'Great recession' hits Millennials hardest
Millennials, those aged 18 to 29, have seen the most significant employment drop during the 'great recession.'
Reginald Murphey views online job listings while attending a job fair in Detroit Feb. 10. Millennials have been the hardest hit group of the 'great recession,' according to a new report by the Pew Research Group.
Paul Sancya/AP/File
Millennials are the most technologically connected generation. They are also the most tattooed and the least religious.
And they have been the hardest hit by the "great recession."
Full-time employment among Millennials has dropped significantly 鈥 by 9 percentage points 鈥 since 2006, while the percentage has remained largely unchanged for older working-age adults, according to the which profiled the generation aged 18 to 29 in a report released Wednesday.
As entry-level employees, Millennials are often the last ones hired and the first ones fired in a troubled economy, the report asserted.
This means that many 20-somethings are missing out on valuable work experiences and wages, a loss that may take years to make up.
鈥淭he labor market consequences of graduating from college in a bad economy are large, negative and persistent,鈥 writes Yale economist Lisa Kahn in an .
Take wages. For every percentage point increase in the unemployment rate, Millennials initially lost 6 to 7 percent in wages, according to Ms. Kahn.
Millennials鈥 suffering income may help explain why so many 鈥 more than a third, according to Pew 鈥 are leaning on Mom and Dad for financial support. While this is partially due to a large number of students, about 1 in 7 Millennials with a full-time job 鈥 and about half who work part time 鈥 say family members help them get by financially.
While the outlook feels bleak, it doesn鈥檛 seem that way for the youngest Americans in the workforce. Less than a third of currently employed Millennials report that they earn enough now to support the lifestyle they want, but nearly 90 percent believe they eventually will. Only about three-quarters of Gen-Xers and a little under half of baby boomers reported the same optimism about their future earnings.