Generation Z&#8217;s efforts to be financially independent are slowed by their mounting personal debt, a problem that appears only to be getting worse for the youngest adults.
Gen Z young adults in their early to mid-20s, most of whom have just entered the workforce or are trying to do so, are plagued by stubbornly low wages and record inflation over the past few years, pushing them into debt, The Wall Street Journal <a href="https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/gen-z-credit-card-debt-inflation-2f2f927e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Those born between 1997 and 2012 are generally considered to be part of Generation Z.
Many turn to credit cards just to cover the basics like food and rent.
For young adults 22 to 24, the average credit card balance was $2,834 in the last quarter of 2023, according to credit-reporting agency TransUnion. Back in 2013, the average balance for this group was only $2,248, adjusted for inflation.
Rent is likely the main driver of young people&#8217;s climbing debt. It is now <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/its-now-often-cheaper-to-rent-than-buy-property#">cheaper</a> to rent than to buy property.
Thanks to rising housing prices and mortgage rates, renting a two-bedroom residence is cheaper than buying that property for about 89% of Americans, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231128140139/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/11/28/is-it-cheaper-to-rent-or-buy-property" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a November analysis by The Economist.
In March, the median rent in the U.S. was $1,987, up nearly 22% compared to the past four years, <a href="https://www.rent.com/research/average-rent-price-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Rent, an online rental marketplace that targets young adults.
Meanwhile, wages have not increased nearly that much.
Last year, the median annual wage for recent college graduates was $60,000, not much higher than $58,858 in 2020, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/gen-z-credit-card-debt-inflation-2f2f927e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Federal Reserve of New York data.
Meanwhile, after the pandemic, credit card companies made it easier for people to get credit cards. This led to more Gen Z young adults opening accounts — they were more likely to have at least one credit card compared with millennials a decade ago, according to data from TransUnion.
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During the pandemic, many people&#8217;s credit scores, including Gen Z&#8217;s, rose as stimulus checks hit bank accounts and many places to spend money remained temporarily shuttered. However, rising interest rates have driven down both Gen Z&#8217;s and millennials&#8217; credit scores since the pandemic.
Student debt is another huge debt driver among today&#8217;s young adults. Many leftist loan holders demand taxpayers foot the bill for their loan forgiveness. At the same time, critics blame former students for taking on an unreasonable amount of debt at 18, even though, in many cases, their parents assured them that it was a good investment and did not predict the soaring inflation of the last few years.
This confluence of financial stressors is causing young people to delay marriage, having children, and homeownership until they can support themselves, not to mention dependents.

Financial stress

Gen Z Watching Their Debt Climb Amid Soaring Rent, Food Prices

Debt Forgiveness

Economy

Generation Z

Millennials

Student Loans

U.S.

Generation Z and younger millennials have the misfortune of being ready to buy a home amid a prohibitively expensive housing market.
As the youngest generation of adults looks to buy their first home, they&#8217;re finding it&#8217;s often cheaper to just keep renting than to invest in a mortgage right now.
Some are waiting out the unwelcoming housing market with a seemingly endless cycle of rent payments, but some are biting the bullet and purchasing now.
&#8220;We bought so our money wouldn&#8217;t go to someone else&#8217;s mortgage,&#8221; a Gen Z homeowner and new mother of a baby boy in Virginia told The Daily Wire.
She and her husband wanted to own land, she said. They plan on putting a few extra thousand dollars toward the principal of their mortgage every year, and they also invested in a larger down payment to get a lower fixed interest rate.
&#8220;There are ways to manipulate the system, but again, you usually need some money up front to do so,&#8221; she said.
She added that there is &#8220;a lot of ignorance&#8221; among young home buyers.
&#8220;Every young homeowner I have spoken to looks like a deer in the headlights when I mention how crazy it is that your interest rate can end up costing you at least double the cost of the house across 30 years,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And most people don&#8217;t realize they are paying mostly interest during the early mortgage years and the bulk of the principal later on. Works great for the loaners.&#8221;
Despite the challenges, there have been big upsides to owning a home, she said.
&#8220;Homeownership has made us feel unrestricted in our homemaking and privacy,&#8221; the mom said.
A Gen Z man who is getting married this summer in the Washington, D.C., area said he is planning to wait a year or two before buying a house. His fiancée, a younger millennial already owns a condo, and they plan to hang onto that property as the value goes up, although they hope to move into a second home once they have their first child.
&#8220;A medium to large-sized house is pretty much guaranteed to be a million bucks,&#8221; he told The Daily Wire. &#8220;The &#8216;350k or lower&#8217; dream is kind of out the window &#8230; After a quick glance at the market a couple months ago, it looks like the expectation is 700k or more, and that&#8217;s before all that yucky interest.&#8221;
Home prices <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/04/housing-affordability-crisis-states-00150463#:~:text=Income%20Housing%20Coalition.-,Home%20prices%20are%20up%2047%20percent%20since%20January%202020%2C%20and,and%20fewer%20people%20over%20time." target="_blank" rel="noopener">are up</a> 47% since the beginning of 2020, while rent is up more than 20%. Homelessness has spiked as well, rising 12% in 2022, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/04/housing-affordability-crisis-states-00150463#:~:text=Income%20Housing%20Coalition.-,Home%20prices%20are%20up%2047%20percent%20since%20January%202020%2C%20and,and%20fewer%20people%20over%20time." target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Renting a two-bedroom residence is now actually cheaper than buying that property for about 89% of Americans, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231128140139/https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2023/11/28/is-it-cheaper-to-rent-or-buy-property" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a November analysis by The Economist.
Back in 2020, that was true for only 16% of Americans.
Meanwhile, the housing crash that many potential home buyers <a href="https://www.inman.com/2023/11/28/35-of-americans-hope-the-housing-market-will-crash-in-2024/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hoped</a> for does not look likely to happen. In November, nearly half of Americans, 44% said they thought the housing market could crash in the next year, according to a LendingTree consumer survey. Economists say they do not expect a housing crash either this year or even in 2025.
In fact, house prices are expected to keep rising as much as 4.1% this year, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/housing-market-predictions-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Mortgage prices are expected to dip but not by much, and rent prices will likely remain about the same due to a glut of newly built apartment buildings with low demand.
Nevertheless, the tough market has not stopped millennials and even some Gen Z-ers from buying homes, perhaps simply because they are fed up with waiting for the market to turn in their favor.
About 38% of all home buyers were millennials last year, <a href="https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics/research-reports/home-buyer-and-seller-generational-trends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a report from the National Association of Realtors, up from 28% in the previous year. Among younger millennials ages 25 to 33, 75% were buying a home for the first time.
The younger Gen Z buyers ages 18 to 24 made up only 3% of home buyers last year, showcasing both the difficulty of breaking into the housing market at a young age as well as the tendency of today&#8217;s young adults to wait before tying themselves down to one property.
Baby Boomers, the wealthiest generation is also contributing to the housing shortage by staying put in their current homes, reluctant to lose the lower mortgage rates they locked in during less expensive years. Previously, older generations would typically move into smaller homes as they aged, freeing up inventory for younger families, but nearly 40% of Boomers have lived in their home for at least 20 years, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/blame-baby-boomers-housing-shortage-redfin-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Redfin.
This shortage is causing any property that does go on the market to sell quickly at very high prices, often above the asking price.
Despite the daunting circumstances, some younger buyers remain optimistic, although they have adjusted their expectations.
The engaged Gen Z-er said he remains hopeful that he and his fiancée will find something they both love.
&#8220;I basically just want a three-bedroom house with a large backyard and some quiet. It exists, but it&#8217;s just a lot more than I thought it was,&#8221; he said. &#8220;My plan is to put a really big down payment on whatever we get.&#8221;

