Gen Y Not Slackers, Just Slow Starters

Live Science ^ | March 24, 2011 | Unknown

[decimon]

Generation Y is often thought of as a slacker group of young adults who have failed to launch, delaying real careers and families until later in life. But new research suggests their heavy dependence on Mom and Dad might ultimately prepare them to be successful adults.

Specifically, the study found this generation of "emerging adults" turns to parental support in times of difficultly and as a way to advance their careers in a job market geared toward the highly educated, though most are weaned from such support by their early 30s.

"On a general level, people have concerns about young adults being more dependent than their parents' or grandparents' generations," said researcher Teresa Swartz of the University of Minnesota.

In the mid-20th century, most parents could safely assume their children would be full-fledged adults by their mid 20s, economically stable with their own homes and families. Five decades later, half of twentysomethings are still supported by their parents in some capacity at age 24, the study shows.

"People know that it is a challenge to be a young adult and start off your adult life today," Swartz said. "It's taking longer to find their job and move out of their parental home."

A 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center found that 13 percent of parents with grown children say an adult son or daughter had moved back home over the past year for various reasons, including the recession, with most so-called "boomerangers" in the 18 to 34 age group.

[Tax-chick]

I agree with “hal ogen.” Rather than “high cost of living,” we could frame the problem as “high standard of living.”

[GlockThe Vote]

You are clueless. How are you going to work longer when there are no jobs around that pay more than 10-15 an hour?

[ladyvet]

You paint with broad strokes. I read on this board all the time of 40-50-60 year olds looking for work after being canned in this economy. Many are collecting unemployment to get by. Not all kids are lazy and pounding on the chats in the basement.

[trisham]

Would you want to share a room with two little boys - including Sheldon - and one bathroom with seven other people, including two teenaged girls? At that point, ROTC is going to look *really good*.

One reason may chronological adults don’t leave home is that it’s just too comfortable. Maybe we’ll have this problem when only the last two are left.

*********************************

I'm already sharing a room with three dogs, a 75 pound puppy, and my husband. I don't think I can fit two boys in there with a shoehorn. :)

Maybe I should join the ROTC.

[Tax-chick]

I sometimes think about running away to ROTC, myself.

Good idea about the dogs, though. We can move the greyhound in with Bill and the annoying brothers, too!

[hal ogen]

If a job pays $10 that is better than sitting around moaning. You do what you have to do. As to being “clueless”...are you a liberal or something with such personal attacks? Have a great day!

[trisham]

LOL! I think that might work!

[GlockThe Vote]

And someone who brings home $400 a week in most areas can not afford to live on their own.

So, its not a matter os laziness - its economic reality and basic math.

[Cronos]

I don't know -- now a lot of times, people need to have Masters degrees, so end up being in college until they are 25/26. Then loans to pay, so 29-30 is a break-even age. early 30s is too late, but remember that many couldn't afford houses as the prices shot up like mad

Also, in the 50s and 60s, what was the life-expectancy? 60? Now it's mid-70 for whites, meaning people have that much longer a life.

[mlocher]

"Parents were more likely to give if the young adult was engaged in building their skills or educational potential, so they would be more marketable when they enter the job market."

So a 30 something is still in college which is paid for by the parents? Not in my home.

[Cronos]

Though at the time of Alex the Great (300 BC), the average life expectancy in Macedonia and Greece, not to mention the civilised worlds of Persia, Egypt etc. was still 35-40.

[Cronos]

Deviating from the topic, but my pet peeve is that Alex was not quite so great. He inherited a strong army, a stable bureaucracy and organization from his father, Philip the Great of Macedon (now THAT guy really shook up things). And, he was lucky that the Persian Empire was ruled by a weak king (remember at that time the Persians ruled over all of what is now Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE and parts of India, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman (or had influences in these places). Alex just toppled the weak king and everyone came to his side.

[GlockThe Vote]

Exactly - during the housing boom - most gen y, and gen x’ers on the lower side like myself got priced out of the housing market altogether.

