There's a tendency to overdo the generalizations, minimize national culture and ignore individual differences. The 1960s' stereotype of most baby boomers -- to take an obvious example -- as pot-smoking, sex-obsessed, authority-challenging, anti-capitalist libertines was overdrawn. But for today's young, generational placement may matter a lot in one area: the economy.
The deep slump has hit millennials hard. According to Pew, almost two-fifths of 18- to 29-year-olds (37 percent) are unemployed or out of the labor force, "the highest share ... in more than three decades." Only 41 percent have a full-time job, down from 50 percent in 2006. Proportionately, more millennials have recently lost jobs (10 percent) than those over 30 (6 percent). About a third say they're receiving financial help from their families, and 13 percent of 22- to 29-year-olds have moved in with parents after living on their own.
The adverse effects could linger. An oft-quoted study by Yale University economist Lisa Kahn found that college graduates entering a labor market with high unemployment receive lower pay and that the pay penalty can last two decades. Writing in The Atlantic, Don Peck argues that many millennials, overindulged as children and harboring a sense of entitlement, are ill-prepared for a "harsh economic environment." They lack the persistence and imagination to cope well. That indictment may be unfair. My own experience is that millennial co-workers are diligent, disciplined and determined in the face of frustration.
Regardless, more bad news may lie ahead. As baby boomers retire, higher federal spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may boost millennials' taxes and squeeze other government programs. It will be harder to start and raise families.
Millennials could become the chump generation. They could suffer for their elders' economic sins, particularly the failure to confront the predictable costs of baby boomers' retirement. This poses a question. In 2008, millennials voted 2-1 for Barack Obama; in surveys, they say they're more disposed than older Americans to big and activist government. Their ardor for Obama is already cooling. Will higher taxes dim their enthusiasm for government?
