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  • Our brand new column.

  • A brand new column looks at the reasons why more and more millennials are not moving out and how they are missing out on many of life's milestones and joining us.

  • Now, the author Washington post, opinion columnist, Catherine Rampell, Catherine, good to have.

  • There's so many things they're not doing according to this data.

  • You Oh yes.

  • There are many milestones that my generation uh is missing out on at least relative to previous cohorts were getting married much less frequently.

  • I mean, even compared to people like 10 years ago, 15 years ago only.

  • Look, let's look at these millennials.

  • It's, it's a fuzzy, generally speaking, it's shorthand for like 18 to 3518 to 29 people in their twenties.

  • It, it depends on what, you know, there's no hard and fast cut off and a third are living with their parents right now.

  • A third are living with them.

  • That's, that's um a quarter, only a quarter were married.

  • Um About 40% of that same range, 18 to 35 were, were married around 2000.

  • Um So we're, we're definitely having somewhat of a and they're not getting jobs not getting jobs, unemployment rates are very, not getting married, they're not getting homes, they're not getting jobs.

  • Obviously we know the answer here.

  • Um, but this isn't just sort of like a moral societal shift because of cultural things.

  • This is the economy.

  • Right.

  • I mean, as a, uh, somewhat, uh, I'm a millennial, I guess.

  • Gen Wire.

  • Yes.

  • Um, I guess I fall into that age range.

  • Um, you know, I often hear accusations about my generation is being lazy as being sort of, um, loose when it comes to morally, morally adrift.

  • You know, there are all sorts of slurs you can hurl at us and they are often attributed to the fact that, you know, we don't care about settling down and, and we don't really want to work.

  • We don't want to have a home.

  • We don't want all of the things that were part of the American dream for generations past.

  • But actually, if you look at survey data, that's just absolutely not true.

  • Um, the vast majority of young people say that they either are married or those who are not married, say that they want to be married only, like, like in the single digits in percentage terms.

  • Do you see that?

  • Um, people never wanna get married.

  • Has this been?

  • I'm holding up right now.

  • My smartphone, I see this as a big issue of problem for millennials starting with even careers, you know, when I grew up good better and different.

  • You went to work for a company, you know, and that was it.

  • And you have so many young people who think, well, I'm gonna start an app.

  • I'm gonna be able to do it from my home.

  • That's a very small share of, of my generation, a lot of press.

  • They get a lot of, it's a lot of press.

  • But I also see also what I call a learned helplessness that they read in the papers.

  • Like when I was 24 it was unacceptable to not have a job like you, you'd hide.

  • Whereas today it's like, well, of course, I can't find a job, blah, blah, blah, blah.

  • And it's almost becomes a self.

  • No.

  • II, I think those kinds of accusations are made against um every generation of youth that enters the labor market during a bad economy that it's like, oh, well, they just really don't wanna work or it's not stigmatizing, not that they don't wanna work, but they accept it.

  • And, and I always say to young people, there are jobs you're hungry, there are jobs may not be the job you want, may not be the job that you qualified.

  • Uh If we lined up 10 people and you showed me the most aggressive to the least aggressive, that most aggressive will somehow find a job.

  • So it's harder.

  • It's more difficult.

  • I wanna say like a grumpy old man, but we all see it with tenacious kids.

  • They can make it happen.

  • You do see a lot of young people who are taking jobs that are, that require skills below what their actual level of training is.

  • I mean, you see a lot of under employment in addition to high unemployment, meaning that kids who, when I say kids, but they're adults depending on what terminology you want to use.

  • But people who went to college you've taken on, you know, over $100,000 in student debt, who are working at Starbucks, who are working in retail, they are working in a lot of jobs that don't actually require the credentials that they've taken on a lot of debt in order to obtain.

  • So what are the implications then for our society?

  • If you have this huge generation, a chunk of people who have come up, sort of a little bit disillusioned, not being able to find the job they want or live the life they want to live.

  • We can see, what is that?

  • What does that mean?

  • Culturally, what does it mean for the country?

  • You see a lot of disaffection, a lot of disaffection politically.

  • If you look at statistics about trust of government institutions and other institutions, you know, whether it's churches or schools or police or whatever, you see very low levels of trust, which could potentially turn into lower voter turnout rates.

  • And we already have relatively low voter turnout rates.

  • But young people generally do.

  • They don't vote in very high numbers, but you know, that could translate to all sorts of behaviors later in life that, that are related to this sort of feeling of isolation and the world has given up blaming.

  • Yes.

  • So they're blaming me for not having a job, for not being able to afford a home when actually I want all of those things that previous.

  • So Catherine, when you first came on the show a few years ago, I remember you saying you like your boyfriend a lot.

  • What's on your hands?

  • I don't think this story applies to you young lady.

  • This does not apply to you.

  • I got married two weeks ago.

  • So I, I am one of the exceptions in my itinerary two weeks, happily married.

  • What's the secret?

  • What's the secret to make it work?

  • You have a job, have a job that really helps.

  • I mean, it's true for men than for women.

  • I mean, the people who have had the biggest drop offs in marriage rates tend to be less educated men who have fewer job opportunities.

  • That's why I think in some ways marriage outlook.

  • Right.

  • Well, it's, it's outlook.

  • It's about, you know, a lot of other factors in your life that make it easier or harder for you to develop other relationships.

  • Have those milestones.

  • Catherine rel, well, congratulate you, I'm so happy for you.

  • Ok.

  • Still ahead.

  • We'll take a look at some of the brightest young minds shaping the world of tomorrow.

  • But first at the age of 12, she learned she would be robbed of her hearing and sight.

  • Rebecca Alexander's inspiring story of overcoming adversity is next and not just having to deal with being Peter's sister.

  • No, she's dealt with more than that, but that's a tough one.

  • We'll be right back with more morning Joe.

Our brand new column.

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