Coming Home: Millennial Movement in the Post-graduate Landscape
This winter, I moved home for the first time in six years. Between my departure and return came a university degree, three attempted languages (ranging in terms of success from head just above water to passable community member), thousands of acquaintances, hundreds of friends, love found, love lost, new perspectives, old realizations, and more afternoons spent checking my dwindling bank account than I’d like to remember.
I am fortunate in countless ways to have had the opportunity to experience all of these things, and I am fortunate yet again to be able to return home. On this front, I am not alone. Higher rates of young Americans than ever are migrating back to their childhood homes.
Personally, I am excited about the prospect of a place I know and the space to reflect on recent experiences. Yet there is a growing dialogue surrounding the trend of returning home that implies it is because, as a generation, we are lazy, unambitious, and unwilling to leave the nest in the same way that our parents’ generation did. Why are young people moving home now more than ever? And does this trend say more about the generation it is affecting or American society at large?
As of early 2019, more than 1 in 5 Millennials aged 25–35 were living at home. Rising housing costs, especially in large American cities, are pushing post-grads back to their childhood bedrooms.
Even though college graduation rates have been on the rise (40% for Millennials in 2016 compared to 32% for Gen Xers in 2000 and 26% for Baby Boomers in 1985), median annual income has stagnated. Millennials with a college degree are making about the same as Generation X workers were in 2001, while Millennials with some college education are making relatively less than Baby Boomers were in 1982 ($36,000 compared to $38,900).
Add into the equation that current students are coming out of college with unprecedented rates of student loan debt (mean outstanding debt of $36,299 in 2017 according to the United States Federal Reserve) and you have a mass of young people without anywhere to go but home. The financial realities for young people today are the biggest factor driving the recent migration home, not a lack of work ethic or independence.
We are at a point of transition in American society. Young people are coming into adulthood with entirely new expectations and social pressures than those of their parents and grandparents before them. For many, education is an expectation rather than an achievement.
A highly educated workforce is something countries push for, but without a parallel increase in available jobs, there is an overflow of educated workers without viable work options. The American job market has become saturated with post-graduates fighting for limited jobs in a landscape that is skewing more and more toward STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) fields. Job-seekers with Philosophy and History degrees are accepting minimum wage jobs to fight off their looming student loan debt, with minimal options aside from shifting focus entirely. Some are doubling down and working toward a masters degree or a doctorate that will allow them greater access to the dwindling job market in their respective fields, but they are in turn doubling or even tripling their debt.
Upon returning home myself I searched the job market and was shocked to find that a desk job at the local library required a bachelor’s degree. Finally my degree in Economics would be put to good use shelving Stephen King novels and checking out Big Fat Liar on DVD.
Many of our parents and grandparents asked, “What can I do to make a better life for my children?” Many young people are now asking, “What can I do to find fulfillment in my own life?” With the acknowledgment that this is not the case for everyone — there are still millions of young people struggling to make ends meet and who are trying to create better lives and opportunities for their families and loved ones — more young people than ever are facing a philosophical question in the face of this new financial reality. They are the beneficiaries of their parents hard work, and they now stand before a countless number of possible paths, unsure of which direction to take. Do I follow my creative inclinations and risk it all to be one of the next great American artists? Do I pack my bags and move the big city, hoping to find a career that leads to greater financial freedom and a traditional sense of success? Do I embrace the simple life in a small town and focus on investing in a local community?
Each of these paths may lead to a fulfilling and enjoyable life. The privilege to be able to assess this situation and to try to answer it according to each of our own dispositions is something to appreciate, not to be ashamed of. We are the products of the past, and we must recognize the hard work put in before us that gives us the opportunity to carve out our own path in a way that differs from that of previous generations. Instead of shamefully unpacking our bags in the family driveway wondering what if, we must hold our heads high and see the return home for what is: only a small part of a larger whole.
The trend of Millennials returning home says more about the foundation laid by past generations than it does about the lack of drive in our generation. It is a privilege to be able to recognize the shifting landscape and to make rational decisions surrounding what to do next. If that means moving home and saving up some money in order to be better equipped to take advantage of the next opportunity, so be it.
