7 ways life is harder for millennials than it was for their parents

By: Business Insider

March 18, 2018 at 11:45 AM EDT

Strelka Institute for Media, Architecture and Design/Flickr

Millennials are the generation born between 1981 and 1996.
In some ways, their life is harder than it was for their parents at the same age.
Many millennials are struggling financially and emotionally. Even online dating isn't as easy as it might seem.

Everyone likes to think that their life is hard, that their problems are bigger and less solvable than anyone else's.

But for millennials — the generation born between 1981 and 1996 — that might in fact be true. Many of these 20- and 30-somethings are struggling financially, emotionally, and even in the love department, in ways that their forebears weren't.

Below, we've listed some of the most significant ways in which life is harder for millennials than it was for their parents.

Millennials are less financially stable than previous generationsSpencer Platt/Getty Images

Business Insider's Linette Lopez reported on some disappointing data from the Washington, DC-based think tank Young Invincibles.

Among white Americans ages 25 to 34, median income decreased 21% between 1989 and 2013 — though it increased among Latinos, who started at a disadvantage.

What's more, as Steven Rattner described in a 2015 New York Times op-ed, millennials also have a lower net worth ($10,400 in 2013) than Gen X had ($18,200 in 1995).

Perhaps the most startling finding comes from a 2017 paper by social scientists at Harvard, Stanford, and University of California, Berkeley: Economic mobility has decreased significantly since the 1940s.

Specifically, about 90% of Americans born in the 1940s outearned their parents by the time they hit 30. That figure drops to 50% among Americans born in the 1980s. The authors attribute the change largely to growing income inequality.

Millennials are saddled with student debt — but a college education is more necessary than everJonathan Ernst/Reuters

Rattner also points out that "college is becoming less affordable even as it has become increasingly necessary." (According to the Young Invincibles data, even college grads with debt earn more than people without a degree.)

Between 1993 and 2015, average tuition increased 234% — when the inflation rate was just 63%. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 46% of grads left college with debt in 1995, compared to 71% in 2015.

That makes it harder for millennials to hit those traditional "adult" milestones, like having kids or buying a house.

Millennial men are more likely to live at home with their parents than previous generationsFilipe Frazao/Shutterstock.com

Pew Research Center data reveals that, among men ages 18 to 34, living at home with parents has been the most common living arrangement since 2009. (Women in this age group are more likely to be living with a spouse or a romantic partner than they are to be living with their parents.)

The main culprit seems to be unemployment. Pew reports that research suggests employed young men are less likely to live at home than unemployed young men, and employment among young men has decreased significantly in the last few decades.

Living at home isn't a bad thing per se, but it can make it harder for millennials to feel independent.

Millennials are overwhelmed by the dating poolDrew Angerer/Getty Images

Social scientists call it the "paradox of choice": In some cases, the more options we have, the less likely we are to make a decision at all.

Online dating is a prime example of the paradox in action. With thousands of potential dates just a swipe away, how can you choose just one? And even if you do, how do you know you've picked the right one?

Sometimes, that can lead to unhealthy relationship behavior. INSIDER's Kristin Salaky spoke to experts who said that when a relationship gets rough, instead of trying to work on it, millennials may look to see what else is out there — and that's easier to do than ever.

Millennials feel like they have to be 'always on' at workShutterstock

Digital technology has transformed the way we think about work.

Instead of clocking out at 5 p.m., it's now possible to physically leave the office, then sign back on once you get home. And a lot of young employees building their careers are doing just that.

Randstad's 2014 Employee Engagement Study found that 45% of employees feel pressured to respond to email after hours. Millennials, the study found, are the generation most likely to stay "on" during off hours.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider