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The Declining Economic Security of Young People Living at Home, 1974 to 2016
The Declining Economic Security of Young People Living at Home, 1974 to 2016
Working Paper Number SEHSD-WP2017-09
Abstract
Using data from the 1974–2016 Current Population Survey, I find that the economic security of people 25–34 who lived in their parents’ home deteriorated over time as their ability to support themselves eroded. In 2016, 40% of young people at home lived in poverty, up from 29% in 1974. Endogenous treatment models to account for the unequal selection into the labor force, the income of young people at home, relative to the poverty threshold, declined at a rate that was 9 times faster per year since 2000 than in the 25 preceding years. The decline continued through the Great Recession, but did not worsen. Decomposition analysis further reveals that the sharp rise in poverty rates is a product of the increasingly detrimental effects of being unemployed or having less than a college degree. Consequently, coresidence has become a more important safety net as today’s generation of young people living home is worse off than prior generations.
Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021
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