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Why millennials are dropping out
https://unherd.com/2022/07/how-we-became-the-dropout-society/ ^ | BY JOEL KOTKIN

Posted on 07/15/2022 6:11:43 AM PDT by FarCenter

...

The answer to why so many are dropping out starts with economics. In the United States, social mobility has declined precipitously over the last four decades. A 2016 study found that since the early Eighties, the chance of middle-class earners moving up to the top rungs of the earnings ladder dropped by approximately 20%. According to projections from Deloitte, by 2030, millennials will be the largest adult generation by far but will own only 16% of the country’s wealth. Gen Xers will hold 31%, while Baby Boomers, who will be entering their eighties and nineties, will control 45%.

Partly, this is a result of the post-pandemic reluctance to take low wages or accept jobs in the “gig” economy, where pay and hours are often uncertain. Some low-wage workers have also found state support during the pandemic to be, in many cases, more profitable than work itself. In countries such as Italy and Spain, high levels of public welfare delinked from work have also been associated with the persistently high unemployment.

A recent analysis of Federal Reserve data shows that young Americans with a college degree today earn about as much as their Boomer grandparents without degrees did at the same age. Upwards of 40% of recent college graduates have jobs that don’t require a degree at all. In 2018, half of all college grads made under $30,000 annually, and another recent study suggests that most underemployed graduates remain that way permanently.

In Japan and China, too, college graduates face diminishing opportunities. And unhappiness among the young is growing across the developed world. A 2017 study found that young people in France, Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany were even more pessimistic about the future than their American counterparts.

This rising disaffection has severe implications for our political and economic health. Capitalism certainly is not in good stead. A strong majority of people in 28 countries around the world believe capitalism does more harm than good. More than four in five worry about job loss. It’s hard to sell a system that provides so little opportunity, particularly for new entrants and small firms.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: labor; millennials
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1 posted on 07/15/2022 6:11:43 AM PDT by FarCenter
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To: FarCenter

Kill the Baby Boomers. Plan in action for the past 2+ years. Problem solved. /s


2 posted on 07/15/2022 6:14:27 AM PDT by CatOwner (Don't expect anyone, even conservatives, to have your back when the SHTF in 2021 and beyond.)
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To: FarCenter
This rising disaffection has severe implications for our political and economic health. Capitalism certainly is not in good stead.

The author is a propagandist. It's Socialism that's burdening younger generations, not Capitalism.

3 posted on 07/15/2022 6:14:33 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: FarCenter

AOC..after only a few years on the squad..Net Worth 29 MILLION

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4078526/posts

I guess it depends on the millennial


4 posted on 07/15/2022 6:14:42 AM PDT by Farmerbob
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To: FarCenter

It makes me wonder how much blame should be reserved for the failing public school system.


5 posted on 07/15/2022 6:14:45 AM PDT by systemjim (Lifetime Lover of Music)
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To: FarCenter

“...another recent study suggests that most underemployed graduates remain that way permanently. ...”

Is this from the Studies Departments Studies Department?


6 posted on 07/15/2022 6:15:20 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: FarCenter

“…millennials will be the largest adult generation by far but will own only 16% of the country’s wealth. Gen Xers will hold 31%, while Baby Boomers, who will be entering their eighties and nineties, will control 45%.”

So young people haven’t accumulated much wealth, middle age people have quite a bit of wealth, and old people have a lot of wealth.

That’s some earth-shaking analysis.


7 posted on 07/15/2022 6:17:13 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“...see whether we in our day and generation may not perform something worthy to be remembered.”)
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To: T.B. Yoits
The author is a propagandist. It's Socialism that's burdening younger generations, not Capitalism.

Yes, definitely. Socialism is a cancer and it eventually destroys everything it touches. It is a favorite of those who envision themselves 'elites', as it makes them uber important while sucking the freedoms and self-determinism from everyone else - who are looked at not as individuals but as 'the people'.

Socialism is pure evil, and it needs to be completely eradicated from the face of the Earth.

