Young Adults Still Staying Home in Droves

One of the provisions of the new Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) is that children under 26 are allowed to stay on their parents' health insurance policies. While the government does not require that they be living with the parents for this to be so, a lot of young adults are, in fact, still at home. This was one of the findings of the latest round of data from the annual demographic supplement to the Current Population Survey, released last week by the Census Bureau. Nearly 60 percent of males aged 18-24 in the US were living with their parents (or living in a college dorm) in 2013, and the figure was 52 for women. Among those aged 25-34 the percentages were 16 and 11, respectively. The story was covered by Elizabeth Aguilera of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

San Diego State University demographer John Weeks cautioned against reading too much into small statistical changes this year, but said the overall trends reflect the hardships that young adults face.

“In the post-recession era, the jobs, particularly for young people, have not come back in the same way the stock market has come back,” he said. “So people are sticking with their parents in a way we have not seen before.”

While young women may also be having a hard time finding jobs or dealing with other financial difficulties, the burgeoning numbers living at home signal growing gender equality, Weeks said.

The historical gap in the number of men and women living with their parents stemmed from women generally marrying at an earlier age and moving out of the family home, he explained. Today, women are delaying marriage and attending college in record numbers.

“I really think we are witnessing this continued evolution in the status and role of women in society,” Weeks said.

I couldn't agree more...