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It sounds like you're joking, but I remember one evening I had searched everything I owned for enough pennies so that I could buy a pack of ramen, and came up short. Then I saw a spider nearby and seriously contemplated whether humans could safely eat spiders. I didn't do it, but I was very tempted.
I'm almost a Boomer, but not quite, and I think it's absurd to suggest that Millenials have it easier. It's not even close. Their college educations -- adjusted for inflation -- cost three or four times as much, and half the Boomers came of age before Griggs v. Duke Power, which essentially required people to get a college degree to get hired. Wages haven't increased since 1973, while taxes and the cost of education have.
Oh, really? Unemployment is at a what, 20 year low? There is demand for people in highly paid skilled trades jobs-companies are bending over backwards trying to attract millennials to those jobs. Housing construction is booming. Manufacturing is making a comeback in many areas, particularly the southeast. Consumer and business confidence is up and demand for workers is putting upward pressure on wages.
This isn't the late 70s, early 80s, where we had an economy in the toilet, high unemployment, collapsing businesses and home mortgage interest rates approaching 20%.
I don't know about you-but it looks like a pretty darned good time to be a millennial to me. The ones I know are doing great. One just became a journeyman electrician, making very good money (not far from what I make as an engineer with 30 years experience). Another is a machinist, also doing well. A couple others are excelling in school in engineering programs, with companies already courting them.
You CAN be a snowflake, live in mommy and daddy's basement and whine about Trump, etc. Or you can get out, find a job and work to make something of yourself. Guess what? That's not a lot different than any time in the 5+ decades I've been around.
Please stop calling millennials snowflakes. Times have changed since you grew up. Many jobs are automated now and our population has grown enormously. Should they work in a fast food chain restaurant, should they clean office buildings. What job do you want them to get where they can afford to raise a family. My son has a masters in International Relations. It took him 3 years to find a job after submitting hundreds of resumes to companies in the DC area. It's just not easy to find a well paying job with benefits. And yeah, all that time he lived at home. He had an internship job for those years which payed $13 an hour. When he finally moved out he put 10,000 down on a car and paid to furnish his apartment when he moved out. I was very glad he still lived with us and was able to do that. Honestly, what's wrong with that.
Please stop calling millennials snowflakes. Times have changed since you grew up. Many jobs are automated now and our population has grown enormously. Should they work in a fast food chain restaurant, should they clean office buildings. What job do you want them to get where they can afford to raise a family. My son has a masters in International Relations. It took him 3 years to find a job after submitting hundreds of resumes to companies in the DC area. It's just not easy to find a well paying job with benefits. And yeah, all that time he lived at home. He had an internship job for those years which payed $13 an hour. When he finally moved out he put 10,000 down on a car and paid to furnish his apartment when he moved out. I was very glad he still lived with us and was able to do that. Honestly, what's wrong with that.
Why not try something like looking for skills where there is a demand? Electricians. Machinist. Welder. Carpenter. STEM. Medical field. You know-where people are actually hiring? It isn't that hard-and isn't any different than the 1980s. Except there is more demand for skilled people now with a booming economy. And like then-if you got a useless degree ("Political science" was one of the basket weaving program of those days-sounds a lot like "International Relations"), you better learn to say "do you want fries with that".
Please stop calling millennials snowflakes. Times have changed since you grew up. Many jobs are automated now and our population has grown enormously. Should they work in a fast food chain restaurant, should they clean office buildings. What job do you want them to get where they can afford to raise a family. My son has a masters in International Relations. It took him 3 years to find a job after submitting hundreds of resumes to companies in the DC area. It's just not easy to find a well paying job with benefits. And yeah, all that time he lived at home. He had an internship job for those years which payed $13 an hour. When he finally moved out he put 10,000 down on a car and paid to furnish his apartment when he moved out. I was very glad he still lived with us and was able to do that. Honestly, what's wrong with that.
I have no problem with a child living at home while working, and actively looking for a job in his field, or at least one that can pay decently. The fact that he saved his money, then found a better job speaks volumes about his character. That is great to hear!
I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in English in the early 80's when the economy was HORRIBLE. It took me a while to find a job, but I did eventually but it didn't pay very well. I ended up going to school at night for my MBA while working full time to pay for my crappy apartment, and living expenses. It was a grind, and I didn't do much but work, go to class, and study, but things worked out well for me. It can be done if you put your mind to it.
