I'm too lazy to dig into it. But I do wonder if those charts showing millennials on par with previous generations for income and wealth are averages - which wouldn't capture the rising economic inequality that more recent generational cohorts are experiencing. The averages probably mis-represent the experience and don't reflect that higher fractions of wealth and income are concentrated at the top, leaving less for everyone else. That wouldn't be true for home ownership, tho although the level of mortgage debt would be interested to see.
It's a good question and I haven't seen post-Covid updated research about whether income or wealth inequality has increased compared to previous generations. Back in 2019, there was this:
"Between 2007 and 2019, however, Black millennials fell further and further behind — not just compared with white millennials, but compared with previous generations of Black Americans. While white millennials trail the wealth of previous generations of white Americans by only 5%, Black millennials trail previous generations of Black Americans by 52%. The typical Black millennial has $5,700 less in net worth than counterparts in previous generations."
But then income inequality has gone down since 2020. The bottom quintile has seen the largest income gains and increases to bank account balances. So it would be interesting to see where Millennials stand.
I'm too lazy to dig into it. But I do wonder if those charts showing millennials on par with previous generations for income and wealth are averages - which wouldn't capture the rising economic inequality that more recent generational cohorts are experiencing. The averages probably mis-represent the experience and don't reflect that higher fractions of wealth and income are concentrated at the top, leaving less for everyone else. That wouldn't be true for home ownership, tho although the level of mortgage debt would be interested to see.
It's a good question and I haven't seen post-Covid updated research about whether income or wealth inequality has increased compared to previous generations. Back in 2019, there was this:
"Between 2007 and 2019, however, Black millennials fell further and further behind — not just compared with white millennials, but compared with previous generations of Black Americans. While white millennials trail the wealth of previous generations of white Americans by only 5%, Black millennials trail previous generations of Black Americans by 52%. The typical Black millennial has $5,700 less in net worth than counterparts in previous generations."
But then income inequality has gone down since 2020. The bottom quintile has seen the largest income gains and increases to bank account balances. So it would be interesting to see where Millennials stand.
https://time.com/6267552/falling-american-inequality/