Stay-at-Home Millennials Make More
Posted On June 28, 2012
Millennials who stay at home make more than those who leave, according to Penn researcher Greg Kaplan’s study. That’s “stay-at-home” as in continue living with mom and dad, an increasingly common phenomenon among all Millennials.
The study examined incomes of Millennials who live with their parents and those who don’t and projects that those who stay at home will face less of a recession earnings gap than those who strike out on their own. In general, Millennials who enter the workforce during the downturn are expected to earn about $100K less in lifetime earnings than those who started in more robust economic times. Millennial men who live with their parents will mostly avoid this gap.
Kaplan speculates that the economic security provided by staying at home offers the flexibility for job seekers to hold out for higher paying employment, thus allowing them to avoid the impact of the recession on most job seekers.
About one-fifth of 24-34 year old men are currently living with their parents (compared with about 10% of women the same age). Most of them (78%) are happy with the arrangement and optimistic (77%) about their economic prospects. Given these earnings figures, perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise.