Forever Young
Maybe youth isn’t wasted on the young, after all. Having a full-time job, being financially independent, living on your own, getting married, having a child, quitting Twitter, and accepting the the results of presidential elections. Those are some of the milestones Americans associate with adulthood (OK, maybe I added a couple). Whatever your definition, it seems that young Americans are crossing the thresholds later than they used to. “In 2021, the most recent year with available data, 39% of 21-year-olds were working full time, compared with 64% in 1980. And only a quarter of people this age in 2021 were financially independent of their parents – meaning that their income was at least 150% of the poverty line – compared with 42% in 1980.” Some of the data has to do with college attendance. Another driver, one assumes, has to do with the fact that living in your parents’ house and Tik Toking all day is a hell of a lot better than the alternative. Pew: Young adults in the U.S. are reaching key life milestones later than in the past. (We have a clear agreement in my extended family. If my kids don’t move out of my house, I’m moving back in with my mom.)