Millennials: Poorer than their parents?

The financial crisis

The most critical and long-standing challenge that Millennials of the western world have been experiencing is the financial crisis and its aftermath. The GDP per capita of all western countries (except Australia) featured in Resolution Foundation's report has been falling between 2007 and 2016. The biggest drop (26%) has been recorded in Greece, followed by Italy, Spain, Finland, and Sweden. Whereas there has been a significant post-crisis recovery of the GDP in Sweden (14,2%) and Spain (8,7%), Greece is still subjected to acute economic austerity with a GDP growth of only 2.2% and 2.3% for Italy. Also, in Southern Europe, where the recession was at its peak and unemployment among the youth rocketed, Millennials at their 30s have much lower incomes than the previous generation had at the same age.

Housing ownership

The Great Recession goes hand in hand with housing ownership. Even in some of the world's strongest economies such as the UK and the United States, Millennials are less likely to buy a house. For example, in the UK homeowners between 25 and 29 years old are 27% less than they were among baby boomers and Generation X of the same age. A few facts can explain the drop in ownership among the new generation. First, more young people now are living with their parents, and have much stronger relationships with them than the previous generations had with their parents. Second, Millennials are much more dedicated students than their parents were, and they often have to rely on their family for housing and financial support during their studies. Another reason for less homeownership among Millennials is the delayed marriage — they study, work, and live with their parents or in shared accommodation, and once they are in a serious relationship, they tend to first rent for several years before buying, which altogether slows down the purchase.

Millennials and their dependants

Crowd employment or platform work is the outsourcing of tasks to online workers with the help of the technology, as the entire process of matching, hiring, executing, and submitting work is carried out online. Millennials see in crowd employment the freedom, work-life balance, flexibility, and immediate payment; pros their parents couldn't have enjoyed in the nine to five job they had when they were at the same age. However, this type of remote employment decreases the cost of labour and draws young people into contractless jobs, without sick leave, holiday pay, pension contributions, minimum wage guarantees, continuous working relationship, and other labour rights and welfare benefits, which traditional employment offers. Freelance Millennials often don't know whether they will have work the next week, day, or even hour — a working condition which cultivates a severe feeling of insecurity and spending hesitancy.

Political participation

Millennials (particularly those aged between 18 and 24) across the western world have lost their interest in politics; all except the Belgian young people for whom voting is compulsory. The youth feels betrayed by traditional politics, as throughout their lives they discover that they are less fortunate than the previous generation, who does very little to bring them to a better place. Also, the ideals of the politicians who represent an outdated life-work model of a a secure, full-time employment for life, no longer applies among Millennials. They  aren't interested in saving the deposit for a house but are spending their money on self-development, recreational activities, and moving experiences, or even investing on a business idea. 

People's feelings

All the above has left little space for optimism among Millennials and their parents regarding young people's living standards prospects. Precisely, when put together, 40% of the international participants in IC's survey believe that people aged 17 to 36 won't have a better life than their parents. The most pessimistic nations appear to be France (71%), Belgium (60%), South Korea (58%), Spain (55%), and the UK (50%). On the other hand, the most positive people about the youth's future are the Chinese  — 78% of those asked, believe that young people have and will continue to have a better life than their parents. In general, fast-developing countries (e.g. China, Peru, India) are more optimistic about the younger generations than developed countries.