Millennials worse off than baby boomers
Print Edition
BABY Boomers: your millennial children are worse off than you.
With a median household income of US$40,581, millennials in the United States earn 20 percent less than boomers did at the same stage of life, despite being better educated, according to a new analysis of Federal Reserve data by the advocacy group Young Invincibles.
The analysis being released yesterday gives concrete details about a troubling generational divide that helps to explain much of the anxiety that defined the 2016 election.
Millennials have half the net worth of boomers.
Their home ownership rate is lower, while their student debt is drastically higher.
The generational gap is a central dilemma for the incoming presidency of Donald Trump, who essentially pledged a return to the prosperity of post-World War II America.
The analysis also hints at the issues of culture and identity that divided many voters, showing that white millennials — who still earn more than their black and Latino peers — have seen their incomes plummet the most relative to boomers.
Andrea Ledesma, 28, says her parents owned a house and were raising kids by her age.
Not so for her. She graduated from college four years ago. After a series of jobs, she now earns US$18,000 making pizza at Classic Slice in Milwaukee, shares a two-bedroom apartment with her boyfriend and has US$33,000 in student debt.
“That’s not at all how life is now, that’s not something that people strive for and it’s not something that is even attainable, and I thought it would be at this point,” Ledesma said.
Her mother Cheryl Romanowski, 55, envies the choices that her daughter has in life, but acknowledges that her daughter has it harder than her.
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