Home for sale with real estate sign

Gen Z, Young Millennials Debate Endless Rent Or Sky-High Mortgages

Gen Z

Housing

Inflation

Readers Pass

A popular Florida realtor explained how hard it has become for today&#8217;s younger generation to live a middle class lifestyle, declaring that the old American dream no longer exists.
Freddie Smith, an Orlando realtor with a popular TikTok <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@fmsmith319" target="_blank" rel="noopener">account</a> where he posts about the financial struggles of millennials and Generation Z to his 422,000 followers, said young people need a much higher salary than their parents did to live the same lifestyle.
&#8220;A lot of us grew up middle class, and we watched what middle class was in the 80s and 90s as millennials. And nowadays, what has moved the goalpost more than anything is the housing market,&#8221; Smith <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/the-old-american-dream-died-realtor-details-salary-needed-to-buy-a-home-afford-a-middle-class-life-in-2024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Fox News this week.
Smith explained that younger Americans trying to start their lives are often priced out of the housing market.
&#8220;I think most of us in America would define the middle class as somebody who can work a 40-hour-a-week career and can have the income to purchase the average home in America,&#8221; Smith said.
Smith said that a salary as low as $60,000 would have been enough to qualify to buy a home just a few years ago. Now though, the average house price sits around $400,000 or more, meaning people have to make about $120,000 even just to qualify and have a chance at buying a normal house.
Another issue for young people is the crippling debt many face such as student loans, which can be more than $1,000 a month.
&#8220;The millennials, they&#8217;re the pinched generation where college essentially stopped working for most. The debt piled up, and the old American dream died, and we got left holding the bag,&#8221; Smith said.
Besides higher rent costs eating up 30% or 40% of people&#8217;s incomes and student loans taking even more, having children can entail thousands a month for daycare if both parents need to work.
All of these factors make it difficult for young adults to save for a down payment on a home, qualify for a home, and even make monthly mortgage payments after they purchase one, not to mention eventually paying off their home.
Spiking inflation has also contributed to the cost of living woes, particularly for young people who are dealing with these extra expenses.
&#8220;If you are someone who bought a house before 2020 and you have it paid off or you have a 3% interest rate, you are not burdened by the housing costs like the 2024 adults are now,&#8221; Smith said.
As of September, the median home price in the country was $412,000, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/mortgages/real-estate/median-home-prices-by-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to Redfin, a 2% increase over 2022.
In California, the median home price was much higher at $787,000 back in the fall.

For sale by owner sign hangs in front of Long Island house

‘Old American Dream Died’: Realtor Describes How Millennials, Gen Z Struggle To Be Middle Class

'Old American Dream Died': Realtor Describes How Millennials, Gen Z Struggle To Be Middle Class

