Millennials are killing countless industries — but the Fed says it’s mostly just because they’re poor

zenosanalytic:

cannibalcoalition:

puttingcursesondonaldjtrump:

The short version:

Millennials buy the exact same stuff as the previous generations, but less of it. 

Me at 20: Everything costs too much.
Older generations: Well, stop buying so much stuff!
Me: Okay.
Older generations, ten years later: No wait, we fucked up.

FTFA:

Average real labor earnings for male household heads working full time
were 18% and 27% higher for Gen Xers and baby boomers when they were
young compared with millennials, the study found. For young women, the
difference was smaller — 12% for Gen Xers and 24% for boomers

20-30% higher full-time wages for men. 15-25% higher full-time wages for women. And that is just wages. That was a time when “full-time” was shorter, overtime was expected, benefits(dental, medical, optical, retirement, sick leave, etc) were common, and full-time employment was the rule, rather than the exception, so compensation was actually higher, and for less(though more reliable) work.

And it’s important to note none of this is new or surprising for economics or the financial industry, though to have the fed recognizing it is a welcome change(and probably due to some younger, non-Chicago School econs gaining positions of importance in the Reserve’s hierarchy): setting aside sensible Keynesian economists like Krugman, Baker, and Galbraith who predicted this impact back in 2006-7, Goldman-Sachs was advising corporate clients to shift to an upper-class-centric business model years before the GFC(which they knew was coming, considering they were both inflating the value of CDOs and betting against them). If you’ve ever wondered why Walmart started opening up “boutique” stores aimed at richer patrons around that time, this is why.

Millennials are killing countless industries — but the Fed says it’s mostly just because they’re poor