Nov. 26, 2009

One in 7 adult children has returned home to move in with parents. The story is here. The Pew Research Center reports on this trend.

The journey home for Thanksgiving won't be quite so far this year for many young adults. Instead of traveling across country or across town, many grown sons and daughters will be coming to dinner from their old bedroom down the hall, which now doubles as their recession-era refuge.

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 13% of parents with grown children say one of their adult sons or daughters has moved back home in the past year. Social scientists call them "boomerangers" -- young adults who move in with parents after living away from home. This recession has produced a bumper crop.

Call it a rite of non-passage.

The major cause today? Recession.

While the recession has touched Americans of all ages, it has been particularly hard on young adults. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a smaller share of 16- to 24-year-olds are currently employed -- 46.1% -- than at any time since the government began collecting such data in 1948. . . .

The Pew Research Center survey also asked all respondents if they had moved back home in the past year. Fully one-in-ten adults ages 18 to 34 (10%) say the poor economy has forced them to move back in with Mom and Dad. . . .

Overall, about 11% of all adults 18 or older live with their parents in their home and 4% of all adults say they were forced to move back with their parents because of the recession, a proportion that rises to 10% among those ages 18 to 34.

About seven-in-ten grown children who live with their parents are younger than age 30. About half work full- or part-time, while a quarter are unemployed and two-in-ten are full-time students. Of all adults who report they currently live in their parents' home, about a third (35%) say they had lived independently at some point in their lives before returning home. While the sample is small, roughly equal proportions of adult men and women live with their parents. . . .

This is such a waste. It was not necessary for most of the college students to move out in the first place.

If a high school junior hustles, he will get into college as a junior, live at home for two more years, and earn a B.A. for under $12,000. Why leave?

If parents sat down and offered (say) $25,000 as a college graduation present if the student pays for college, the student will be far better off on graduation day, and the parents will pay a fraction of the cost of sending the child off to college. The parents will also not risk spending a fortune, only to see the child quit before graduation.

I am working with a 16-year-old who will graduate from an accredited college at age 17 next May. I hope to hire him to write a series of how-to manuals on how he did it.

My recommended program is here: