3 Reasons Millennials Are So Lost

Millennials have picked up a nickname “The Lost Generation”. Early adulthood has been synonymous with finding yourself for quite some time. So what makes millennials the lost generation? Admittedly, this is a complicated topic so let’s just touch base on 3 reasons why millennials are so lost.

1) Millennials Lost The Path

“The Path” is the guideline that myself and many other millennials remember being given throughout childhood. The guideline that would help us lay out and achieve our perfect lives. So if you do everything right, this is how your life is supposed to play out:

• Step 1: Graduate high school, go to a good college and earn your degree
• Step 2: Find a good job and start your career
• Step 3: Fall in love and get married
• Step 4: Buy a house and settle down
• Step 5: Have children and start the cycle over again

Now as we all know, life is full of curve balls. Realistically, there are 2 options of how this path actually plays out:

Option 1

You follow it exactly. School, job, marriage, kids. Congrats to you because nowadays that’s not all too common. But now what? Given that most people will have their children between ages 25-35, and life expectancy is about 80-85 years old. That leaves you with at least 45 years unaccounted for. Not to mention that there is no prize at the finish line. No certificate, nothing. Your whole life has been this gradual step system with pretty certificates and commemorative moments. What drives your life forward is the next step, and if there is no next step what do you do? At this point, many realize they weren’t living their own lives and wonder what it was all for. Enter: the mid-life crisis.

Option 2

As usual, life doesn’t go according to plan. Millennials weren’t really given a plan B, so if the path doesn’t work we either create our own or end up feeling lost and defeated. Those who threw out the book and said “screw the path” get branded as unicorns and special snowflakes. While the rest, struggle to figure out what went wrong and why everyone has it figured out but them. Either way, this is where many millennials start to lose faith in “the path”. Enter: the quarter-life crisis.

2) We got Lost in the Shuffle

Higher Degrees for the Same Job

Let’s look at just one way that things have changed in the last 50 years. Back in 1969 roughly 10% of the American population had a college degree. Compare that to roughly 40% of the population in 2018. 50 years and the number of college graduates almost quadrupled. So what does that mean? Back in 1969 if you had a college degree you had an advantage over 90% of the U.S. workforce and were almost guaranteed a good job. And even though less than half of the American workforce has a college degree now, it is still becoming more expectation than added bonus. For most millennials a college degree no longer promises a good job or stability, but it probably comes with a side of student loan debt.

Hiring Process

With more young adults attaining post secondary degrees we are seeing a shift in how employers are screening potential hires. There are some jobs that have changed with time and actually require a higher level of education to keep up. The problem is that company’s are requiring bachelor’s degrees for jobs that used to just require a high school diploma. The catch is that the skills involved haven’t changed. Same title, same job, same skill level but higher degree requirement.

There’s also the notorious conundrum for “X” years of experience needed for an “entry level position”. We are all too familiar with needing 3-5 years of experience and nobody hiring you to get that experience. This hit millennials particularly hard during the recession in 2008. Fresh graduates were forced to move back in with their parents and fight for the same jobs they were working before college. Some studies are even suggesting the recession may have life long affects on many young adults.

Supply & Demand

The demand for employees with a bachelor’s degree is higher than the number of college graduates. And the number of college graduates with master’s and PhD’s greatly outnumbers the amount of higher level positions. This leads to a few problems. First, employers take longer to fill positions. Second, it’s harder for qualified people to find good jobs, simply because they lack a 4 year degree. And third, more college graduates are finding themselves underemployed. In other words, people with master’s degrees and PhD’s are making coffee as barista’s and competing for administrative assistant positions.

3) Millennials are Lost in Love

Women’s Rights

Women’s rights have slowly been progressing forward over the last few decades. With that, comes more women in the workplace and more women prioritizing career and financial security over marriage and children. Now it’s not to say that we can’t have both, but some of us just don’t want both. In today’s society women hold almost all the same positions that men do and this allows us to be completely self sufficient. Relationships, marriage & children are our choice and women see less need in settling for less than we want.

Financial Security

Money is another factor in the decline/delay in marriage and children. As I mentioned earlier, a college degree often means student loan debt for many graduates. Many don’t want to burden a potential spouse with their debt, let alone add the cost of a child. That leaves many young adults pushing marriage and children later into their adulthood. For some, this could mean giving up on children, homeownership, marriage etc. And of course, there’s the elephant in the room: the increasingly vague status of our retirement funding. From social security, to pension plans to 401K’s no one really knows what retirement will look like in 50 years. Instead of focusing on our undefined futures, many millennials are embracing life in the now.

Cohabitation

More than ever couples are opting to cohabitate prior to or without marrying. Some see this as a sort of trial run. If living together goes well they may eventually tie the knot. If it doesn’t go well they just part ways, no messy divorce to go through. Others, cohabitate for financial reasons. The cost of living in many metropolitan areas has become exceedingly high, if you’re already spending most of your time together you might as well save some money on rent. And finally, some see marriage as just a piece of paper; the important thing is the commitment, marriage is just an unnecessary formality.

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