Why I Worry About Millennials & Home Ownership: Low Wages
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Konrad Putzier, a reporter at The Real Deal in New York City, tweeted this chart yesterday. It shows the plight of NYC’s millennials: 28.4% work in retail or hospitality – up from 21.9% in 2000 – but wages are down. Annual wages in retail or hospitality are less than $30,000 a year in one of the most expensive cities in the world. How can you save up for a home (or a NYC condo) on $30,000 a year? I wonder what the numbers would be for Dallas Millennials –certainly we would have far fewer well-paid workers in the financial industry. Still, Millennials have been escaping the pricey cities (once Mom and Dad stop supplementing) for places like Nashville, Dallas and Austin.
But now they find that even the most affordable cities are getting pricier.
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This chart covers 18-29 year olds. Certainly this is also a chart underscoring the near requirement of a college education today. I’m sure if we saw this charted year-by-year, we’d see that those 18-22 year olds who didn’t go to college remain in lower-paying jobs, while some who were supplementing income while in college fared much better.
Absolutely. And if the college educated kids are making $30K a year, and cannot afford homes, then… hey that’s why there are so many apartments!
I suspect it’s more down payment they can’t afford (ability to save is weakened in this generation due to wage stagnation)…rents aren’t hugely different than a monthly nut in some areas.
It’s the lack of well paying jobs, and student loan debt. Many young college grads are under employed or working min wage jobs. A college education costs about $18,000 a year bachelors level in Texas now. State funding has dropped and dropped and dropped. Low income families are priced out of higher education.
Exactly. It all adds up to a generation without the money for long-term planning.