Did you know that the percentage of 18 to
34-year-old Americans that are married and living with a spouse has dropped by
more than half since 1975?
Back then, 57 percent of everyone in that
age group "lived with a spouse", but today that number has dropped to
just 27 percent.
These numbers come from "the Changing
Economics and Demographics of Young Adulthood" report that was just
released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some are postulating that the reason for
this dramatic cultural shift is a phenomenon known as "extended
adolescence", while others fear that large numbers of young men and/or
young women are giving up on the concept of marriage altogether.
Instead of getting married and starting
their own households, many young adults are deciding that living with Mom and
Dad is the best approach.
In fact, this new Census Bureau report
found that one out of every three 18 to 34-year-old Americans is currently
living with their parents...
According to the Changing Economics and
Demographics of Young Adulthood report for 2016, one in three Americans ages 18
to 34 are living at home with their parents.
Coming in second place is living with a
spouse (27 per cent), followed by other (i.e. living with a roommate or other
relatives, 21 per cent), living with a boyfriend or girlfriend (12 per cent)
and living alone (8 per cent).
Once the last recession ended, this trend
was supposed to start reversing, but instead the number of young adults still
living at home has just continued to increase.
This is going to have very serious
implications for our looming retirement crisis.
And a lot of these young adults are not
being productive members of society at all.
In fact, this new report from the Census
Bureau found that one out of every four 25 to 34-year-old Americans that are
currently living at home do not have a job and they are not going to school
either.
In other words, they need to get a life.
I really like how a recent CNBC editorial made this point...
One of the most memorable Saturday Night
Live sketches ever was broadcast in 1986 when guest host William Shatner played
himself appearing at fictional Star Trek convention. After fielding one
childish question after another from costumed fans in their late 20s and 30s,
Shatner loses his cool and shouts: "GET A LIFE, will you people? I mean,
for crying out loud, it's just a TV show! ... Move out of your parents'
basements! Get your own apartments and GROW UP!"
Thirty-one years later, it sure seems like
all of America needs to heed that message. Here's why: The Census Bureau now
says that more 18-34 year-olds are living with their parents than with a
spouse.
But a lot of young men these days do not
even want to go down the traditional route of marriage, family, career, etc.
In fact, a lot of them are forsaking the
concept of marriage together. Author Suzanne Venker says that a lot of
these men are blaming their lack of desire to get married on modern women...
"When I ask them why, the answer is
always the same: women aren't women anymore." Feminism, which teaches
women to think of men as the enemy, has made women "angry" and
"defensive, though often unknowingly."
"Now the men have nowhere to go. It
is precisely this dynamic - women good/men bad - that has destroyed the
relationship between the sexes. Yet somehow, men are still to blame when love
goes awry."
"Men are tired," Venker wrote.
"Tired of being told there's something fundamentally wrong with them.
Tired of being told that if women aren't happy, it's men's fault."
On the flip side, a lot of women are
extremely distressed that so few men seem to have the willingness to commit
these days.
So many men just want to run around having
sex with an endless series of women without ever putting a wedding ring on any
of their fingers.
Of course many men figure that if they can
get some of the best benefits of marriage (sex, companionship, etc.) without
having to make a commitment then that is a pretty good deal for them.
Personally, I am a huge advocate of
marriage, but the rest of society is moving in the exact opposite direction.
According to the Pew Research Center, 44
percent of 18 to 29-year-old Americans now believe that "marriage is
becoming obsolete".
But of course not all young adults that
are living at home are doing it for the wrong reasons.
Thanks to our long-term economic decline,
it is much more difficult for young people to find good paying jobs today than
it was several decades ago. The following comes from CNS News...
"More young men are falling to the
bottom of the income ladder," says the Census Bureau study. "In 1975,
only 25 percent of men, aged 25 to 34, had incomes of less than $30,000 per
year. By 2016, that share rose to 41 percent of young men (incomes for both
years are in 2015 dollars)."
I have absolutely no problem at all with
young adults that are living at home temporarily for economic reasons.
These Millennials are simply victims of
our failing economy, and thus we should not be so quick to judge them.
And many of these young people graduate
from college already saddled with tremendous amounts of debt.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
the cost of going to college has increased by an astounding 63 percent since
2006.
We assure our youngsters that they will
get good paying jobs when they graduate that will enable them to pay off those
student loans, but once they do finally graduate many of them are discovering
that the good paying jobs that we promised them do not exist.
Today, Americans owe more than a trillion
dollars on their student loans. It has become a major national crisis,
and it is financially crippling an entire generation.
So the next time you hear of a young adult
that is still living at home, don't be so quick to judge until you know the
facts.
Yes, there are many that need a good kick
in the pants to get them going in life, but there are also millions that are
simply victims of our ongoing long-term economic collapse.
Read more at
http://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=1188#q6gh4RoR777cyEjc.99