'Generation Wait': Youth Mobility Lowest in 50-Years

'Generation Wait': Youth Mobility Lowest in 50-Years

A great puzzle for future political scientists is the fact that young people overwhelmingly supported President Obama, even though his policies were economically damaging for them. Facing a sluggish economy, weak job market and student debt, young adults are increasingly staying put and not moving to pursue a job or career. In fact, the mobility of young adults is at its lowest level since 1963.

Among young adults 25-29, only 4.9 million, roughly 23%, moved in the twelve months prior to March 2013. “Burdened with college debt or toiling in low-wage jobs, they are delaying careers, marriage and having children,” the AP reports. “Waiting anxiously for their lucky break, they are staying put and doubling up with roommates or living with Mom and Dad, unable to make long-term plans or commit to buying a home _ let alone pay a mortgage.”

The number of young adults living with their parents is at a 40-year high, according to a Pew Research study. More than a third, 36%, of Millennials, aged 18-31, were living with their parents. major factor behind this is the weak job market. Just 63% of Millennials have a job, down from 70% just a few years ago. Even among those with a job, however, almost one-third, 29%, still live with their parents. 

Coupled with the weak job market, though, is the increasing burden of student loan debt. Early in his first term, President Obama orchestrated a federal takeover of the student loan program. With more money available at artificially low interest rates, students ramped up their borrowing. 

Total student debt today is over $1 trillion, more than all the non-revolving credit in the US. The average college student graduated this year with over $35,000 in debt. 

While the economic prospects for young adults is already grim, it could become a lot worse in the future. Obama’s signature legislative achievement, ObamaCare, mandates that young adults have health insurance. Because they are healthy, they consume very little health care. Insurers need their premium payments to subsidized mandated benefits and increased coverage of the sick and the old. 

With Millennials already putting off marriage, buying homes and starting careers because of Obama’s weak economy, it is hard to see how young adults can afford an extra few hundred dollars a month for something they don’t really need. 

ObamaCare is, at its root, another program of generational theft. Like Social Security and Medicare, it takes money from the young to subsidize benefits for the elderly. Just 44% of senior citizens, who benefit from Obama’s runaway deficit spending, voted for Obama last year. Those who will eventually have to pay the bill for Obama’s profligacy, young adults, gave him 60% of their vote. 

It is a puzzle. 

 

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