WASHINGTON—Millennials have fared less financially than previous generations, as young people were hit early on by the repercussions of the 2008 global financial crisis, alongside rising income inequality, showed a study published in November 2017.
The millennial generation—defined by the US Census Bureau as those born between 1982 and 2000—“have had a run of bad luck,” most evidently in North America and Europe. This was disclosed by the Global Wealth Report published by the research arm of Swiss banking giant Credit Suisse.
“They faced the rigors of the financial crisis [and] the high unemployment that followed in many countries. [They] have also been widely hammered by high and rising house prices, rising student debt and increasing inequality,” the report said.
It found out that 90 percent of children in the United States born in 1940 had earnings greater than their parents, but this ratio had fallen to 50 percent for those born in the 1980s.
“With the baby boomers occupying most of the top jobs and much of the housing, millennials are doing less well than their parents at the same age, especially in relation to income [and] home ownership,” the report added.
Millennials are not only likely to experience greater challenges in building their wealth over time, but also greater wealth inequality than previous generations, the report said. Xinhua