[Cronos]

Perhaps it's good to:

1. Make kids get small jobs (not to pay them for errands which they should be doing in any case)
2. Make them invest this in the stock market and play with the numbers, but limited.
3. Learn a couple of languages and maybe give tuitions

[DennisR]

...or still spending hours daily playing video games instead of working, marrying, and having kids.

[ClearCase_guy]

You make my point. Something has gone wrong with our society.

Once upon a time, a HS diploma really meant you were well educated. Does it mean that today?
Once upon a time, a college degree meant that you were destined to be one of the top dogs in our society. Does it mean that today?
Once upon a time, a graduate degree meant that you were an egghead. Today, it's the criteria for an entry-level job.

Inflation, taxes, housing costs, energy costs -- our society is broken. There are those who shrug and say, "So? Kids sponge off their parents until they are in their 30s. No big deal." But I think we need to step back and say "What the hell happened to our country?"

My answer: Too much Progressivism; not enough traditional American support for limited government.

[hal ogen]

If they can’t afford to live on their own, they should find several similar-situation roommates. Also, why stop at working 40 hours per week? There are 168 hours per week available to each of us. Give 8 hours per day for sleep, 2 1/2 hours per day for eating and 1 hour per day of personal hygiene that leaves about 87 1/2 hours for work each week...earning $$$$$. Let’s say you pull together a few part time jobs for 60 hours per week at $10 per hour. That would be $600 per week times 52 weeks in a year...voila: $31,200 per year. That isn’t living in the gutter and eating scraps of garbage off the street thrown out by the “privileged” as they drive by in their Mercedes.

Of course when you only want to do want you want to do, when you only want to work for 35-40 hours each week and when you only want to work if you get paid what YOU think you’re worth, that changes the equation. I guess for those folks, 99 weeks of unemployment, their parent’s spare room and other welfare programs look pretty good.

Now, I am not heartless. I am speaking here of young people 18+ through 25 or so who haven’t launched as yet (the original topic of this thread).

[hal ogen]

Yes, but Alexander engaged his life, made decisions and made a living, so to speak. He just didn’t sit back and moan about the stress and the responsibility...and play video games.

[hal ogen]

So that meant even more pressure for young people to make something of them selves. They didn’t have much time.

[Cronos]

You have good points, however, do note that the world has changed since the 50s. Why it's even changed since the 90s (I don't remember having any need to have a telephone when growing up and the internet came when I was just about finishing school)

Let's take your points one by one:

• Once upon a time, a HS diploma really meant you were well educated. Does it mean that today? --> Of course not. This is because
  1. High-school has been dumbed down
  2. Even if HS was at the same levels as the 50s, the facts are that one needs to spend more time to be an engineer, doctor, financial analyst, etc. etc. -- college is important (not for everyone --see point 3 below) and a masters can be very important for some careers
  3. The false attempt to get everyone to get to college -- only 20% of the population has an IQ > 120, and mostly only they (with some exceptions -- the hard-working ones) can really use college. At lot of the others, say the bottom 50% of the population should not be going to college. But who's going to tell them. Net result you have a number of degree holders in history of art who find that they can't get jobs
• Once upon a time, a college degree meant that you were destined to be one of the top dogs in our society. Does it mean that today? -- yes, for engineers and it was that was until 2008 for lawyers and until malpractise lawsuits took off, it was that way for doctors. The rise of the "sue-sue" culture has killed this off. The rise of the "TV culture" has enforced the image that to be smart is not "cool" (smart=nerd in TV-land). This ties in to the points I said above
• Once upon a time, a graduate degree meant that you were an egghead. Today's, it's the criteria for an entry-level job. Agreed -- and this is due to my point about 20-at most 50% or so of the college-age population only needing college.
• Inflation, taxes, housing costs, energy costs -- this comes from the welfare expansion years of the 50s and 60s. The problem is that once started it is like a drug -- difficult to give up.<
• Too much Progressivism; not enough traditional American support for limited government. --> Spot on, 100% accurate