Asked to name the most pressing problem confronting the American family, many conservatives would say its breakdown since the advent of the welfare state. That’s a valid answer, but a larger problem is looming today: a lack of family formation. Fewer Americans are getting married and having children.
Birth rates began to plummet with the generational shift from Gen X (born 1965-1979) to Millennials (born 1980-1994), according to professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge’s Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future. Fertility had been rising prior to the Great Recession of 2008, <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewtrusts.org%2Fen%2Fresearch-and-analysis%2Fissue-briefs%2F2022%2F12%2Fthe-long-term-decline-in-fertility-and-what-it-means-for-state-budgets&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080765269129%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=4LXPnmtQjXnYrzqXlRijEk9VUa%2F35p7dtoPYPit3dso%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a recent Pew report notes</a>, but it fell off sharply after that, and has yet to recover.
In the <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.birthgap.org%2Ffeed&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080765581656%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=M0gvJrxtPJ4GHCn6AuskM1v3sEtIowCC1bOoi89Vqag%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent documentary</a>, “Birthgap,” data scientist Stephen J. Shaw notes that the primary driver behind falling birthrates is not that mothers are having fewer children, but that the number of women who have no children has risen sharply. Most of these women, about 80%, wanted children but either never found a partner or did not do so in time to have children. They were caught unawares, had been poorly educated about female fertility, and thought they had more time.
Part of this outlook towards biology could have to do with the general perception that, through technology, modern society has conquered nature. The contemporary world is a customizable one, and the individual expects his every preference and desire — from his Uber Eats orders to his online dating options — to be met, and promptly. It is difficult to confront the reality that even science is limited by nature, as was exemplified by some of the reactions during the pandemic.
Young singles are <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewresearch.org%2Fsocial-trends%2F2020%2F08%2F20%2Fa-profile-of-single-americans%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080765737921%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=YAdkZxPt40ppMfr90fcDWfxlphymZ3mySgXwscEa%2Byk%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">putting other things before dating</a>. It’s a common belief these days that both spouses should be established and have experienced the world before settling down to the business of marriage. Marriage is viewed as a “capstone” rather than the “cornerstone” of life, <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fifstudies.org%2Fblog%2Fcapstones-vs-cornerstones-is-marrying-later-always-better%23%3A~%3Atext%3DMost%2520American%2520adults%2520aspire%2520to%2Cadult%2520identity%25E2%2580%2594before%2520you%2520marry.&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080766050471%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=994brF8VTo%2BA36LxWZ0sKaAQbZw1JVs270cQUWLQvHk%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as Sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin has explained</a>.
Many young people also now come from broken homes and divorced parents likely do not encourage their children to <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewresearch.org%2Fsocial-trends%2F2023%2F01%2F24%2Fparenting-in-america-today%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080766206734%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=z%2B%2BNIgSC4Xu7krv2XJyLqj7uR80Yn40dqIo3c9jAZvQ%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">prioritize marriage</a>, to make it the cornerstone of life. Only <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pewresearch.org%2Fshort-reads%2F2010%2F03%2F22%2Fmissing-mom-or-dad%2F&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080766363011%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=tPSHFNwe19gGqHmPnNoovScYWcOxdslOhQZKNZB741g%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">62% of Millennials were raised by both parents</a>, compared to 71% of Gen Xers, 85% of Boomers, and 87% of Silents. The broken families of one generation can lead to a lack of family formation in another.
In “<a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpsycnet.apa.org%2Frecord%2F2004-17367-002&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080766675492%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=pHcoC8ZVjiE%2BqSKwAKK7%2Fu8OYBeNc6lS260mLUUFVI0%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce</a>,” University of California, Berkley, professor Judith S. Wallerstein and San Francisco State University professor Julia M. Lewis suggest that the impact divorce has on children extends into adulthood, affecting relationships and marriages:
<blockquote>“The central finding of this study is that parental divorce impacts detrimentally the capacity to love and be loved within a lasting, committed relationship…In addition to overcoming their fear of failure, they have a great deal to learn about the give and take of living with another person, about how to deal with differences, and about how to resolve conflicts.”</blockquote>
Children of divorce can be pessimistic about marriage and dismissive of its importance for human happiness. More fundamentally, they are missing a mapped example of a healthy relationship, of what to look for in a spouse and how to communicate well.
Individuals are putting off marriage and children, not only because of shifts in attitudes towards marriage, but because many who want to get married are struggling to find partners. Contributing to this are the effects of what has come to be known as the “boy crisis.” Like falling birth rates, the boy crisis is not just an American phenomenon, but is manifesting itself in many developed countries around the world.
More women are going to college than men, but women still would like partners as educated or more educated than them; for example, women are <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphys.org%2Fnews%2F2019-08-women-tinder-highly-men.html&amp;data=05%7C01%7CEvan.Myers%40heritage.org%7Cef3d8f9425b54ea0118608db9d9f888f%7Ccbd93b4867ea46759ee84178b273204a%7C0%7C0%7C638277080766831793%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=fMK2GiMWdf96jN%2BuQI7lvD8oNsnomviyRoQEOx1e9Pg%3D&amp;reserved=0">91% more likely to “swipe right” on Tinder</a> when a man has a master’s versus a bachelor’s degree. According to Twenge, Millennials are making more money than previous generations, but “Every single penny of the rise in younger adults’ incomes is due to women’s incomes.”
This has been some time in the making. In ”The War Against Boys: How Misguided Policies Are Harming Our Young Men,” Christina Hoff Sommers drew attention to the academic gaps between girls and boys and how such gaps would hinder boys’ future earnings in a knowledge economy. Her book was published over 20 years ago. The boys of 2000 are the men of today.
The boy crisis, as devastatingly detailed in political scientist Warren Farrell’s and counselor John Gray’s “The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It,” can be primarily traced to the absence of fathers, with 40% of children now born out of wedlock. Not only have boys been lagging academically, their lifespans and IQs are decreasing, and young men are turning to drugs, alcohol, and suicide in despair.
The boy crisis, primarily precipitated by the absence of fathers, and a lack of family formation, constitutes a vicious cycle. The effects of dad-deprivation are more severe for boys than for girls, and, according to Farrell and Gray, “This is true not only of boys’ economic future, but also of boys’ emotional intelligence and marital potential — all of which are inextricably connected.” Women desire mature spouses and tend to be hypergamous; they marry those who are equal or above them in terms of education or socioeconomic status. When men are doing poorly, women are without suitable life partners.
Under such circumstances, a hook-up culture, made more possible by the invention of the birth control pill (and, in the case of Millennials and Zoomers, online dating) and encouraged by the tenets of the Sexual Revolution, tends to prevail. This vicious cycle leads men and women to put off marriage. And when women are educated and economically independent, many make the choice of pursuing other opportunities rather than settling with a partner with whom they lack confidence.
Adaptive thinking is called for when it comes to strengthening American families (and indeed, families around the world). Responding to declining birth rates will not simply, nor perhaps primarily, be a matter of adjusting policies that obviously pertain to the family, like parental leave, but addressing phenomena like the boy crisis.
Family policies cater to families that have already been formed, but a major driver of falling birth rates is that people are not getting married in the first place. If we hope to save the American family, we have to recognize this shift — and respond accordingly.
Brenda M. Hafera is the assistant director and senior policy analyst for the Simon Center for American Studies at The Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Beautiful setting for outdoors wedding ceremony

