An icon illustrating a parent and child (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Baby Boomers have a lot of perceptions about their children and one of the most controversial is the idea that the Millenial generation is lazy. A boomerang kid is the more patronizing phrase bandied about the media. The idea is that young kids have no ambition and thus find their way back to mom and dad’s for some freeloading.
I myself have long believed that the current generation is the laziest of American history. However, a recent longitudinal study from the US Department of Education changed my opinion. The studied polled 20-year-olds over four different decades to show how financial situations of young adults shifted over time. Comparing those at age 20 in 1974 and those of the same age in 2006 showed some interesting results.
More Millenials Live on their Own at Age 20 Than Boomers
It’s undisputable. More Millenials live with their parents than ever before. However, the term boomerang generation doesn’t quite fit with the statistics. In fact, more Millenials lived on their own in 2006 (10 percent) than boomers in 1974 (8.6 percent). It might not be a huge victory to claim the loneliest living situation, but it is undeniable that the latest generation to reach adulthood does have a larger population of self-sufficient individuals.
More Millenials Worked While Attending College at Age 20 Than Boomers
When it comes to who worked more, Baby Boomers take the prize. Far fewer boomers attended college compared to Millenials. As a result, at age 20 there were more boomers in the workforce. However, the story changes when you look at which generation worked more while attending college.
According to the Department of Education in 1974, only 63% of college students had worked by age 20. In 2006, the story has changed dramatically. Surveys found that 78 percent of college students age 20 had worked before.
More Boomers may have been in the workforce by age 20, but Millenial college students worked far more than their parents three decades later.
Millenials Post Record Voter Turnout in 2008
When it comes to civic duty like voting in elections, Millenials hold the record. In 2008, more voters under the age of 30 flocked to the polls than ever before. It’s truly an accomplishment when you consider how active Boomers were in the sixties and seventies. What remains uncertain is whether young adults remain engaged for future elections.
Take Away
As a writer, it’s always nice to be able to find content that can create such a contentious title. Pitting the pride of two generations against each other is readership gold. However, there truly is a financial point to be made in setting the record straight on the millennial generation.
Times have changed dramatically and Millenials face different financial needs than parental Boomers at age 20. The numbers above show how vast those changes are. More Millenials go to college and since Millenials delay marriage, it means that financial freedom will have to be achieved later in life and possibly without a second income. It also means taking out more debt younger and putting off savings.
The landscape is completely different from when you, as a parent, were their age. It’s easy to assign those differences and the responses to those challenges as a flaw in a generation’s personality, but it’s not true. Today’s youngest adult generation is working harder than any in the last 30 years.
Don’t condescend on your young adult. It’s hard to remember, but you didn’t really walk up hill, both ways, to work each morning. Understand that their situation is different and try to help them overcome the unique challenges they are facing.
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Yeah, go Millennial!
In all seriousness,the biggest issue in my opinion is student debt. It delays marriage, moving in with a significant other, and a whole host of issues that other generations didn’t deal with.
It’s definitely going to be the big challenge for current and future generations.
I absolutely agree Stephanie! I think (and hope) we’ll see some type of shakeup in the student debt/college cost in the next 10 years. What I want, I’m not quite sure of. I’ve seen some pretty interesting proposals though. I saw one where the University of California system would provide free education, but collect 5% of future paychecks. It aligns the university’s goals with your own (getting a job), although it may make the university too career-oriented, not sure. Either way, I’m a big fan of ideas like these that bring the thinking outside of the box.
I’m living at home to stay out of debt while I’m getting my degree. I see this as a wise financial decision rather than being lazy. I took 10 units this summer and I will graduated from college in 3 years because I took some college courses while I was in high school.
I think because my generation is learning to live with less, it could look like we are being lazy but in reality we are content with less than our parents wanted in terms of material possessions and wealth. We want autonomy instead of stuff.
Chase
I really admire your discipline in paying and planning for college.
It could be as you say. Minimalizing is hip with Millenials. The refusal to play rat race could definitely be misconstrued as unfocused or lazy.
Congratulations for making one of the best decisions in life! I hate it when I hear people say that millenials are lazy, dependent, and even, irresponsible, simply because they stay with their parents even though they are already in college. I want to think that you are making sure that your wings are strong enough before you spread it out and fly.
Stats from 2006 are probably from before boomeranging increased due to the recession. I am a millennial I guess and know many friends who have had a horrible time trying to get a job. They want to work but they just can’t land a job in their field. Some are servers.while they wait. It is sad but true.
It’s a good point. Boomeranging is probably in full effect. However, 2006 does give us an idea of Millenial potential.
I think millennials are often more likely to get degrees or look for jobs in what interests them, even if they have a harder time finding a job. Boomers maybe were more practical and went into more secure fields, maybe knowing that if they put in 20-25 years in a ho hum job, a pension would be waiting.
You know, I don’t remember the generations being pitted against each other so much when I was young (maybe I’ve just forgotten –
). I find it disturbing.
Each generation does need to separate from the last to become independent, so maybe this generation ‘war’ is just part of that. That still doesn’t make me like it!
I don’t get it either, since generations aren’t some sort of science like gender. Some scholars have me as Gen X and others Millenial. How am I supposed to know who to be mad at when I don’t even know what generation to associate with?
I think some members of Boomers and Millenials fight more about the separation. Most people that I know would prefer to be on their own and are.
I’m surprised and happy at this information. It makes me feel like we (millenials) didn’t do everything wrong. It’s definitely true that more people have to work to get through school, and that’s a great accomplishment for our generation.
With the talk out there about young adults, you’d think that Millenials were the most selfish, spoiled and self-centered generation of all time. As told by the people who were young adults decades ago, are much smarter now and forgotten many of the mistakes they made.
I think the 2008 election isn’t enough to see a trend – definitely average it in with the apathy that comes from an incumbent candidate.
Also, the Millennials can thank the Boomers for societal debt. It may not be on the household balance sheet, but it’s there!
Probably true on the voting portion, but still, record turnout is record turnout. If it gets worse, it’s the politicians fault no?
I’m not sure I’ll go there with national debt. Most Boomers have paid into the system their whole life and it’s not there fault that most entitlement policies were poorly designed. If anything, the two generations prior to Boomers, who received benefits without the cost are probably more culpable. Although, I’m not sure I’m willing to go out on the branch either. Every generation needs to face their own political demons. The Great Generation had a World War and a Depression. The Boomers had Vietnam and Carter’s Stagflation. Millenials need to deal with terrorism, the Great Recession and national debt crisis. I’m sure I’ll be helping my generation cook up something nice for my children to deal with.
Wow! I’m surprised by these stats. Not that I think Boomers are super-savers or less lazy, but that millenials seem SO much more responsible than Boomers were at that age.
Great post with great facts. I loved it. As a Millennial, that makes me a little proud of my fellow youngin’s.
Regarding the comment above concerning generations being pitted against one another, I believe it is happening for a few reasons. One is that the proportions of our society is noticeably uneven. So naturally there are enough people in each camp to have two “sides” to play off one another. Secondly, there are many political/social/economic issues that are currently plaguing America and sometimes these two groups at odds with one another regarding those issues. So all in all, this scenario makes for “readership gold” by pitting them against one another. I fear we’ll be seeing a lot more topics putting these two generations against one another in the coming years…
I think it is really easy for older generations to say “when I younger, I never had debt” or “I only spent $500 on my wedding” but we all know that it’s just a completely different world today. I think it’s interesting that the percentage of millenials living on their own was actually higher! It just seems like a major stereotype of the young adult generation of today, and it’s obviously completely false!
[...] at My Family Finances has an interesting post on boomers vs. millenials. I’m in between those, but it still made [...]
Well, I’m in between. Gen X here.
Based on observing people that fit those categories – which would be older than me in one case and younger in the other – I think there are strengths/weaknesses each way.
However, all in all, I think that Millenials have it a little bit tougher than Baby Boomers probably had it. Jobs aren’t plentiful, and it takes an investment of time and money to get a good college degree to get a foothold, which wasn’t as necessary for Baby Boomers when younger. College is less optional now.
Mostly I can’t disagree. However, to play devil’s advocate; boomers did have to deal with a draft for vietnam. Perhaps all generations need to find a way through the tribulations of the day?
Interesting topic.
What really defines the socio-economic differences between the two generations?
Boomers had it easier than the Millenials can just be an assumption.
Access to the resources is plentiful now and information is easily accessible.
Both have / had theirs pros and cons. The scenario is different today than yesterday, level of hardship is probably the same?
You have some great analysis in here. I think that each generation has different skills and challenges that have evolved over time. As a millennial, I would like to think that I am doing better, but I know that I also have different goals and am at a very different place than my parents at the same age.
Interesting post. I honestly thought it was the other way around. Baby boomers did not grow up with the technology we did ie: internet, cell phones, computers, colour television. I feel Gen X and Gen Y is spoiled with all the technology.
There is such a contrast between the two generations. My parents (although not together), came to Canada in their early 20s, got steady jobs and lived on their own. Me, I graduated university at 25. It took 6 months to find my first full time job and I stayed at home for a couple of years to save some $. When things went sour at my job, I quit and then worked in retail, and another part time job to make ends meet. At that point, I wanted to move out, but it just wasn’t financially feasible. However, when I did land a steady full time job, I moved out 4 months later and never looked back.
In the end, nothing is apples to apples. However, millenials don’t fit into the one-size-fits-all stereotype of dependency.