Why Young Adults Are Poor Despite Flattering Economic Metrics
Young adults are poor despite every metric which suggests otherwise
I argue that Millennials and Zoomers are failing to achieve middle-class stability not because of personal failure, but because the social capital their parents enjoyed has been liquidated. While official statistics show rising incomes and cheaper electronics, the true cost of essentials like housing, education, and childcare has skyrocketed. Young people must now buy back, at retail prices, the community trust and public services that previous generations received for free, creating a hidden poverty masked by flawed economic measurements.
The young must do so out of incomes that rose modestly while the prices of the essential elements of life rose radically.
- al_borland
> It’s Hard to See My Parents Live So Lavishly While We’re Struggling
While I won't deny there are some problems currently, I think people comparing where they start to where others end is a huge mistake and leads to a lot of unnecessary anguish.
Someone in their 60s is supposed to be doing better than someone in their 20s. They had 40+ years to work and save. If they did it right, that will put them in a better position than a 20 year old... just like that 20 years old should be in a better position when they are in their 60s. It would be pretty disheartening if people in their 20s saw that it just gets worse.
- AndrewKemendo
>five pillars of a stable middle-class existence: education, stable employment, marriage, homeownership, children.
This is cultural bias spoken as though it’s universal
Plenty of fulfilling lives out there that don’t include home ownership, being a parent, having secondary schooling or being partnered with offspring.
- honeycrispy
Every time I think I have money I get massive insurance bills, massive property tax bills that increase seemingly every year, a fence I had to install so my kids don't get mangled by the pitbull 2 doors down that was $12k that was $4k 10 years ago. I know because my parents installed the same fence at their house. I'm paying a not insignificant portion of my income into a social security program that I'll never see a dime of. And I'm in my 30's. I can't imagine what kids in their 20's are going through.
When I was a kid I used to think that theives would break through my windows and steal my TV. Now that I'm an adult, I realize I'm being robbed daily through legal channels.
- standardUser
"Marriage follows the same pattern. Women now substantially outnumber men on university campuses and outpace them in degrees earned, yet the preference for husbands who match or exceed a wife’s income and education has not correspondingly relaxed. The result is a radical market mismatch."
I read a lot on this particular topic and this is a little too narrow of a reading. There is a more dominant trend - women and men are drifting apart culturally faster than they are economically. Men who keep pace culturally can get away with falling behind economically, and, to a lesser degree, vice versa. But you can't fall behind on both and expect to find a lot of women interested in dating or marrying you.
- watwut
> Women now substantially outnumber men on university campuses and outpace them in degrees earned, yet the preference for husbands who match or exceed a wife’s income and education has not correspondingly relaxed. The result is a radical market mismatch.
College educated women marry at the same rate they used to. They marry similarly earning men without collage degrees, who exist.
Marriage rates collapsed among non educated women/men. Complete collapse is among previously incarcerated men who are largely out of marriage market. And generally among poor.
But like, college educates women are the demographic that do marry.
- RickJWagner
This may be localized. I live in a LCOL area, my oldest son is 27. He and his wife have modest salaries ( teacher and clerical ), own 2 newish cars and a midsized house. They eat out a lot, subscribe to streaming services, etc.
They’ve got it better than I did at their age.
Maybe it’s worse elsewhere.
- CircuitSeuss
> The over-priced neighborhood is perversely desirable when pricing is the only legal means of discrimination in an increasingly dysfunctional society.
Excellent explanation of why, despite the hollowed out middle class, we see a surge of developer housing marketed to those who wish to retain the pretense of class status.
- victor9000
Denying your own child a $15K business loan just to placate your sadistic delusions perfectly describes the mindset of aging boomers. They're happy to watch their own children struggle for the opportunity to validate their ideology. They don't have enough empathy to help their own children, so it's futile expecting them to care about anyone else in society. They use tragedy of the commons situations to justify endless gluttony, and will act surprised when the next generation pisses on their graves.