Imagine the youth unemployment rate so high that after paying or borrowing tens of thousands of dollars on a college education, your kid ends up back home because he can't find a job and afford an independent lifestyle. Welcome Boomerang Generation.
There were three definite rules in our household while I was growing up - don't do drugs, call if you're going to be late and get out of the house when you graduate from high school. The latter may seem a bit harsh to some, but it really wasn't meant that way. It's was my parent's way of saying, "We've taught you to fly; now it's time you to start your journey."
And we did.
The Boomerang Generation and Youth Unemployment
The term "Boomerang Generation" has begun to emerge with Gen Yer's, so much that there's actually a Wikipedia page about it. CNN Money reported that in a poll conducted by Twentysomething Inc. some 85 percent of college students plan to move back home when they graduate, up from 67 percent in 2006.
A big part of the problem, of course, is the high, 15 percent youth unemployment rate amongst 20-24 year olds. Home seems like a viable option to many.
Youth Unemployment Has Long-Term Consequences
The high youth unemployment rate and the time spent out of the labor pool can be hazardous to both the parents who find they are financially supporting their adult children and the young adult who misses out on valuable time gaining work experience to build a solid career. While it may seem nice to have the kids home again, there are some long-term consequences to it all. If you're a parent who has to financially support your adult child, those expenses eat away at your retirement. If you're an adult child out of work for any length of time, it's time you have to make up when gaining and honing real-world skill sets.
Sure, large numbers of children, mostly single, have lived with their parents as adults for decades. But things were far different 100 or even 50 years ago. Women, especially, weren't abundant in the workforce and so they lived in their childhood rooms until they married and started a home of their own. No matter the statistics, the fact that kids are forced to move back in with their parents due to high youth unemployment rates and not social norms is significant.
Youth Unemployment Options
Bianca Fortis was a Boomerang Kid who found herself once again living with her parents after college while she tried to find a job in journalism. Bianca was dependent upon an economic system for her financial independence, a path most kids are told to follow. It seemed that if you went to college, those years of hard work would pay off in an immediate job, but the labor market is about supply and demand. If there's not enough demand for your skills and what you can bring to the table, then it's "hello Strawberry Shortcake comforter. It's so nice to see you again."
Kids will either grow up to be employees or employers, but never exposing them to both opportunities limits them as they venture down their career path. Even a kid who has developed an entrepreneurial mindset before he's reached college age has a much better propensity to adapt to these economic changes. Their financial survival skills are far stronger than those who have never been exposed. And if you think the current economic downturn won't happen again in your kids' lifetime, think again. It's cyclical.
As a parent, I'd love for my daughter to return home after she finishes college, but I don't want her to actually live at home. It's not because I wouldn't want her to be that close to me, but because she deserves to have a life of her own, to be productive, follow her dreams and accomplish her own goals. Preparing her now, before she leaves high school, is the best gift I can unselfishly give her.
Encourage your kids, of all ages, to get out there and make their own employment. Don't teach them to become dependent upon a system; this is America, home to entrepreneurship and because the youth unemployment rate isn't going to dip down low for quite some time.
Biz in a Boxx
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