This Financial Crisis Isn't Young People's Fault, But We Have The Most To Lose

By Brent J. Cohen


Just over a decade ago, my roommate and I sat on the couch in our new apartment watching the news: Wall-to-wall coverage of people walking into shiny office buildings with empty boxes and walking out with their belongings. It was September 2008 and the Lehman Brothers investment bank was collapsing, a fact that felt especially personalized to us given that my roommate, fresh out of college, had just moved to New York for a job there. Silently, we each wondered whether he still had a job and, if not, how we would afford rent.


What followed was one of the worst financial collapses in the past of our nation, the Wonderful Recession. Millennials like me entered the workforce with fewer accessible jobs, lower pay, and much less financial security. Right now, our generation is gearing up to face our second financial crisis in just over a decade. This time, several of us are parents of young children, some are caring for aging parents, and one-third of us are burdened by excessive student cash advance debt. And Generation Z is in a spot not so different from where millennials were in 2008.


Addressing the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus is rightly not only the United States’ top priority, however the hugest priority in the world. It’s key that people follow aggressive social distancing and stay-at-home measures if they can, and that those in charge allocate frontline workers with the resources they require to preserve their health. However we cannot wait up until the pandemic is over to contend with the massive economic impacts of this crisis, which are already taking a toll on several Residents of the
U.S., And especially Black, brown, and other marginalized people. As of April 10, 16 million people have filed for unemployment — which doesn’t even symbolize the complete assortment of people who have lost work and pay — and young people, particularly young people of color, are being disproportionately affected. As an example, over half of Latinx people ages 18 to 29 as well as a similar share of these ages 30 to 49 mention they or someone in their household has lost a job or had their pay cut due to the coronavirus outbreak.


Our government must act boldly and proactively now to make sure that all people, and young people in particular, are not financially decimated by this pandemic. Addressing this crisis in full will mean addressing the underlying economic challenges that have already set younger generations of Residents of the
U.S. Beyond. And while caring for people in times of crisis shouldn’t routinely be about the financial returns, it’s worth noting that both societies and economies tend to work better and be more resilient as soon as people have what they require to stay healthy and offer for themselves and for their families.


Millennials and Generation Z comprise more than 1/3 of all U.S. Adults, so our economic stability doesn’t just impact us, yet our entire nation. And we’re uniquely at risk: Residents of the
U.S. Under the age of 25 make up nearly half of workers who are paid the federal minimum wage and almost half of people employed by service jobs, which are most likely to be impacted or lost as a result of agency closures. These at-risk sectors have higher demographics of Black and Latinx workers than white workers. People under the age of 35 are also more likely to be freelance or gig economy workers, and so are more susceptible to losing work in a volatile market than their traditionally employed counterparts. In the event you were place on Earth immediately after 1984, you also have the lowest level of average savings of any age sort, meaning your inability to absorb negative shocks to revenue only exacerbates already precarious employment situations.


Meanwhile, while several young people would love to be in the early stages of beginning families and purchasing homes, those milestones are right now especially costly and more and more out of reach. The rate of homeownership among the under-35 demographic has been steadily decreasing since the mid-2000s and right now sits at around 35 percent — an astounding 30 percentage points lower than the U.S. In general average. The rate is even more startling any time while you look at young people of color: The rate of homeownership among Black 18 to 34-year-olds is the lowest of any racial or ethnic categorize, at just 18 percent.


for now, the bill packages passed by the Home and Senate have taken steps towards offering relief to individuals and also to company founders, of whom young Residents of the United States are a steadily declining percent — however they don’t go nearly far enough. Categorize in attempt to help people stay afloat throughout this global crisis, we'll need to imagine bigger and bolder solutions. As an example, Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) suggested a bill that would suspend federal student cash advance payments and cancel up to $30,000 in federal student cash advance debt for all borrowers, while Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Patty Murray (D-WA) offered a similar bill that would cancel $10,000 in federal student cash advance debt. Other promising policy solutions include increasing the quantity of direct stimulus payments, further strengthening unemployment insurance, and expanding eligibility for emergency relief payments using individual taxpayer identification numbers rather than Social Security numbers, so that non-citizen residents, who also pay taxes and stand to be disproportionately affected, can also receive the assistance they need.


This isn't the opening crisis our generations have faced, also it likely won’t be the last. However it’s essential to remember that those in power — namely, our legislators and executive leaders — have a choice in how they respond to it. They can either treat this as firm as common, or they can get really interested in solving the several inequities that are rising to the surface and address the student cash advance debt crisis, make sure that people don’t go bankrupt over medical expenses, and put in place a stronger social safety net so that one recession won’t put minimum-wage or service industry personnel vulnerable to losing everything.


Our leaders must commit right now to investing in young people and supplying the support that previous generations were able to rely on. It’s the only way this nation will come out of this crisis better prepared for the future.


Brent J. Cohen is the executive director of Generation Progress, a national advocacy and education corporation that promotes progressive solutions to the issues that matter to young people between the ages of 18 and 35.