Adult millennials worse off than their boomer parents
Adults 25 to 34 with degrees earn less than those without in 1989.
SOUTH MILWAUKEE, WISC. — Baby Boomers: Your millennial children are worse off than you.
Wi t h a medi a n h o u s e h o l d income of $40,581, millennials earn 20 percent less than boomers did at the same stage of life, despite being better educated, according to a new analysis of Federal Reserve data by the advocacy group Young Invincibles.
The analysis out Friday gives concrete details about a troubling generational divide that helps to explain much of the anxiety that defined the 2016 election. Millennials have half the net worth of boomers. Their home ownership rate is lower, while their student debt is drastically higher.
The generational gap is a central dilemma for the incoming presidency of Donald Trump, who essentially pledged a return to the prosperity of post-World War II America. The analysis also hints at the issues of culture and identity that divided many voters, showing that white millennials — who still earn much more than their blacks and Latino peers — have seen their incomes plummet the most relative to boomers.
Andrea Ledesma, 28, says her parents owned a house and were raising kids by her age.
“That’s not at all how life is now, that’s not something that people strive for and it’s not something that is even attainable, and I thought it would be at this point,” Ledesma said.
Ledesma graduated from college four years ago. After moving through a series of jobs, she now earns $18,000 making pizza at Classic Slice in Milwaukee, shares a two-bedroom apartment with her boyfriend and has $33,000 in student debt.
Her mot h e r C h e r yl Ro manowski, 55, was making about $10,000 a year at her age without a college education, working at a bank. In today’s dollars, that would be roughly $19,500.
Romanowski said she envies the choices her daughter has in life, but she acknowledged that her daughter has it harder than her.
“I think the opportunities have just been fading away,” she said.
The analysis of the Fed data shows the extent of the decline. It compared 25- to 34-year-olds in 2013, the most recent year available, to the same age group in 1989 after adjusting for inflation.
Educ ation does help boost incomes. But the median college-educated millennial with student debt is only earning slightly more than a baby boomer without a degree did in 1989.
The home ownership rate for this age group dipped to 43 percent from 46 percent in 1989, although the rate has improved for millennials with a colle ge degree relative to boomers.
The median net worth of millennials is $10,090, 56 percent less than it was for boomers.
Whites still earn dramatically more than blacks and Latinos, reflecting the legacy of discrimination on jobs, education and housing.