Liz Hipple — New Fed paper suggests it’s not all millennials’ fault after all

What are the possible explanations for why millennials have lower incomes and fewer assets than did prior generations at similar ages? The authors conclude: “These balance sheet comparisons likely reflect, in part, the unfavorable labor and credit markets conditions that prevailed during the 2007–09 recession, some of which had prolonged effects.”

The Fed paper’s emphasis on the importance of the labor market conditions into which millennials graduated echoes the arguments made in my and my co-author Elisabeth Jacobs’ recent report, “Are today’s inequalities limiting tomorrow’s opportunities?” In the report, we lay out a framework for understanding the channels via which upward mobility can either be facilitated or impeded, arguing that while a great deal of attention is paid to factors that develop human capital such as education, more research is needed to understand how things such as prevailing labor market conditions can impede the deploymentof that human capital....

WCEG — The Equitablog
New Fed paper suggests it’s not all millennials’ fault after all
Liz Hipple

Zero Hedge Millennials Are Now Considered The "Lost Generation"

Lost economic and financially, that is.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published a new report examining the relationship between a person’s birth year, and measures of his or her family’s economic status, including income and wealth. Fed economists determined that substantial wealth declines were visible across the age spectrum around the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) but found that young families suffered the most.

Zero Hedge
Millennials Are Now Considered The "Lost Generation"

Tyler Durden

See also

Political impact?

Pew
Millennials projected to overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation

Richard Fry

Zero Hedge — Fourth Turning's Neil Howe: Why Millennials Aren't So Unique

Neil Howe looks at the economic aspect of demographics.

Zero Hedge
Fourth Turning's Neil Howe: Why Millennials Aren't So Unique

Tyler Durden

Maggie Overfelt — The new generation of employees would take less pay for these job perks

Millennials work for the cash and good health insurance — just like everybody else. More than half of millennials (53 percent) say compensation is more important to a job offer than corporate mission (34 percent). And 91 percent of millennials say they are most attracted to a new job by salary and benefits. But there are some job perks that will make millennials consider working for less, by as much as 12 percent....

According to the survey, 77 percent of millennials would be willing to take a salary cut of at least 3 percent in exchange for long-term job security. Roughly 76 percent of millennials would take a pay cut of at least 3 percent to work for a company that offers flexible office hours, and 67 percent would be willing to take a pay cut of at least 3 percent to work at a
company that offers good mentorship opportunities.

I would take a salary cut of 6 percent to 12 percent to work for a firm that ...

• Offers long-term job security (38 percent of millennials)

• Offers flexible hours (37 percent)

• Offers good mentorship opportunities (30 percent)

• Is growing very rapidly (30 percent)

• Only employs extremely talented and smart people (26 percent) 

CNBC
The new generation of employees would take less pay for these job perks
Maggie Overfelt, special to CNBC.com

AP — Study: Millennials Less Trusting Than Gen X Was

A new study has found that, while Americans are mistrustful of each other and institutions -- from government to corporations and the media -- young people are among the least likely age group to have confidence in those institutions, especially since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

AP — The big Story
Study: Millennials Less Trusting Than Gen X Was

Martha Irvine

Josh Eidelson — Tea Partiers V. Millennials: Why the Far Right Disdains Young People, Even Their Own Kids

Sociologist Theda Skocpol explains what drives the angry right, and what to expect next from them.

The past weeks’ showdown in Washington, D.C., has shocked and perplexed some observers. Theda Skocpol was not among them. Skocpol, a veteran Harvard professor, is the author of books on topics ranging from the politics of the U.S. welfare state (Protecting Soldiers and Mothers) to the state of grassroots political engagement (Diminished Democracy), and of the definitive social science tome on the Tea Party (The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism, with Vanessa Williamson).

With the immediate debt ceiling/shutdown showdown coming to a close, Salon called up Skocpol Wednesday to discuss how the media misunderstand the Tea Party, how an unpopular movement can move so many members of Congress, and why the right hates Obama’s moderate healthcare law so much. What follows is an edited and condensed version of our conversation.

Salon
Tea Partiers V. Millennials: Why the Far Right Disdains Young People, Even Their Own Kids
Josh Eidelson

Millennial generation expected to support Obama two to one

There are 95 million members of the “millennial generation” [born circa 1980-2000] in the United States, making them the largest generational cohort in the United States, and those who are eligible to vote next fall can be expected to support President Obama by a margin of two-to-one as they did in 2008.

That is the opinion of two rather older observers of that generation, Morley Winograd, a former senior policy advisor to Vice President Al Gore and director of the national Partnership for Reinventing Government, and former Democratic pollster Michael D. Hais. The two men are the co-authors of Millennial Momentum: How a New Generation is Remaking America.

Read it at Raw Story
Observers of ‘millennial generation’ expect them to come out for Obama

by Muriel Kane

But here's a study calling that view into question somewhat and explaining why so many millennials are proponents of Ron Paul or supporters of Occupy:

After analyzing 40 years of data on approximately 9 million young adults, researchers have found the so-called Millennial generation to be less environmentally conscious, community-oriented and politically engaged than previous generations were at the same age, according to a new study 

Compared to baby boomers and GenX'ers when they were young adults, Americans belonging to the Millennial generation -- those born after 1982 -- consider money, image and fame more important than values like self-acceptance and being part of a community, according to the study published March 5 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

The study found that millennials were less interested in donating to charities, participating in politics or helping the environment. The results support the so-called "Generation Me" theory over the "Generation We" description often used in reference to today's young people.

Millennial Generation Money-Obsessed And Less Concerned With Giving Back, Study Finds
Read the rest at the Huffington Post

Millennials' expectations

Success for my generation will be a shift from business as usual to something that economist Umair Haque calls "Betterness" and environmental leader Billy Parish calls "Making Good." Parish recently teamed up with non-profit leader Dev Aujla to release a book called Making Good: Finding Meaning, Money and Community in a Changing World that outlines how people can make money AND make an impact. The book goes a long way towards creating a new roadmap for young people to follow.

The transition from climbing the ladder of unfulfilling societal expectations and consumerism to blazing a trail with a life guided by a holistic focus on well-being, community and sustainability won't be easy. But, as we lie dreaming under the glow-in-the-dark stars of our childhood room, we know that it's at least one dream worth fighting for.

Read it at The Huffington Post

Happiness Is the New Success: Why Millennials Are Reprioritizing

by Lisa Curtis

How widespread this view is we are going to find out as expectations become reality. This could have profound implications for the US economy if it more than a limited perspective.

Related factoid: ~ 10 K people a day turning 65. The boomers are entering the final stage of passage. That, too, has enormous implications.

The Millennial Declaration

Generation WE : The Movement Begins...

Generation-We.org

This was made in October, 2008, but it is still making the rounds. I just encountered it on FaceBook through the son of an old friend of mine. If you are into the analysis of Strauss & Howe, e.g., in The Fourth Turning, it will be of special interest. 

This is generational change in the making, and this generation is poised to take over as the largest voting bloc. They are represented as typically progressive, which has been my experience of millennials. But they also have a completely wrong notion of the national debt. MMT to the rescue!