As I surfed the internet to read about Millennial behavior, I decided to write a quirky Q&A based on research I found around the web. After all Beyonce said, you know you’re that b*tch when you cause all that conversation. So, let’s see what the “powers that be” have to say about Millennials. Oh yeah, and this article isn’t really about Beyonce, but I like her name.
Slaying Education
Research: Ok. So, I got most of my information from Pew Research. But I notated them below and put them in quotes. Check it – “Among Millennials, around four-in-ten (39%) of those ages 25 to 37 have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with just 15% of the Silent Generation, roughly a quarter of Baby Boomers and about three-in-ten Gen Xers (29%) when they were the same age.”
My Take on This: Cool! So, we are educated but aren’t we also racking up student loan debt or if there’s no debt aren’t we paying astronomical prices for higher education? We are eager to learn and we want world peace! But geesh, can we get a life line?
According to Pew’s Research graph below, approximately 67% of us have either started college or finished it. Kudos. #millennialpower
Now, I’m not going to go in depth of all the pros and cons of this. But I will say, according to a “2020 survey from college planning website BestColleges, of 817 Adults who have earned a bachelor’s degree, 82% say their degree was a good financial investment. Still 61% of those surveyed said they would change one thing – their major.
Relationship status with Income: It’s Complicated
Research: The financial well-being of Millennials is complicated. But the complication is because of a huge gap in earnings between Millennials who have a college education and Millennials who don’t. “Millennials with a bachelor’s degree or more and a full-time job had median annual earnings valued at $56,000 in 2018, roughly equal to those of college-educated Generation X workers in 2001. But for Millennials with some college or less, annual earnings reported making $36,000, lower than the $38,900 early Baby Boomer workers made at the same age in 1982.”
My Take on This: So, I guess college does matter. If we dissect our median annual earnings (and not our really awesome Social Media influencers and other one-off scenarios), the writing is on the wall. But lets not be hard on any one from our generation, we are doing great! After all we inherited…soaring college loan debt, prolonged effects of the Great Recession, increasing housing costs, and an overly-competitive job market just to name a few.
So, let’s keep hope alive.
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This article was written by Lisa Henry. She’s the founder of Smart Girl Brand. She likes playing beach volley ball and really cool hair-dos.