Dear Millennials, It’s not your fault.

Dear Millennials, It’s not your fault.

Last week Bloomberg reported that 2.2 million millennials live at home but neither work nor study. That is almost 50% of all millennials in the United States. 40% of those that live at home have reached age 30. A LinkedIn article recently explained the challenges of hiring in the 21st century and described young employees that arrive at interviews with unrealistic expectations of flexible schedules, working from home and free food. What can we expect of young millennials? As infants, it is highly likely that they were dropped off at daycare to be cared for because Americans became convinced by American media that parents needed to work extra hard to inspire envy in their neighbors by owning a McMansion with big screen TVs in every room, boats and lavish yearly vacations. Fast food restaurants raised the expectations of consumers to “Bigger, Better, More, Now” in their turn big box stores trumpeted, “Everything at Low, Low Prices”. The broken world view of young people is our own fault. Luckily this is not as big a problem in North Dakota according to the U.S. Census Bureau as we have the lowest percentage per capita of millennials living at home. In other states, though as these toddlers grew there is nearly a 40% chance they were in a single parent home. So, from the Head Start program to kindergarten through to high school graduation and onto college these students have been in “institutions” sometimes over eight hours per day. Reared and indoctrinated largely by a government, some would say, in a socialist’s ideal system. These reasons could also contribute to why millennials report “stronger attachment to friends than to family” and might also be a cause of disinterest in loyalty to employers and a lack of desire to be on time or to perform well. After high school graduation, up to 38% of these students needed remedial classes as they reached college and according to pew research, only about 21% of millennials have a bachelor’s degree, which is still a higher rate than any time in history. Even though according to the Economist Intelligence Unit we currently spend more than $11,700 per student on education we only rank 17th out of the top 40 countries in educational performance. On average, millennials carry with them about $30,000 in student loan debt. Is it any wonder millennials disdain debt, avoid auto financing and home mortgages like a plague? This buying behavior impacts the global economy and contributes to an absence of demand that creates jobs and services to fill those demands. It is also a part of why the USA has had abysmal less than 3% growth in GDP over the last few years. Having developed feelings of disconnectedness they have attached emotionally to technology including phone apps. Social media, Tinder, Uber and other apps overused by millennials are contributing to the demise of the economy. Apps created smaller demand from young people to drive a car like we older people did to make trips to gathering places like skating rinks and shopping malls, to meet other young people. Young people just swipe their phone app for an invitation to “Netflix & Chill”. Older people know that everything is not on the internet. The experience, of being well-traveled and well-read cannot be Googled. The worldwide web is not world-wide considering country restrictions and language barriers and the net is remarkably shallow compared to the Library of Congress with 32 million books and 61 million rare transcripts. Young people must be encouraged to read, travel and allow older adults the opportunity to spare young people the disappointment of their mistakes and to avoid the very errors we are making with millennials. The “Millennial Problem” as reported in the mainstream media is the older generation’s problem. It is time for us to “Step up” and help solve these challenges through mentoring. Many U.S. workers are reaching retirement age and it is important to pass on our expertise gained over decades of working experience. Dear Millennials, It’s not your fault, it’s ours.