1 in 3 Young Workers Live with Their Parents

Well isn’t this depressing: Young workers are worse off today than a decade ago.

Back when“September 11” meant nothing, young America seemed to live a more hopeful, carefree existence, minus the occasional, trendy quarter-life crisis. Today’s young people, while still optimistic, are feeling a little less like Carrie Bradshaw.

A recent study commissioned by AFL-CIO, a federation for unions in the U.S., found that workers under the age of 35 have lost some financial ground and optimism in the last 10 years. While more than half (55%) of respondents are hopeful and confident about achieving economic and financial goals in the next five years, the number is down from 77% in June of 1999.

Of course critics would say a survey from a union organization is digging to find worker dissatisfaction, but I disregarded the public policy section in the report. The startling statistics are worth mentioning:

• Thirty-one percent of surveyed young workers reported being uninsured, up from 24% 10 years ago (almost half cited the reason as being unable to afford it).
• Twenty-four percent make less than they need just to pay their monthly bills, up from 10% in 1999 (only 31% make enough to pay bills and put money aside—down 22 percentage points from 1999).
• More than one in three young workers live with their parents.
• More than half (51%) of young workers do not have a retirement plan, up from 41% in 1999.
  

The nationwide study, conducted in July by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, surveyed 1,156 people ages 18 to 34 and currently working or looking for work.