Millennials are falling way behind

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-are-falling-way-behind-2015-1


The typical millennial is $2,000 poorer than his parents at this age.

The past is another country. In 1980, the typical young worker in Detroit or Flint, Michigan, earned more than his counterpart in San Francisco or San Jose. The states with the highest median income were Michigan, Wyoming, and Alaska. Nearly 80 percent of the Boomer generation, which at the time was between 18 and 35, was white, compared to 57 percent today.

Three decades later, in 2013, the picture of young people—yes, Millennials—is a violently shaken kaleidoscope, and not all the pieces are falling into a better place. Michigan's median income for under-35 workers has fallen by 26 percent, more than any state. In fact, beyond the east coast, earnings for young workers fell in every state but Hawaii and South Dakota.



The median income of young adults today is $2,000 less today than their parents in 1980, adjusted for inflation. The earnings drop has been particularly steep in the rust belt and across the northwest.

As you can see in the next interactive graph, the three states with the highest median income for young people in 1980 were also the three states with the steepest 33-year decline in median income: Michigan, Wyoming, and Alaska. The winners of this continental shake-up are all on the coasts, particularly Virginia, Maryland, and just about all of New England.



Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/young-adults-poorer-less-employed-and-more-diverse-than-their-parents/385029/#ixzz3QUzPtOH7

Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/young-adults-poorer-less-employed-and-more-diverse-than-their-parents/385029/#ixzz3QUzPtOH7

[tabbycat31]

2. This

[starroute]

6. You got any facts to back that up?

Looks to me more like the millennials' grandparents are the ones who got the best of everything. Their parents have barely been treading water as wages have stagnated for 40 years -- and are facing a dismal retirement.

[roguevalley]

7. then they need to do what their parents did. Vote and protest.

as long as they are a silent group no one will listen. I wish I had a nickel for every twenty and thirty something that told me they didn't vote because 'it doesn't matter'. ARGH!

[Jesus Malverde]

3. The one thing they do have...

Is time

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. yeah, but low wages/lessor opportunities early in life pile up

Hard to make up for

[IronLionZion]

4. They highlighted some rust belt states. There was more manufacturing back then

1980 was before St. Ronald of Ray-gun came along to rescue us from peace or prosperity for decades. I don't know if we'll ever get back the types of jobs this country lost. It takes a lot of networking, education, and opportunities to be successful in today's economy.


I'm an older millennial, and I just bought a first home and lost my job in the same week. It's the most "American" thing that has ever happened to me. It's client services contracting so I'll get something else soon, and my gains in Obama's stock market will keep my head above water for a few months. I feel bad for the folks who don't have the savings, education, and opportunities that I have.

[Padiddle]

8. Things will only get worse with the automation economy

Self-driving cars have the potential to put millions of people in transport jobs out of work. That goes for everyone from the UPS driver to the pizza delivery kid to school bus drivers, cabbies, even driver's ed instructors and DMV employees (no reason to get a license for a car you can't operate yourself).

AI text recognition is getting exponentially better at reproducing human language, to the point where news articles, books, scripts, press releases, ad copy, even international treaties will likely be "written" by machines and indistinguishable from human composition. Say goodbye to everyone from journalists to copywriters to novelists, screenwriters, songwriters...

Robots already perform many factory jobs that could be performed by people at assembly lines. Right now we still have the outsourced employees in third-world countries building iPhones and Nikes for pennies an hour, but eventually even they will be rendered obsolete once the robots are able to operate autonomously and without input. Robots even perform surgery, albeit with the guiding hand of a physician, but as technology improves, the robot surgeon will be able to recognize where and how to operate on the patient. Menial labor jobs like construction will also likely be replaced by robots built to withstand grueling work without complaint or exhaustion, and especially without injury. Companies will flock to this automated labor source because it allows them to have all the duty without any of the "unecessary" expenses or overhead -- like labor regulations, OSHA guidelines, and of course health insurance and disability payouts for those who get injured on the job. A construction-bot or assembly-bot isn't going to file a lawsuit.

The kids (and I'm one of them, but much more of a Luddite than my peers) need to wake up and stop being so gung-ho about how awesome Google and Uber supposedly are. Shit is going to hit the fan when people don't have any means whatsoever to feed themselves or take shelter.

[appalachiablue]

10. You are correct in your analysis of jobs & automation. I've followed this almost 2 years,

'The Second Machine Age' book by McAffee & Brynjolffson; Oxford Martin Reports of 50% job loss in the US in the next 20 years; 'Humans Need Not Apply' dark, techno-libertarian video online, and more. When I see news of researchers working on a text message to remind you that your dryer laundry will be done in 5 mins., another working on a messaging system to remind you what to eat- I want to set my hair on fire. When a person accepts these assistive measures, then they are in fact dead, clinically and legally or should be.
In saying you think young folks need to wake up, shit will hit the fan, not to be so glazed by Google & Uber it's amazing, rare & you are right. It's a real existential issue. The idea of a living wage since proposed in the 18th c. & recently is interesting but curious. I read on DU that it's been talked about here for 10 years. Business leaders don't even want us to have health care, food, jobs- why would they agree to a basic guaranteed income. Per Davos this month some global elites are buying land, airstrips, ranches in New Zealand to go there to get way from dissent like London 2011 & Ferguson, esp. the hedge fund managers. Ford has out the new 'Bolt' car that parks with AI. What a world.