
an unmarried partner has substantially fallen. Pew analysis projects that as many as
one-in-four of today’s young adults may never marry.
Bad economy – The Great Recession (and
modest recovery) led
to more young adults living at home. Young people may have enrolled
in college, but weak job opportunities also led more young people to
stay at home as a safety net.
Demographics - Increasing racial and ethnic diversity
explains some of the increase in multigenerational living. Asian and Hispanic populations are more likely
than whites to live in multigenerational family households. Foreign-born Americans (driven by Asians and
Hispanics) are also more likely
than native-born Americans to live with multiple generations of
family.
Interestingly, the factors driving the
boomerang phenomenon may be different for young women than for young
men.
Young men with jobs are less likely to
be living at home with mom and dad, but the share of employed young men has fallen from its 1960 peak of 84 percent to
71 percent in 2014.
Meanwhile, young women have
seen employment and wages rise, but are still living at home. Pew
suggests their delay of marriage may be due to economic challenges for young
men.
An improving jobs market is welcome news
for young who are starting to find work, so hopefully not only will they be
able to move out on their own but also marry young women.
Comments
The US economy began
to dissolve after 1993 and continued to decline to 2008. The Mortgage Meltdown
scam occurred in 2008 and Obama was elected. The US economy crashed in 2008 and
minimum wage jobs were taken by migrants. Healthcare and Education costs exploded
and 100 million working age US citizens were unemployed. In 2017, the US
economy began to recover with the Trump Agenda.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
No comments:
Post a Comment