Fewer Households Formed by Young Americans

The New York Times Economix blog recently reported that although more young Americans are forming their own households now that the economy seems to be picking up pace, there still appears to be nearly 1.8 million fewer households today than would be expected in a "more normal" economy.

Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the chief economist at Moody's Analytics found that the majority -- about 1.1 million -- of these would-be households can be attributed to the 15 to 34 age group. In 2012, there are about 17.2 million adult children living with their parents, compared with around 15.3 million in 2007, the year the Great Recession began.

Not surprisingly, the data show that the greatest increases can be accounted for by unemployed adult children who have moved in with parents.

This analysis from Moody's rings true with one of the "key workforce challenges" in Oregon that the Employment Department has been detailing throughout the year. While everyone gets damaged to some extent in a recession, younger workers were harder hit by the Great Recession, and its effects may have longer-term impacts on them.

For more details, check out the blog post from the New York Times, or the article "Key Workforce Challenges: Younger Workers Damaged by Recession", which was written earlier this year by State Employment Economist Nick Beleiciks (Nick.J.Beleiciks@state.or.us) and Economist Jessica Nelson (Jessica.R.Nelson@state.or.us).