The Real Crisis Affecting The American Family

divorce

Gen X

Marriage

Masculinity

North American youth face a growing identity crisis: over 300,000 American teenagers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/transgender-young-people-in-u-s-have-nearly-doubled-recently-report-shows" target="_blank" rel="noopener">identify</a> as the opposite sex, while drug overdoses and suicide are the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/animated-leading-causes.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leading causes</a> of death for younger Americans — claiming over 72,000 young lives in 2020 alone — as loneliness <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/why-gen-z-is-turning-to-dating-apps-to-find-friends-fight-loneliness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">spreads</a> among Gen Z.
These social contagions are fueled by declining numbers in church attendance nationwide, especially among young people. Surveys by <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/341963/church-membership-falls-below-majority-first-time.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gallup</a> and <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/10/17/in-u-s-decline-of-christianity-continues-at-rapid-pace/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pew Research</a> show that increasing majorities of Millennials and Gen Zers do not belong to a church or attend services at all, and a sizable minority are now “religiously unaffiliated” — leading one writer to question if Gen Z should be called “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/generation-z-generation-atheist-paul-bois" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Generation Atheist</a>.”
Yet, in the midst of these problems, many youth have found purpose and identity in something greater — 36,000 teens and young adults from across the continent gathered last week for <a href="https://northamericanyouthcongress.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">North American Youth Congress</a> (NAYC), a <a href="https://upci.org/nayc-2023-downtown-st-louis/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">biennial event</a> that seeks to inspire young people to find purpose in faith and community service. NAYC is organized by the <a href="https://upci.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United Pentecostal Church International</a> (UPCI).
“The teenagers and young adults who attend NAYC give us hope for the future,” said UPCI <a href="https://upciyouth.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Youth Ministries</a> President Michael Thomas. He said NAYC is “a beacon of light and hope in a world that is being overrun by problems and strife.” 
The event took place last Wednesday through Friday in St. Louis, consisting of worship services, practical training sessions, and a community service project, in which attendees packed thousands of disaster relief buckets in partnership with <a href="https://www.reachoutamerica.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reach Out America</a>.
Thomas described the event as a “counterculture” in that “we try not to allow societal trends to mold or shape our thinking and beliefs” and directly <a href="https://fb.watch/m2li1AI2Vf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">addressed</a> transgenderism at the event Wednesday night, stating that “Biblical holiness” protects against “gender confusion.”
“How you were born is how you were intended by your Creator to be.” Thomas passionately proclaimed. “God did not put a question mark after your DNA — God put an exclamation point after your DNA! The Word of God says you were fearfully and wonderfully made. Don’t let the world erase how God made you!”
UPCI Superintendent Dr. David K. Bernard contrasted the event’s attendees with broader American culture, which he described as “increasingly secular and even hostile to Christian values.”
Despite the overall decline of religiosity in American youth, Thomas said his organization is experiencing rapid growth, especially among teenagers and young adults.
Meanwhile, author and NYU professor Johnathan Haidt <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nyu-professor-says-fragile-gen-z-causing-national-crisis" target="_blank" rel="noopener">points to</a> “extraordinarily high rates of anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide and fragility” among Gen Zers as a “national crisis.” Haidt linked the rise of “isolating” activities like social media use to increased rates of depression, particularly among teen girls.
A 2016 <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5127763/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> by the National Institute of Medicine, however, suggests that membership in a religious group can decrease one’s risk of depression and other mental health problems. NAYC’s organizers and attendees echoed the study, saying the conference helps youth connect with others and find their purpose in faith.
When asked about the mental health crisis, Thomas said that for these young Christians, “purpose and identity can be found in the Word of God.” 
“This purpose and identity are given to us by a loving Creator,” Thomas told The Daily Wire. “In a world of increasing loneliness and isolation, this event solidifies to a young person that they are not alone in their journey or their walk with God.” 
“NAYC helps me find community … in the power of coming in unity with people from all over the United States and worshiping the same God,” said 15-year-old Kayleigh Stephens. Anita Sullivan Lewis, of Cross Plains, Tennessee, told The Daily Wire that NAYC “gives my nonverbal son who has Down Syndrome and autism a sense of belonging. All the kids in our youth group include him, pray with him, make room for his wheelchair, and give him high fives to let him know he’s loved.”
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Back home, many of these students and parents face intense cultural battles in their school districts. Recent protests have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/christians-and-muslims-unite-in-michigan-to-fight-sexually-explicit-material-in-school-libraries" target="_blank" rel="noopener">broken out</a> over new <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-muslim-and-christian-parents-show-up-in-force-to-protest-lgbt-books-at-maryland-school-board" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandates</a> in favor of teaching transgenderism and sexually explicit material to kids, uniting Christian and Muslim parents alike. Meanwhile, other religious <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/church-of-england-allows-blessings-for-same-sex-civil-marriages" target="_blank" rel="noopener">groups</a> openly embrace Left-wing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/more-than-100-florida-churches-fleeing-denomination-over-lgbtq-issues" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ideologies</a>.
“It is through our relationship with God and His Word that certain questions about our identity can be settled, our direction and purpose in life can be answered, and we can live the whole and complete life we were intended to live,” Thomas concluded.
As cultural battles intensify across the country, many people of faith are conflicted about how to proceed. Yet, the organizers of NAYC see a path forward.
Dr. Bernard said that Christians can be both “loving and firm” in these battles. “We should seek to uphold important values for life, marriage, family, and society; and we should partner with others who share these goals,” he said.
“We should respect everyone as created in God’s image and as souls for whom Christ died.” he continued. “We shouldn’t be antagonistic, harsh, hateful, or bigoted, even when provoked. At the same time, we [should] be firmly committed to truth, and doing so isn’t bigotry.”
Thomas echoed Bernard’s call for a firm stand for Biblical values while loving those with whom they disagree. He said that “Jesus showed us the perfect model for this in the New Testament.” 
“Jesus told us to love everyone, but this does not mean we condone or endorse their lifestyle if it is contrary to His Word. Every word and action that we as Christians display should be motivated by and saturated with love,” Thomas said. “Disagreement should never become hatred.”
This form of love resounds with young Stephens, and she said her mission as she returns from the conference is “to impact my community and school by showing the love and compassion of Christ, to see people filled with His Spirit, [and] their families renewed and restored. … I want lives to be changed and miracles to be performed.”
Amid the cultural <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/middle-schoolers-accused-of-homophobia-after-chanting-usa-tearing-down-pride-decorations" target="_blank" rel="noopener">battles</a> in public schools across the country, attendees told The Daily Wire how NAYC inspires them to be strong in their faith despite facing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bible-pulled-from-utah-school-district-libraries-because-of-vulgarity-or-violence" target="_blank" rel="noopener">opposition</a> in their schools.
“I have been inspired in many ways,” said Talyha Bonny, 14, of Worcester, Massachusetts, who teaches Bible studies at her school over fierce ridicule by her classmates. “NAYC inspired me to put God first because when I do that, I will be strengthened, and I won’t be afraid.”
Stephens, from Troy, Missouri, described being a Christian in her public school as “a hard thing to do in the world we live in.” She said, “NAYC empowers me to tell my school about Jesus and the good he has done for me. It is hard to speak out and tell people about Jesus and the ‘why’ behind my acts,” she said, “but it is beyond rewarding seeing my friends go to church with me and ask me questions about my faith.”
NAYC was last held in 2019 with a pre-pandemic record of 37,000 attendees and took place virtually in 2021 due to the virus. The event will be held next in 2025 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