Few youngsters these days could tolerate my rough start as a young adult. We didn't surround ourselves with useless toys and electronics. I didn't even own a TV 'til I was 25. Same with a car. I either walked or took the bus. We had roommates to help pay the rent. My roommate and I picked up pop bottles and cashed them in for money for food. We scrimped. We didn't spend foolishly. And we certainly didn't go running to Mommy and Daddy for a bailout.
Times were tough, but we became better people for it.
All those toys cost money.
I agree on struggles making you stronger too. My first mortgage had an interest rate of 11.25%, I went to college on credit cards that charged 21% interest. I did nothing but pay down that debt for three years after graduating. It really helps that I didn't think I needed a cell phone, internet at home, or cable TV. Even today those things are luxuries but people see them as necessities which makes their COL higher.
Please stop calling millennials snowflakes. Times have changed since you grew up. Many jobs are automated now and our population has grown enormously. Should they work in a fast food chain restaurant, should they clean office buildings. What job do you want them to get where they can afford to raise a family. My son has a masters in International Relations. It took him 3 years to find a job after submitting hundreds of resumes to companies in the DC area. It's just not easy to find a well paying job with benefits. And yeah, all that time he lived at home. He had an internship job for those years which payed $13 an hour. When he finally moved out he put 10,000 down on a car and paid to furnish his apartment when he moved out. I was very glad he still lived with us and was able to do that. Honestly, what's wrong with that.
Nothing is wrong with living with parents. The issue is the whining. Every generation pays their dues. I'm a boomer and I've never lucked out. I started my adult life during a recession, I couldn't afford to go to college right away so I took a job in a machine shop that cost me the feeling in three fingers, and damaged my hearing. My sense of taste and smell did return within a year of quitting though. Then I went to college on charge cards because I didn't qualify for aid and came out to another recession so people who graduated before me AND people who graduated after me made more money than I did (at one point my employer decided to correct that situation and they gave me a 12% raise but that didn't make up for the years I made less). After 17 years I got downsize out of my job in another recession and changed careers to teaching making less than 50% of what I had been making....just as teacher pay was freezing/being cut for 10 years. I got laid off my job last year and now have to start over at the bottom rung so I'm taking a job making 20% less than I made last year. Yes, I find it irritating when millennials say they have it harder than us baby boomers. I would much rather be a millennial starting out today than a baby boomer who got downsized out of their job in their 50's and never found work again (I know several of those). EVERY generation has their struggles and pays their dues. They are not being picked on.
It's not living at home or difficulty finding jobs that are the issue, It's whining that they have it so much tougher than everyone else. Just who do they think had it easy? Not me or any of the people I know. We've all had our struggles and many are still struggling. When I registered with one job placement agency this summer the recruiter said "At least you've been teaching for the past 9 years. You wouldn't believe how many engineers have NOTHING on their resumes since being let go in 2008." Seriously, if you think millennials have it bad try being over 40 and out of work when your parents are dead so there's no moving back home. They are by no means the only ones hurting. I think older workers who have lost careers are MUCH MUCH worse off than millennials who are struggling to start careers.
FTR I think living at home until you are financially stable is a smart move. I don't understand the rush to move out and accumulate debt. I think multi generational families would be more stable and it would be easier to accumulate wealth. Our culture says move out though. If dd#2 needs to live at home until she's 30 I'm good with that. I've already told her I'm moving in with her when I'm old.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 08-08-2017 at 07:49 AM..
Few youngsters these days could tolerate my rough start as a young adult. We didn't surround ourselves with useless toys and electronics. I didn't even own a TV 'til I was 25. Same with a car. I either walked or took the bus. We had roommates to help pay the rent. My roommate and I picked up pop bottles and cashed them in for money for food. We scrimped. We didn't spend foolishly. And we certainly didn't go running to Mommy and Daddy for a bailout.
Times were tough, but we became better people for it.
Times were tough? Tougher than what?
Few Baby Boomers could tolerate the rough start as a young adult suffered by earlier generations. They didn't surround themselves with useless amenities. It wasn't until the 1940s that more than half of Americans had a flushing toilet. Electronics? A TV at 25 years old?? A little more than a decade before you were born, most of rural America completely lacked electricity altogether. And you're complaining about scrimping to pay the rent? Many of the Greatest Generation didn't have to worry about things like paying rent when more than 16 million of them were overseas fighting the Axis. And they certainly didn't go to Mommy and Daddy for a vaccine against Polio - it didn't exist.
Funny, the very same politics that most millennials support are the politics that are making things harder for them. Most of them are their own worst enemies.
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