It’s not about smart phones, selfies or social media. The reason Millennials aren’t making some of life’s biggest purchases is because we’re broke. As James Carville might say, “it’s the economy, stupid.”
Reading the money pages of popular publications as a Millennial can be infuriating. Every other article seems to stumble through clumsy speculation about my generation’s financial decisions, as if we’re so mysterious.
On Tuesday, CNBC asked, if housing is getting more affordable, “why aren’t Millennials buying?” A piece in USA Today last month called us “skittish from the recession”—Hmm, wonder why?—and Bloomberg Businessweek thinks we’re just discerning shoppers. The most egregious of the what’s-up-with-Millennials articles, however, is still a 2012 piece for The Atlantic that called Millennials “The Cheapest Generation.” It expended more than 2,000 words to explain “why Millennials aren’t buying cars or houses, and what that means for the economy.”
“The largest generation in American history might never spend as lavishly as its parents did—nor on the same things,” it reads. “Since the end of World War II, new cars and suburban houses have powered the world’s largest economy and propelled our most impressive recoveries. Millennials may have lost interest in both.”
The word “debt” appears only once in the entire piece.
The suggestion that Millennials are forgoing major financial decisions, like buying a car or first home, because of generational values is an unnecessary stretch—especially in the presence of consistent, reliable economic data that shows we’re currently just too saddled with student loan debt and low-wage jobs to buy big-ticket items.
In fact, nine in 10 Millennials say they want to own a home but, nationwide, less than half of for-sale homes are within reach of the median-income Millennials.
The median annual income of adults 25 to 34 years old with a bachelor’s degree is nearly $50,000 annually, according to U.S. Department of Education. Despite that sad statistic, Millennials still find a way make up nearly a third of recent homebuyers. And what’s clear is that the Millennials who bought homes can better afford to do so. The National Association of Realtors found that the median income for homebuyers under 33 was $73,600—significantly higher than that of most Millennials.
None of this data is particularly new or especially hard to find. So why the insistence by journalists and analysts on a cultural explanation for Millennial buying trends when more likely factors are in plain sight?
Well, because the truth is pretty inconvenient.
When the American public stops focusing on the minor cultural idiosyncrasies of Millennials, it’ll have to reckon with an economic system rigged against Millennials that badly needs fixing. We’ll have to rethink the affordability of higher education and take a real look at income inequality in this country. The folks with the most to lose if that ever happens are the Baby Boomers—like the editors who’ve been commissioning hit pieces on Millennials.
A version of this piece originally appeared on Demos’ blog, PolicyShop.
Donovan X. Ramsey is a multimedia journalist whose work puts an emphasis on race and class. Donovan has written for outlets including MSNBC, Ebony, and TheGrio, among others. He’s currently a Demos Emerging Voices fellow.
Don’t hold your breath waiting for our modern media to see the obvious…
Even in my studies of Midwestern artists living and working between 1890 and 1930 it becomes screamingly clear that the traditional American paths leading to personal economic opportunity for the many no longer exist in our modern society. In fact, I see this lack of opportunity every day while driving. Just twenty or so years ago it was a safe bet that if you saw a man riding a motorcycle that man would have been a young man. Today, if you see a male motorcyclist that fellow always looks over 50 years old. Why? Today’s American youth can’t afford what used to be a cultural cliché.
Donovan, I sympathize, I really do. I have two children among your cohort, and it grieves me to know their standard of living probably won’t match my own. That is not the way things are supposed to work in America, or so we’ve all been led to believe.
Trouble is, you are the only ones that can change that trajectory, no one else is really motivated to do it for you. For many, if not most, of your parents, they’ve seen any hope of actual retirement diminish or disappear entirely. For the 0.1% things are working exactly as planned. Why can’t y’all be bothered to fight back? Is OWS the best you can do? Seems to me you gave up way too easy.
IMHO, unions are the only reason the boomers had the success they did. Even those of us who never had the opportunity to join a union had advantages because of union collective bargaining. I don’t really care what you think of unions, there is power in organization. I always thought that was obvious, but most just don’t seem to get it.
My advice, maybe you should all turn your gaze away from your electronic devices and take notice of what’s happening in the world around you. It might help to learn a bit of history.
You could start by voting. Don’t like the candidates, or what they are saying? Get better ones. It’s within your power, but only if you’re organized.
You are the only ones who can change this trajectory. Don’t expect anyone else to come to your rescue. If millennials voted at the same rate as my age group you could influence all of the things you (so rightly) complain about.
It’s a process that takes time. Probably a lot of time, given how screwed up this country has become. That’s unfortunate, but if your generation doesn’t wake up soon, the only thing you can be sure of is…
I wish you luck, and I’m sorry if it’s not the answer you want, but as a certain politician once said - You are the ones you’re waiting for.
Broke + you can’t put a house on a credit card
Grandpa and Grandma Bacon laid their lives on the line to organize the Steelworkers Union. If either one of them were alive today, they would tell millennials to organize. Keep organizing. Get militant. Fight back. Never give an inch!
Oh, and by the way - the Boomers aren’t your problem. I’m really tired of hearing that.
The problem is that the 0.1% are hoarding all the cash. Leaving less for all of us. There are plenty of boomers who have nothing to look forward to but working until the day they die.
I’m with you 100%, but I’m old and tired. Get off your butts and organize!