8 posted on 07/15/2022 6:18:38 AM PDT by neverevergiveup
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To: FarCenter

“A 2016 study found that since the early Eighties, the chance of middle-class earners moving up to the top rungs of the earnings ladder dropped by approximately 20%”

~~~

Stopped reading right there.

Maybe middle-class values aren’t considered noble to you, but to me I think it’s disgusting that whole generation (or a good protion of it) think that working for a living (even skilled and well paid work) is beneath them, and if they can’t get wealthy, they’re just going to reject the hole game.

I’m all for safety nets for the unfortunate, disabled, and elderly, but we really need to get rid of all the welfare programs that permit people to contribute nothing to society and at the expense of tax payers.


9 posted on 07/15/2022 6:20:44 AM PDT by z3n (Kakistocracy)
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To: FarCenter

Note : Gen Z are those born from the mid 90’s to 2010. In short, the 20 somethings and younger of today.


10 posted on 07/15/2022 6:21:49 AM PDT by AppyPappy (Biden told Al Roker "America is back". Unfortunately, he meant back to the 1970's)
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To: T.B. Yoits
It's Socialism that's burdening younger generations, not Capitalism.

Until Millennials as a group manage to overcome their government school programming about the overwhelming evils of racism, homophobia, and climate change, they will remain stuck in that Socialist whirlpool - and their voting patterns might take the rest of us down with them.

11 posted on 07/15/2022 6:22:55 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: T.B. Yoits
A recent analysis of Federal Reserve data shows that young Americans with a college degree today earn about as much as their Boomer grandparents without degrees did at the same age.

I wonder if the scribe of this screed has bothered to review the fact that the value of college degrees has been considerably devalued over the years.

For example, their grandparents had to be able to read and write coherently to graduate from HIGH SCHOOL. If they went to college, the vast majority of the degrees were useful and marketable-- nursing, business, mechanical engineering, economics, just to name a few. There weren't government guaranteed loans for fluff degrees useful only for a position in a corporate HR department or educating others in fluff degrees.

The entitlement attitude fostered by teaching socialism is exactly why the more socialized European countries have chronic double digit unemployment while blue collar jobs, which are often the first rung on the ladder, are filled by immigrants.

12 posted on 07/15/2022 6:29:08 AM PDT by Vigilanteman (The politicized state destroys aspects of civil society, human kindness and private charity.)
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To: T.B. Yoits

“The author is a propagandist. It’s Socialism that’s burdening younger generations, not Capitalism.”

Absolutely right. It’s like a computer program:

Add dose of socialism.
See things get worse.
Blame capitalism.
Repeat.


13 posted on 07/15/2022 6:29:39 AM PDT by ChessExpert (Neither a Democracy nor a Republic. "I did that," Joe Biden.)
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To: FarCenter

They’ve been dumbed down from their Boomer HS-grad parents, unfortunately. (But those parents have been fooled by the college degrees.)


14 posted on 07/15/2022 6:30:57 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: T.B. Yoits

Crony capitalism—such as by the globalists—takes some blame here too. (And the same miscreants have cleverly backed both sides.)


15 posted on 07/15/2022 6:33:23 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: FarCenter

Boomers are set to transfer 150 trillion from their kids and grandchildren.
The inflation this will create will further split the generations


16 posted on 07/15/2022 6:35:39 AM PDT by Purpleperson
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To: z3n
It is liberty that cultivates a country. No people can ever make any social and mental improvement whose exertions are limited. Knowledge, wisdom, culture, refinement, manners, are all founded on work and the wealth which work brings.

Frederick Douglass

17 posted on 07/15/2022 6:35:57 AM PDT by mewzilla (We need to repeal RCV wherever it's in use and go back to dumb voting machines.)
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To: FarCenter

They become disenchanted when they are not immediately making 6 figures and can’t devote all of their paid time to activism.


18 posted on 07/15/2022 6:36:57 AM PDT by 100%FEDUP (I'm seeing RED!)
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To: Purpleperson

from? I think you mean “to” their progeny?

No, they won’t, not in today’s investment market and with inflation. It is being eaten away before it gets transferred.


19 posted on 07/15/2022 6:44:31 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Politicians are only marginally good at one thing, being politicians. Otherwise they are fools.)
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To: FarCenter

“A 2016 study found that since the early Eighties, the chance of middle-class earners moving up to the top rungs of the earnings ladder dropped by approximately 20%.”

Unless you are in the less talented class but in the class covered by diversity or inclusion or gender confusion then the chances probably went up about 80%.


20 posted on 07/15/2022 6:54:45 AM PDT by antidemoncrat
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