‘It’s never enough’: young Americans struggle to build financial independence as cost of living spikes

Young people are already facing the worst entry-level job market since the start of the pandemic and significant economic instability. But overall economic conditions are making it more challenging for those just entering adulthood. More than eight in 10 young adults rate the economy as “bad” or “terrible”, according to a recent survey conducted with more than 1,000 18- to 34-year-olds around the US by Generation Lab, a research firm studying young people. While young adulthood is known as a time for establishing independence and responsibility, many are attempting to do so amid cuts to social safety net programs and the ever-increasing costs of basic needs like gas and groceries . “It’s been rough for a long time,” said Nia West-Bey, executive director of the National Collaborative for Transformative Youth Policy. “But I think we particularly have a confluence of long-term economic challenges on the income side and support side, now coupled with an increase in expenses on everything.” Not only is this the point where people are supposed to establish themselves as adults, said West-Bey, but young people generally have fewer resources to fall back on. “[It’s] demoralizing to be trying to establish yourself in this time of life, and just not seeing a way – and not having seen a way, maybe, even anytime in your lifetime,” West-Bey said. Cloud Benn, 23, lives in New Orleans, and wanted to move out after graduating college, but housing costs made that impossible. …