A difficult job market and rising costs are making it harder for young adults to enter adulthood
Young people are already facing the worst entry-level job market since the start of the pandemic and significant economic instability.
But overall economic conditions are making it more challenging for those just entering adulthood. More than eight in 10 young adults rate the economy as “bad” or “terrible”, according to a recent survey conducted with more than 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds around the US by Generation Lab, a research firm studying young people. While young adulthood is known as a time for establishing independence and responsibility, many are attempting to do so amid cuts to social safety net programs and the ever-increasing costs of basic needs like gas and groceries.
“It’s been rough for a long time,” said Nia West-Bey, executive director of the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy. “But I think we particularly have a confluence of long-term economic challenges on the income side and support side, now coupled with an increase in expenses on everything.”
As an older person looking at what should be retirement visible on the horizon…it’s still not enough at this end either.
And it’s not just inflation.
It’s capitalism extracting more and more at every opportunity. Fees, more fees, convenience fees, tips, unbundling, increasing subscriptions, tiered subscriptions, artificial scarcity, scalping, effective monopolies, private equity squatting on real estate, health care costs, energy costs…the list of expenses eating away at what should be retirement means you probably want to have a job of some kind just to have a health care plan or something. And for younger people it means never getting ahead at all.
Enshittification of capitalism means companies no longer come up with new products and technologies to drive business, it just means they figure out new ways to exploit customers and employees to drive profits.