Why Are Half Of All 25-Year-Olds Living With Their Parents? The Federal Reserve Answers

Back in 1999, a quarter of all 25-year-olds lived with their parents. By 2013 this number has doubled, and currently half of young adults live in their parents home.

While the troubling implications for the economy from this startling increase are self-evident, and have been extensively discussed both here and elsewhere (and are among the key factors pushing both the US and global economy into secular stagnation), a just as important question is why are increasingly more young adults still living at home.

One potential reason for the increase in young adults living with their parents is the labor market. The authors highlighted research showing that individuals at the beginning of their careers often need more time to transition into the labor market. This is reflected in the unemployment rates of those between 21 and 27, which are often higher than for other age groups.

Earning a college degree can help with labor market outcomes, as young adults with a college degree are more likely to live independently. However, additional research has shown that the underemployment rate for recent graduates was about 40 percent during the Great Recession. Canon and Gascon noted: “An implication is that a significant portion of recent graduates were earning lower wages than what they should have been, given their education.”

Also affecting many young adults is that they started their post-education careers during a recession. Canon and Gascon discussed a study noting that those entering the job market during a recession pay a price for about a decade. They wrote: “That’s because they start work for lower-paying employers and slowly work their way up toward better-paying jobs.”

I am prior service, enlisted Infantry so I fully understand that prior enlisted make for better officers. I am of the opinion that all butter bars should be required to pass the AIT for their officer corps, and serve 1 year as an E5 in a unit that is tasked for their corps.

Not sure what my son wants to do. He does show an aptitude for STEM courses and is a sophomore taking honors chem and honors geometry. He is a solid B at this level and is improving to an A. These are his first honors classes. He does have a bit of a self disciple issue about homework and when he achieves that, he will be a solid A student. Right now, he is a 3.0 +/- .2

He has expressed interest in being a chemical engineer, working in IT (like dad) or music. Though he realizes that it is difficult to make enough money with his guitar / saxophone to live in the lifestyle that he has grown accustomed to. So he is still deciding, has time, and nothing is set in stone.

The current plan is to work with him to get him to manage his own grades and take mom/dad out of the picture. This coming summer, start doing a little college exploration and invest some time in researching scholarships. So while ROTC is on the table, it may not be the path that he decides on.

We have a friend of the family who is ARNG Military Intel enlisted so she can help him with the Guard options. We live in Colorado so if he wants to go the IT path, there is even a guard option for that as well - assuming he can score high enough on his ASVAB.

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