The Accordion Family: Why Are Young Americans Moving Back Home?
April 9, 2012“Leaving the Nest.” It’s a term most parents are happy to say once they proudly send their kids out the door and into the world when they head off to college. According to Pew Research, returning home after college is more common than ever before, with three out of ten young adults ages 25 to 34 living at home with one or both of their parents.
Katherine Newman, author of The Accordion Family: Boomerang Kids, Anxious Parents, and the Private Toll of Global Competition, details the reasons behind the “moving back home” trend with Dylan and the Megapanel on The Dylan Ratigan Show. She is professor of sociology and James Knapp Dean of the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and has written numerous books on middle-class economic instability, urban poverty, and the sociology of inequality.
Newman points to a number of factors driving kids back home, including globalization, the difficult economic situation in the U.S., and a weakened welfare state. “Labor markets have really taken a tumble and young people have been the most hit. So, the entry level worker is in bad shape, housing prices are rising, and that combination forces young people either back into the family home, or they didn’t get to leave in the first place,” says Newman.
“What we have here in the U.S. is two generations side by side — one for whom this is a common experience. 85% of today’s college students will come home at some point or other,” says Newman, but sometimes feel pressure because their parents generation was more likely to leave the home permanently after college.
Interested in learning more? Check out this expert of The Accordion Family, courtesy of Beacon Press. You can also order the book at Amazon.com.
Introduction, The Accordion Family
- Meg Robertson is a digital producer for DylanRatigan.com.
Just to be clear, as someone stuck in this damned predicament myself (25 and a half and still imprisoned at home), I do NOT like it. I want a job that will allow me to support myself (preferably in NYC). I WANT to work. I WANT to help somebody's experiment, and eventually start my own. Unfortunately, even for someone like me with a BS in operations research (information/systems engineering) and MS in statistics, everyone wants someone who's an expert coming in the door.
What ever happened to "good attitude, college degree, come in and we'll help you help us"? How are you supposed to get experience when nobody wants to hire you because you don't have enough experience?
Find opportunity to volunteer in your field. Build your resume, and network with everyone you come into contact with. Keep a good attitude and present yourself as someone who wants reps and exposure, someone will notice and you will be on your way.
Chaz, I'm trying, but this field happens to be quantitative finance or other statistical analysis. In most cases, people don't even have time to spend on an unpaid intern, at least in the Philadelphia area. If I lived in NYC, I'd be offering to do that left and right, but I don't
With a need to relocate closer to my wife's place of employment, we had to move back into my parents' home at age 36. The financial hit we took selling our existing home created an absolute need to recoup that money while we searched for a new home. Imagine that in this "land of opportunity" two thirty something, fully employed, college educated, white collar members of the middle class had to move in with their parents with their 3 year old son in tow, just to relocate. So much for personal responsibility.
In my case, it first was not getting a secured job that gave me safety in seniority ranking over the years. Work for 18 months, company picks up, and moves out of town; work for a another company for a year or so, and company breaks the Union, laying off the group, etc. Now, after my latest layoff, I'm home taking care of my elderly parent with little hope of myself getting another job at 60. I would love to own my own place and live where I want to, but I can't without risking all of my savings on a greedy housung market of overpriced homes.
I had the same situation under Reagan in "82" I chose to be homeless instead, maybe I shouldn't of had so much shame but I did.