A Problem of Millennial Proportions

     Millennials (the generation of Americans that were born between 1977 and 1992) are lazy, spoiled, and they just want to have fun.  Millennials are living at home and sponging off their parents.  They need to get a job and move out of the house.  Does any of this rhetoric sound familiar?  It should, especially if you have been paying close attention to the news this past couple of weeks.  One of the reasons why the topic of Millennials has come into the spotlight is because of a woman named Rachel Canning, 18.  She is in the news because she is suing her parents.  She wants them to pay for her college tuition.

     People see these pathetic stories and declare that the younger generation is lost.  They are lost in their own self-absorbed behavior.  People, like this blogger, make grand proclamations about the Millennial Generation:

     ....extended adolescence is a very real epidemic in my generation (it’s a problem amongst the Boomers, too, but that’s a subject for a different post). I don’t need any study or statistic to tell me that; I see it with my own eyes every single day. It is a disease that afflicts many in my age group. 

     This blogger goes on to tell his readers that Millennials need to get jobs.  They need to stop playing with their toys and go out into the world and work hard.  Enough with the excuses, flip burgers if you have to!

     What is dangerous about this type of thinking is that people believe these over-generalizations.  These over-generalizations lead people to stereotype.   This does not solve any problems, in fact, it ignores the problem completely.  If it ignores the actual problem then how can anything be solved?

     10,000 people have shared this particular blog.  These shares have helped perpetrate what statistician Nate Silver has been saying:  People in the media are making proclamations without the data to back it up.  People use anecdotes, and treat them as fact (and gladly ignore the data to fit their own agenda).  This is harmful because the real underlying issue is being ignored.  Millennials, as a group, are not practicing “extended adolescence” and sitting in their parent’s basement because they do not want to work.  The statistics tell a different story:

     According to the Pew Research Center, 36% of Millennials (21.6 million people) were still living with their parents in 2012.  That is up from 18.5 million Millennials in 2007.  Just looking at these stats without any other information could make it sound like Millennials just want to live with Mom and Dad.  However, let’s put it into context.  In 2008, we had a major recession.  Millions of jobs were eliminated.  That means job opportunities have dried up.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that the jobless rate for people ages 25-34, that have a high school diploma, has risen from 4.3% in 2007 to 10.6% in 2013.

     So again, couple those job statistics with the report on Millennials still living at home and I guess I can see how people assume that they might be lazy and spoiled.  However, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the percentage of people ages 22-27 who have a Bachelor’s Degree, but holds a job that does not require one, has risen from 34% in 2001 to 44% in 2012.

     Knowing these few different stats will lead us to a different conclusion then the highly flawed conclusions of people that believe Millennials need to toughen up and work.  Millennials are trying to work.  They are taking any job that they can find, even people with a college education.  The problem is that entry-level jobs with higher pay have been drying up.  Millennials are coming out school with a huge amount of student loan debt.  They can’t find higher-paying jobs so they are taking lower paying jobs and squeezing out people with just a high school diploma.  If people are making less and having difficulty finding higher paying jobs then the result of them living at home makes sense, doesn't it?

     Over-generalizing without looking at data can give you a different (and incorrect) story.  What we need to do as a society is to look for the real reasons why things are happening.  Only then can we develop real, fact-based solutions.  In this case, it isn't that Millennials are a lazy, spoiled bunch.  The problem is unemployment and underemployment that is plaguing this generation.  The solution has to be found in not only creating jobs, but creating higher paying jobs.  That is a solution that our inept Congress (Republicans and Democrats), along with President Obama, has not figured out.

     But we, as a nation, have to understand the “why” before we can solve our problems.  That, my friends, is one of the reasons why we struggle as a nation.  We spend more time fighting and arguing over red herrings than looking at the real reasons why our country is faltering.  We want easy solutions because we cannot stomach the truth.  We would rather blame that evil socialist, President Obama, or that evil unintelligent president, President Bush, or over-generalize and blame an entire generation for problems that are more complex than we realize.  We place the blame on these different people and different groups because it is easy to complain and point fingers.  It is hard to research and learn about our problems.  It makes it even harder when we discover that the solutions to our problems are just as complex.  It is not an easy process, but it is a process that must be done.  No more excuses!  It’s time to take charge, get serious, and look at the real problems facing our country, instead of covering up our problems with phony anecdotal evidence.  Truth is in the numbers.  And, that is exactly what our journey will encompass on this blog.

     One last point for all of you to chew on, and these are philosophical questions:  Is it really that bad that more and more people are living with family members?  I ask because some people believe that America has turned into a nanny-state where government provides its sheep with cradle-to-the-grave benefits.  Isn’t it better for people to live with family and help each other than live off the tax-payer?  I think those are some questions that should be answered.  But, that is for all of you to decide.