St. Louis downtown city skyline

36,000 Young Christians Gather In St. Louis To Find ‘Purpose & Identity … In God’s Word’

36,000 Young Christians Gather In St. Louis To Find 'Purpose & Identity ... In God's Word'

Bible

Christianity

The online world of romance is <a href="https://mashable.com/article/tinder-future-of-dating-2023-gen-z" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changing</a> as young users demand more from their dating apps, but the question remains as to whether these changes will make a difference in the overall sense of isolation affecting young people. 
Young people have grown accustomed to using the internet to find love, and more recently, to discover friendships. Potential relationships are endlessly dangled in front of users, but this can prove altogether overwhelming. As it provides a constant, inescapable reminder of the countless possible connections at one’s fingertips, the internet can further deepen the feelings of loneliness hanging over this generation.
Over the course of the past several years, online dating has moved from a solitary practice sometimes met with stigma to a more common way to find a romantic partner. The number of people using online dating techniques has held steady in recent years. According to a Pew <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/02/02/key-findings-about-online-dating-in-the-u-s/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Research</a> survey from 2022, 30% of U.S. adults said they had “ever used a dating site or an app,” which was the same as three years prior. The most popular service was Tinder, with around 46% of respondents saying they had utilized it. The app recently released its Future of Dating Report, which <a href="https://www.tinderpressroom.com/2023-05-22-WELCOME-TO-A-RENAISSANCE-IN-DATING,-DRIVEN-BY-AUTHENTICITY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a> that people in Generation Z are more interested in making sure they are taking care of themselves when it comes to dating — and are interested in finding romantic partners <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-dating-app-for-young-conservatives-made-by-former-top-trump-aide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">who agree</a>. This demographic also puts certain characteristics on a pedestal, like loyalty and respect — coming in at 79% and 78%; and 61% of them put a high value on open-mindedness.
Tinder’s Global Relationship Insights Expert, Paul Brunson, sees promise in the new generation’s dating style. Brunson stated that “Gen Z will have the most successful marriages yet. Why? Because they’re investing in emotional well-being and clear communication.”
Yet despite the positive outlook and high rates of activity on these apps, users are not entirely satisfied with their results. A recent Currys <a href="https://www.currys.co.uk/techtalk/mobile/modernlove2023.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> out of the United Kingdom <a href="https://www.shinyshiny.tv/2023/02/are-dating-apps-on-their-way-out-new-study-reveals-success-rates-are-dropping.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a> that Tinder had the highest rate of success out of 15 apps and sites. However, the notorious swipe-right/swipe-left app still had a lower success rate in 2022 than it did the year prior, a drop of about 5%. Almost every online dating venue showed a dip in reported successful relationships.
The low levels of success might be causing another movement as well. The younger generation is using dating sites for purposes other than finding romance — they are simply using them to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/24/how-gen-z-is-turning-to-dating-apps-like-bumble-bff-to-make-friends.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">make</a> friends. Bumble <a href="https://bumble.com/en-us/the-buzz/what-exactly-is-bumble-bff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BFF</a> is a new way the ladies-first dating app is helping users find friendship. Conversely, Gen Z is turning to social media sites like Instagram to romantically connect with people instead of dating apps like Tinder. According to a February <a href="https://www.ypulse.com/article/2023/02/09/gen-z-and-millennials-social-media-impacts-dating/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from YPulse, 39% of 13 to 39-year-olds had “met a romantic partner on social media.” In contrast, only 29% had found someone to date on a dating app.
Instagram’s 2023 Trend <a href="https://about.instagram.com/en-us/file/1276350079639305/TRENDREPORT_2022_fin-2.pdf/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Report</a> supported this, pointing out that social media can create a more comfortable environment for people to share their feelings and emotions than being in person. “More than half of Gen Z social media users feel more comfortable being vulnerable online and over text than in person. On Instagram, DMs and messaging continue to drive connection and conversation between friends and love interests,” the report noted.
Gen Z may be shifting the way they date online,  but the fact that online sources are needed to make friendly connections points to a deeper void in the social circles of young people. It could also be an indication of a change in culture: the rise of remote work and schooling has led to an inability for many people to easily find peers with whom they might connect. 
While Gen Z searches for meaningful connections, they have retreated from doing so in classic ways, such as through traditional religion. According to the<a href="https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/generation-z-future-of-faith/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> American</a> Survey Center, “Generation Z is the least religious generation yet,” with 34% of them unaffiliated with a religion. Data from the Springtide Research Institute found that one out of three Gen Z adults said they believed in a higher power, which was an increase from 2021. However, many have <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/05/27/why-gen-z-is-more-spiritual-and-religious-than-millennials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that they are more interested in non-denominational and interdenominational practices rather than traditional religion. 
Even as they search for spiritual alignment and relationships over the web, this is still a generation awash in loneliness. The more connections people make over the internet does not appear to have a positive correlation with how connected they feel to those around them. In fact, the high amounts of time spent online might ultimately drag them down. According to Pew Research Center <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from 2018, 45% of teenagers aged 13 to 17-years-old said that they were online almost constantly, with 44% saying they were on it several times a day. Almost a third of Gen Z and Millennials <a href="https://www.ypulse.com/article/2023/03/22/how-lonely-are-gen-z-and-millennials/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">say</a> they feel lonely often or all the time. 
Thanks to the internet, the opportunity for friendship and romance appears to be readily available at any time. The disheartening reality, however, is that not everyone can be reached. 
The younger generation is searching for connection — whether to a spiritual being or to one another. The internet can provide this initial spark, but it threatens to replace real interactions with a false sense of intimacy. It will ultimately be up to the users to decide if it will benefit their generation and generations to come — or not.

