The Millennial Generation has been called the “unluckiest generation” by the Washington Post, and not without reason. This generation has lived through massive economic disruption, including more recessions and slower economic growth than any other generation in recorded history, record high levels of youth unemployment, high levels of student debt, high childcare costs, and much more.

They are the children of Baby Boomers and older Generation X and the parents of Generation Alpha. They are the first generation to grow up with the internet and the first to be described as a global generation.

By almost every metric, the Millennial Generation is the first generation in living memory to do worse than their parents.

But what other surprises await the Millennial generation around the corner? As this cohort picks up the reigns from the Gen X and Boomer generations, what landmines have been placed in their path?

Stock Market and Retirement

Statistically, the labor market in the United States has been stagnant since 2000, and the number of people under age 20 continues to grow, squeezing older people out of the job market. As a result, the youth unemployment rate in the United States reached a record of 19% in 2010, hitting the Millennial generation right in the gut.

Additionally, as people live longer and right-wing governments erode worker protections and industry regulations, unemployment has become a bigger problem than ever before. In the last decade alone, half of all college graduates report being underemployed or unemployed.

Of all the generations that lived through the Great Recession, the Millennial generation has benefited the least, seeing their average incomes fall at twice the rate of the rest of the population, and working longer hours with fewer benefits for lower wages than Boomers and Gen X.

All this has prevented Millennials from taking advantage of the strong stock market and economic growth in the United States. Two-thirds of Millennials in the United States say they cannot save enough for retirement. The reason? Student debt and expensive housing. Companies are also increasingly hiring short-term and freelance positions, meaning that Millennials have less money left over to invest in the stock market or into retirement.

In 1995, the average net worth of a head of household under 35 was $20,000. Today, it is $11,000. In 2016, the average Millennial owned $162,000 in assets while Gen X owned $198,000 at the same age in 2001.

What does this mean? This means that many Millennials might not be able to retire at all, and in fact, most Millennials are already planning to delay retirement for as long as possible. Since most Millennials don’t have any retirement savings at all, in order to retire at 50% of their salary before retirement, Millennials will have to save 40% of their income for the next 30 years.

With the increasing cost of groceries, rent, homes, and almost everything else, this seems like an unachievable goal.

The Cost of Higher Education

It’s no secret that Millennials got the short end of the stick when it comes to college education. With record-high tuition costs and low wages, many Millennials will be paying off their student loans until they die (even if they declare bankruptcy since student loans are exempt).

However, what many people are beginning to realize is that the problem is about to get much worse as the children raised by Millennials grow up they will be faced with the choice of attending a university as well, and if current trends continue, none of them will be able to afford it.

The United States has one of the most expensive systems of higher education in the world. Most universities used to be free until the 1960s when right-wing politicians began to defund universities (led by, of course, Ronald Reagan in California). This effort to eliminate public funding for schools continued until in 2011, American public universities made more money from tuition than from state funding for the first time in history.

Today, the weighted average cost of a year of college in the U.S. is $11,260 for an in-state school and $41,540 for private schools. This not include housing, food, books, or other costs, of course.

Already, 43% of students don’t attend their preferred school because of costs, and studies show that poor students are more likely to drop out of a university to avoid accumulating debt and middle-class families will be disadvantaged because they can’t afford the kind of education that will help them succeed among their peers.

It has also been shown that the increase in tuition is directly responsible for the rise in student suicides. The mental stress, anxiety, and mental and emotional consequences of so much debt have become a public health concern many governments are beginning to grow worried about.

So, how will Millennial parents pay for their kids’ tuition when they haven’t been able to pay off their own? Great question. If things remain as they are today, they won’t be able to.

The Housing Market

Initially, Millennials were the driving force behind the high growth of cities and metropolitan areas, but as corporate landowners raised rent prices beyond reasonable levels, they were forced to live in mini-apartments (spaces of 300 square feet or less) in order to afford rent.

As rents continued to increase but wages remained stagnant, millennials began to leave large cities, like generations before them but had not been able to save enough money to buy a home like previous generations. In 2018, only 34% of people below age 35 owned a home while the national average was around 64%.

Most of this is due to large corporations buying up thousands of single-family homes and holding them or renting them out for outrageous prices.

Today, around 28% of Millennials still rent while 12% still live with their parents or other family members. The most common reason they all gave for this is because they can’t save enough money for a down payment. Millennials are still less likely to own a home than all previous generations.

What does this mean? It is well known that owning a home and building equity is one of the best ways to save for retirement. Without a home, Millennials miss out on these savings and the growth and economic benefits that come with it. As home prices continue to increase and worker protections are eroded, Millennials (and their children) will be forced into more expensive housing while enjoying fewer amenities than their parents.

Inflation/Greedflation and Wage Stagnation

Most of the laws that regulate our labor market were written between 1935 and 1974, and right-wing politicians, with the backing of corporations, have never ceased trying to erode whatever rights those laws were written to defend.

The federal minimum wage reached its peak purchasing power in 1968 at $1.60 (around $14.50 in 2023) and was last increased to $7.25 in 2009. It has not kept up with inflation and has not been adjusted since.

Roosevelt’s New Deal created the thriving American economy which the Boomer and Gen X generations took advantage of and thrived. However, much of the progress in labor protection has been erased in the years since, leaving Millennials to struggle in a backward and stagnant labor market. Republican presidents have regularly increased unemployment post-war and Democratic presidents have reduced it and implemented labor protections while Republicans (with the help of the Supreme Court) have struck them down.

Today, job security laws in the U.S. are the weakest of all the developed nations. While our government erodes union negotiating power, limits employee power, and allows corporations to get away with exploiting and even killing their employees, Millennials are stuck being underpaid and overworked.

While wages remain stagnant, the same politicians that eroded worker protections and refused to raise the minimum wage, relaxed regulations on our corporations, meaning companies can inflate their prices, exploit foreign workers and avoid taxes while federal agencies are nearly powerless to stop them. American companies have reported record profits since the COVID-19 pandemic, far outpacing inflation and company growth, with the main driver of these profits being high consumer prices, making just making ends meet get harder every year even if we discount everything else.

This means that while the need for Millennials to earn enough money for retirement grows ever more dire, the ability to do so is increasingly difficult.

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