Attention Economy


Monday, April 13, 2020

Economic Shocks - Long-Term Impact on Different Generations

According to Pew Research:
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980).
Anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 23 to 38 in 2019) is considered a Millennial.
Anyone born from 1997 onward is part of a new generation (Generation Z).

The Coronavirus Generation
“To gauge what’s in store for job-seekers, it might be most useful to look to a different, more recent kind of disaster: the 2008 financial collapse. More than a decade later, its effects are widely understood to have been catastrophic to the financial futures of those who were in their teens and 20s when it hit. Not only did jobs dry up, but federal relief dollars mostly went to large employers such as banks and insurance companies instead of to workers themselves. Nearly 10 million people lost their homes, and investors picked off dirt-cheap foreclosures to flip them for wealthier buyers or turn them into rentals, which has helped rising housing prices far outpace American wage growth. Millennials, many of whom spent years twisting in the wind when, under better circumstances, they would have been setting down the professional and social foundations for stable lives, now have less money in savings than previous generations did at the same age. Relatively few of them have bought homes, married, or had children.”

Millennials Don’t Stand a Chance
They’re facing a second once-in-a-lifetime downturn at a crucial moment.