Social Media Illustrations

Why Gen Z Is Turning To Dating Apps To Find Friends, Fight Loneliness

Instagram

Relationships

Social Media

TikTok

Tinder

Nowadays, they call them &#8220;side hustles,&#8221; but in the old days, they were known simply as &#8220;second jobs.&#8221;
In President Joe Biden&#8217;s America, with inflation, housing costs, and interest rates soaring, a lot of people need to make more money just to afford the cost of living. And despite all the dismissive smears on the younger generations wasting their money on cappuccino and avocado toast, they&#8217;re really just trying to stay afloat.
Nearly two in five (39%) of U.S. adults have a side hustle, <a href="https://www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/side-hustle-survey/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to a Bankrate survey. The numbers get even higher for younger generations.
Nearly half (46%) of Generation Z workers and more than a third (37%) of Millennials said that they worked a second part-time job — or even a second full-time job, according to a study of 22,000 young workers conducted by consulting firm Deloitte, Fortune <a href="https://fortune.com/2023/05/19/quiet-quitting-side-hustle-second-job-millennials-gen-z-paycheck-deloitte/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a>.
Bankrate reports that less than one-quarter (24%) of Baby Boomers — who are now age 59 to 77 — say they have a side hustle, while 40% Gen Xers (age 43-58) have a second gig. And Bankrate puts the numbers even higher: 53% of Gen Zers (age 18-26) and 50% of Millennials (ages 27-42) said they have a second job.
The Deloitte poll found younger generations usually pick jobs they can do from home or that have flexibility, like selling online products, delivering food orders or working for a ride-share company like Uber of Lyft.
&#8220;The cost of living has been [the workers&#8217;] top concern for two consecutive years now, and finances are consistently their top stress driver,&#8221; Michele Parmelee, who heads global people and purpose at Deloitte, told Fortune. &#8220;Interestingly, these concerns are really consistent across both generations, so it’s not just a matter of Gen Zs being young and just getting started in their careers.&#8221;
Far more people with a second job say they just need the money. &#8220;Side hustles have become more common, but like so many things in this inflationary environment, people are working harder but not necessarily getting ahead. Side hustlers are much more likely to view this extra income as essential, rather than a passion project or a way to get ahead financially,&#8221; said Ted Rossman, Bankrate senior industry analyst.
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The side hustles bring in an average of $810 a month, Bankrate calculates, and a third of side hustlers say they need the extra cash just to meet day-to-day living expenses. Many of the two-jobbers make less than $50,000 a year, and many don&#8217;t see it getting better: More than a quarter (28%) think they&#8217;ll always need a side hustle to keep a roof over their heads and food in their bellies.
For the record, it wasn&#8217;t always this way. Back in my youth in the 1970s, my dad worked as a hospital administrator and my mom as a high school guidance counselor. We lived in a big house in the now chi-chi neighborhood of Chevy Chase, Maryland (my parents bought the house in 1969 for $67,000; it&#8217;s now <a href="https://www.redfin.com/MD/Chevy-Chase/8312-Kerry-Rd-20815/home/10671553" target="_blank" rel="noopener">valued</a> at more than $1.8 million) with a pool. We (parents and three kids) took a vacation to the beach every summer and a ski trip every winter.
But there were also plenty of families I knew where only the father worked, like my buddy Tony Salvatore&#8217;s. They had eight kids and lived in an even bigger house in Chevy Chase, all on a single income.
So the younger generations are absolutely right: Things are a mess these days. And sadly, Biden — who a lot of them voted for — isn&#8217;t doing a thing about it. In fact, the debt reduction bill just passed by Congress and on its way to the White House for his signature is going to make things worse for them.
Let&#8217;s hope by 2024 they truly take a look at the issues and pick the party that&#8217;ll most help them out &#8212; and make so they only have to work one job to make ends meet.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to josephcurl@dailywire.com and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

To do list – side hustle

Gen Zers Are Right: In Biden’s America, Millions Need A Second Job Just To Survive

Gen Zers Are Right: In Biden's America, Millions Need A Second Job Just To Survive

