Goodbye jobs, hello mom and dad, say young adults

[marmar]

AP, via Yahoo:



Goodbye jobs, hello mom and dad, say young adults
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer – Tue Nov 24, 12:02 am ET


WASHINGTON – Faced with limited job options, many young adults are turning to an old standby to weather the recession: moving back in with mom and dad.

Nearly 1 in 7 parents with grown children say they had a "boomerang kid" move back home in the past year, according to a study being released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center. In a turnabout in the rite of passage in which a college graduate finds a job and an apartment, many are returning to their parents' empty nests because of tight finances or as they pursue an advanced degree.

"The journey home for Thanksgiving won't be quite so far this year for many adults," said researchers Wendy Wang and Rich Morin, who wrote the report. "Instead of traveling across country or across town, many grown sons or daughters will be coming to dinner from their old bedroom down the hall."

Pew's survey and analysis of government data found that the share of adults 18 to 29 who lived alone declined from 7.9 percent in 2007 to 7.3 percent this year. Drops of that magnitude were also seen during or immediately after the recessions of 1982 and 2001.

Roughly one-third, or 35 percent, of boomerang kids said they had lived independently at some point in their lives but had to move back in with their parents. About half of the grown children worked full- or part-time, while 25 percent were unemployed and 20 percent were full-time students. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_go_ot/us_boomerang_kids

[Fire1]

1. Enjoy that safety net while you can! n/t

[Naturyl]

2. This gets abused routinely but is actually not always a bad option

In many cases. There's endless talk on the left about "living simply" and what-not, but when rubber hits road everybody still wants large incomes, large housing, etc. If nothing else, living at home is very green, as are other "living with less" options. I know it's by no means popular to say it, but eventually, actual meaningful sacrifice is going to be required to turn this world around.

And no, I do not live at home (for you lurking freepers).

[county worker]

3. I hope you feel it is right to pay rent to mom and dad.

By the way, the freepers live in mom's basement.

My parents are dead. I have a mother-in-law left who is saying she is soon to go. We may move her in with us.

One size very rarely fits all.

[Naturyl]

4. It's right to pay expenses, yes.

"Rent" has a different connotation to me.

[Andy823]

5. I was stationed in Germany

Back in the early 70's. My best friend spoke fluent German and we had a lot of friends from the city the base was in, and in some of the smaller towns outside that city. Most all of them that had finished school and had jobs were living with their parents. Some of them had their own family and still lived at home. Many of the homes were two stories with the parents on the lower level and the kids that still lived at home on the upper level. The upper level was in most cases were simply for sleeping and the lower level was for everything else. It saved them money, and they were able to help their family at the same time.

Even now here where I live, many kids who went off to college, or to work, are coming home because they can't make ends meet. They wanted their own home, own cars, all the toys, and big pay, but now that big pay is no longer there, and the rest of the things they wanted are no longer affordable. A lot of parents have fairly large homes that they built to raise their family, and many had very large basements which have now been converted into separate living areas with kitchens. Some parents have travel larger travel trailers that their kids who have come home live in. Times are tough, but as you said sometimes even though it's not popular some sacrifice could be required to turn things around.

[TexasObserver]

6. "Home" is where when you gotta go there, they gotta take you.

I can remember Depression Era folks saying that in the 1960s.