PHILADELPHIA–Credit union have increasingly focused on “meeting members at where they are” in life. A new analysis has found that while people still experience key life milestones, they are coming later in life than they did 40 years ago.
According to the new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data, adults who are 21 are less likely than their predecessors four decades ago to have reached five frequently cited milestones of adulthood: having a full-time job, being financially independent, living on their own, getting married and having a child.
“By the time they are 25, however, today’s young adults are somewhat closer to their predecessors in 1980 on two of these milestones: having a full-time job and financial independence,” Pew reported.
Fewer Working Full Time
According to the Pew analysis, in 2021, the most recent year with available data, 39% of 21-year-olds were working full time, compared with 64% in 1980. And only a quarter of people this age in 2021 were financially independent of their parents – meaning that their income was at least 150% of the poverty line – compared with 42% in 1980, Pew reported.
Pew said one factor that has contributed to fewer 21-year-olds having full-time jobs is the increase in college enrollment over the past four decades. Today, almost half of 21-year-olds (48%) are enrolled in college, whereas about three-in-ten (31%) were enrolled in 1980, the report states.
“Today’s 21-year-olds also trail their predecessors on the other milestones analyzed,” Pew reported. “Around half of 21-year-olds (51%) were living somewhere other than their parents’ home in 2021, whereas the same was true for 62% of people their age in 1980. And only 6% of 21-year-olds had ever been married or had a child in their household in 2021, compared with 32% and 18%, respectively, of their predecessors in 1980.”
The 25-Year-Olds
Pew said its analysis further found that by age 25 the financial differences between young adults today and those in 1980 are narrower but still statistically significant. About two-thirds of 25-year-olds (66%) were working full time in 2021, compared with 73% in 1980. And 60% were financially independent in 2021, compared with 63% in 1980, Pew said.
“However, 25-year-olds today still trail those of 1980 on milestones that relate more to family than finances,” Pew added.
The analysis continued, “In 2021, about two-thirds of 25-year-olds (68%) were living outside their parents’ home, compared with 84% in 1980. And only 22% of people this age were married in 2021, compared with 63% in 1980. The same pattern holds when it comes to having children: Just 17% of 25-year-olds in 2021 had a child, compared with 39% in 1980.”
Gender Differences
Meanwhile, when it comes to gender differences in reaching life milestones, young men and women today differ in how they stack up against their predecessors, Pew reported.
“Today’s 25-year-old women are just as likely as their predecessors in 1980 to work full time (both 61%) and more likely to be financially independent (56% vs. 50%),” the analysis found. “By contrast, today’s 25-year-old men are less likely than their predecessors in 1980 to have achieved these milestones.
Parental Influence
“Parents, for their part, appear to emphasize their children reaching financial milestones more than family milestones, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey,” Pew continued in its analysis. “About 88% of U.S. parents with children younger than 18 say it’s extremely or very important to them that their children grow up to be financially independent and have jobs they enjoy – far higher than the shares who prioritize their children eventually getting married or having children of their own.”
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