The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is just one of the factors that wrong millennials in terms of prosperity compared to previous generations
Millennials may be the largest proportion of the workforce, but at the same time, they are the least economically well-off generation. The findings are not limited to the United States but extend to the entire Western world.
According to Bloomberg, the Millennials generation holds only 4.6% of American wealth – or $5.19 trillion – with middle-aged baby boomers owning 53.2% – or $59 trillion, double of Generation X.
The U.S. government defines millennials as those born between 1982 and 1996 and baby boomers born between 1946 and 1954.
This is a huge wealth gap, with a workforce of 56 million millennials – the largest number of workers per generation and baby boomers numbers 46 million people.
Millennials lag behind in wealth
The following chart by the business insider, which shows the percentage of US wealth held by each age group, shows that younger Americans are far behind – with the percentage of total wealth they hold is lower than the point indicating their percentage in the general population.
These figures have already been published in reports since 2019, highlighting the huge income gap, with millennials earning 20% less money than their middle-aged counterparts, while a state study found a $ 600,000 average wealth gap between a millennial and a boomer.
The intergenerational income gap is partly due to the Millennials’ inability to cover high rental costs, expensive university tuition, and their debts – while the effects of the Great Depression remain on credit.
The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic is one of the latest challenges that is delaying their economic prosperity.
The younger generations have suffered the hardest consequences – compared to other generations – due to high unemployment, which will further widen the wealth gap compared to the older generations.