Professionals in business and academia have lamented the decline of an important quality in workers over the past several years: the ability to utilize soft skills. The reason for such a decline is unknown, but several societal factors may be at play — and could provide a way to fix the problem.
According to <a href="https://trainingindustry.com/articles/performance-management/debunking-soft-skills-6-skills-that-impact-business-but-nobody-trains-for-spon-caveo/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Training Industry</a>, soft skills include communication, one&#8217;s work ethic, leadership ability, flexibility, working on a team, and interpersonal skills. Soft skills are abilities that may not be the primary focus of a specific job or career path, but they can ultimately be extremely beneficial to the way people operate in the workplace.
Soft skills, like managing time and solving problems, are necessary for basic life functions that not only make life easier, but also make one better at his or her job. 
Employers are often interested in hiring candidates with these &#8220;soft&#8221; abilities, but the share of workers with the know-how seems to be going down.
According to iCIMS <a href="https://www.icims.com/blog/why-soft-skills-are-more-important-than-ever-before/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data</a> from 2018, one in three recruiting specialists <a href="https://www.simplilearn.com/future-proofing-your-career-why-you-must-upskill-your-soft-skills-article#:~:text=fields%E2%80%94but%20necessary.-,Soft%20skills%20are%20in%20decline,teaching%20soft%20skills%20to%20students." target="_blank" rel="noopener">thought that</a> job applicants’ soft skills had gone down in the past five years.
Authority figures appear to be where part of the blame gets placed.
For example, 97% of these recruiters felt that colleges and parental figures needed to work harder to teach students and children soft skills before they go get a job. 
One story of such a situation was provided by Jim Link, CHRO of Randstad North America, a staff agency, in Atlanta. He shared how his college-age son came to him with a problem when he was unable to get in touch with people at the office during his summer internship. Link <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/employers-say-students-arent-learning-soft-skills-in-college.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">acted</a> like a coach for his son for a week to help him address the issue.
&#8220;I taught him about being inspirationally irritating,&#8221; Link said. &#8220;It means saying what you need persuasively, up to the point of driving people nuts. What I was really teaching him was how to work with other people — about influence, negotiation and persuasion.&#8221;
This was an example, according to Link, of how modern-day college students are unable to come up with solutions to problems in creative ways. 
“Adaptability, problem-solving, creativity, influence, drive, empathy and collaboration. What I’ve observed is that those things … aren’t being practiced by college graduates,” he said.
A 2018 Cengage/Morning Consult <a href="https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/employee-relations/pages/employers-say-students-arent-learning-soft-skills-in-college.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> found that 64% of employers felt that it was “very or somewhat difficult” to find qualified applicants who had critical-thinking abilities, and 54% said finding people with communication skills was just as hard. In addition, 55% said that it was difficult to find people with interpersonal skills, and the same amount said it was difficult to find people with the ability to listen.
Another factor might not be the colleges themselves, but rather the courses and degrees that are being highlighted. One <a href="https://www.simplilearn.com/future-proofing-your-career-why-you-must-upskill-your-soft-skills-article#:~:text=fields%E2%80%94but%20necessary.-,Soft%20skills%20are%20in%20decline,teaching%20soft%20skills%20to%20students.">report</a> addresses the types of jobs and fields students are pursuing.
When it comes to students going through science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs, the hard skills that will get them to pass are prioritized. When this happens, soft skills are not necessarily viewed as another vital piece to their success and they could be ignored altogether.
But soft skills are essential to the function and growth of a workplace — and increasingly so. Philip J. Hanlon, President of Dartmouth College,<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/soft-skills-power-you-decide-darren-taylor/"> recognized</a> this and says instead that he sees these soft skills as “power skills” to underline their importance.
In 2018, investor and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/soft-skills-power-you-decide-darren-taylor/">said</a> he believed that in a decade, “a liberal arts degree in philosophy will be worth more than a traditional programming degree.” This is because artificial intelligence and automatic technology will change jobs to such a degree that if someone has a degree in a field that allows them to think creatively and outside of the box, this will be worth much more than perhaps it seems to be now.
This also might be because degrees that promote soft skills could be less common and harder to come by, especially when college-age individuals <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/20/1129980557/the-college-enrollment-drop-is-finally-letting-up-thats-the-good-news#:~:text=According%20to%20preliminary%20data%20released,fewer%20students%20enrolled%20in%20college." target="_blank" rel="noopener">choose</a> not to go to college at all in the face of high tuition costs and undesirable college campus environments for many young people. The current economy also might not promise a position in their chosen specialty when they graduate.
Soft skills are also considered to be more important for some careers than they are for others. For example, if someone is working with customers on a regular basis, the ability to be kind and hear what the customer is saying is an essential way to be helpful. However, this type of soft skill shouldn’t be relegated to one corner, The Balance <a href="https://www.thebalancemoney.com/what-are-soft-skills-2060852" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a>. People also have to be able to coexist peacefully with colleagues and others in the workplace.
While academics are increasingly pushed on kids, as well as <a href="https://psychcentral.com/news/2018/05/15/too-many-extracurricular-activities-for-kids-may-do-more-harm-than-good#1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">extracurricular activities</a>, it may be that soft skills are not as pronounced in the home and are not as highly valued.
Social media, as well, has <a href="https://www.simplilearn.com/future-proofing-your-career-why-you-must-upskill-your-soft-skills-article#:~:text=fields%E2%80%94but%20necessary.-,Soft%20skills%20are%20in%20decline,teaching%20soft%20skills%20to%20students." target="_blank" rel="noopener">played</a> a part in physically separating people from one another so that they have more opportunities to connect online than in person, diminishing the improvement of soft skills over online communication skills.
A 2018 study published in Sage Journals <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0950422217749277" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pointed</a> out that the drop-off in social capital is affecting how college graduates are able to learn these types of skills. 
“Therefore, the results of this study give rise to the hypothesis that the decline in social capital at the macrosocial level is negatively influencing recent college graduates’ formation of soft skills. This may be due to the decrease in building social capital through face-to-face interaction, rather than due to colleges not preparing graduates for success in the business environment,” the article stated.
Spending more time in person with other people and improving these skills could end up being the most sought-after resume builder in the years to come.

Closeup of man sitting at table with his hands clasped

The Rise Of ‘Adulting’ Culture And The Decline Of Soft Skills

The Rise Of 'Adulting' Culture And The Decline Of Soft Skills

Social Issues

A Morning Consult <a href="https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/01/10/morning-consult-only-16-of-gen-z-adults-proud-to-be-american-n522750" target="_blank" rel="noopener">survey</a> <a href="https://morningconsult.com/2023/01/9/gen-z-corporate-activism-is-local-first/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">released</a> this week showed a declining pride in the United States of America among demographics, specifically revealing that a small number of Generation Z adults were proud to live in America.
When asked about how they view living in their country, Gen Z adults had extremely low opinions of the United States. While 52% of all U.S. adults said they were proud to live in this country, only 16% of Gen Z adults agreed. Within the baby boomer generation, 73% said they were proud, 54% of Gen Xers said so, and 36% of millennials.
The report revealed divides between age groups and several surveys shed light on how Gen Z operates. A notable point was what the demographic values in terms of where they spend their funds. Generation Z is <a href="https://www.beresfordresearch.com/age-range-by-generation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">considered</a> to be those who were born between the years of 1997 and 2012.
Most customers in the United States — reportedly 59% since late December — note that they want to buy services and items from places that “reflect their social values,” the outlet noted. People in the Gen X group, which is generally Americans who were <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Generation-X" target="_blank" rel="noopener">born</a> between the years of 1965 and 1980, were in agreement with this concept the most at 61%. However, all of the groups were above 50%, with Gen Z adults coming in the lowest at 56%.
When looked at on a net level, the outlet noted that the share of the Gen Z population who said they support spending money due to values is only 28 percentage points more than those who do not support it. Baby boomers and millennials, however, were different by 40 and 41 percentage points.
Gen Z adults are also motivated by specific causes when it comes to how they shop. Respondents were asked if they would continue purchasing from a brand if the company took certain actions.
For Gen Z adults, 55% said they would keep purchasing from the company if it supported the Black Lives Matter movement, more than any other demographic. Additionally, 36% said they would do so if a company “supported a Democratic lawmaker,” slightly more than any other group. If the company “supported a Republican lawmaker,” only 10% of Gen Z adults would keep shopping there.
If a company was against “abortion access,” -16% of Gen Z adults would keep spending their money there. However, if the company worked “in a repressive country,” 3% would keep shopping. If a company worked &#8220;in a country that invaded a neighbor,” -4% would keep doing so. If the company’s “supply chain uses forced labor,” -14% of Gen Z adults would keep shopping there, whereas -36% of baby boomers would do so, as well as -25% of those in Gen X.

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Survey Shows Only 16% Of Gen Z Adults Proud To Live In America

Morning Consult Survey Shows Only 16% Of Gen Z Adults Proud To Live In America

General

Polls

Mary Jane Copps is raking in thousands of dollars for teaching Generation Z-ers — who have spent most of their lives only using texts — to have actual conversations via telephone.
Business Insider published a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/woman-charges-480-hour-gen-z-workers-overcome-phone-fear-2022-12" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> Monday on Copps — who has dubbed herself &#8220;The Phone Lady&#8221; — revealing that she charges up to $480 per hour for private lessons in phone etiquette for those who either don&#8217;t understand how to use a phone in the workplace or who have a phobia around doing so.
VeryWellMind <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/afraid-making-phone-calls-tips-3024317" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defines</a> Phone Anxiety as &#8220;the fear of making or answering phone calls (also known as telephobia)&#8221; and notes that it &#8220;is a common fear among those with social anxiety disorder (SAD).&#8221; Emotional symptoms of Phone Anxiety include: &#8220;Avoiding making calls or having others call you, delaying making or answering phone calls, obsessing about what was said after calls, stressing about embarrassing yourself, worrying about bothering the other person, and worrying about what you will say.&#8221;
Copps told Insider that she had seen the rise of what she referred to as &#8220;phone phobia&#8221; — which coincided with the rise of smartphone usage and text/chat features coupled with the gradual death of the traditional home telephone. A recent Fox News <a href="https://www.fox9.com/video/1159341" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> explored the rise of phone phobia, especially among younger generations.
&#8220;Gen Z have never had the skills given to them. In my generation, the phone was on the wall in everyone&#8217;s house, and we were taught to answer it and make calls at a young age,&#8221; Copps told Insider. &#8220;Now we have several generations that were never taught anything about talking on the phone, and people have removed phones from their homes.&#8221;
But phones are still part of the job in many workplaces — whether they be retail stores, restaurants, or offices — and prospective employees who don&#8217;t have previous experience carrying on a telephone conversation may find themselves feeling anxious when the situation arises at work.
Copps said that her consultancy was designed to ease that anxiety and give clients the skills and confidence to answer phones effectively and with less stress. Toward that end, she charges up to $480 an hour for individual coaching and $365 for 30-minute webinars. Her program also includes corporate workshops, for which she charges $3,500 daily.

Businesswoman tangled up in telephone cord

Woman Rakes In The Dough Teaching Scared Gen-Z-ers How To Actually Talk On Phones

Anxiety

cell phones

Humankind is heading towards extinction. This fact has attracted the attention of eccentric billionaire Elon Musk who is sounding the alarm.
“Population collapse due to low birth rates is a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming,” Musk <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1563020169160851456" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> earlier this year.
But it’s not just Elon Musk who foresees our collective demise. Numerous sociologists and researchers are predicting that, absent substantial changes in family formation and the fertility rate, our global population will begin to decline this century.
And then it will never stop.
Darrell Bricker, a leading international social researcher, and John Ibbitson, an award-winning journalist, published the book Empty Planet: The Shock of Global Population Decline in 2019.
“The great defining event of the twenty-first century … will occur in three decades, give or take, when the global population starts to decline. Once that decline begins, it will never end,” they write. “We do not face the challenge of a population bomb but of a population bust – a relentless, generation-after-generation culling of the human herd.”
Clearly, something has gone wrong. The fertility rate in the United States, and in nearly all of the Western world, is below the replacement rate. Many in the younger generations – Millennials and Gen Z – have lost the will to continue or see no future for the next generation. They are no longer producing enough children to replace themselves.
Unless something changes, the decline of our species is just a few short decades away.
Certainly, there’s no singular cause behind this fact. The decline of religion, the delaying and redefinition of marriage, and the rise of couples who have no desire to create children are obvious factors.
But one of the more overlooked contributing causes may be the rising cost of purchasing a home. If young people of reproductive age can’t afford a home to house a growing family, they will stop growing that family.
<h3>The Rising Cost of Housing</h3>
<a href="https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-income-ratio/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to</a> data provided by the U.S. Federal Reserve, following the burst of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s, home prices began to increase substantially in 2012 when compared to the median household income. This increase has continued ever since.
During the housing bubble, the highest the home price to median income ratio reached was 7.03 on November 30, 2005. This means the average price of a home was 7.03 times more than the median income.
But as of May 31, 2022, the average price of a house in the U.S. cost 7.79 times the yearly household income. This was the largest number ever recorded in the last eight decades, since such data was first collected beginning in 1946 – including the peak of the housing bubble.
Data website Longtermtrends.net <a href="https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-income-ratio/">shares a chart highlighting</a> the home price to median household income ratio from 1946 &#8211; 2022.
Between 1960 and 2000, the home price to median income ratio varied between roughly four and five. The two spikes in the ratio to seven or eight (during the housing bubble, and now, respectively) are anomalies in U.S. history.
This data demonstrates the price of housing in the 21st century is substantially greater than it ever was in the 20th century. This is not a sustainable trendline for families.
While the rising price of housing benefits Baby Boomers and Generation Xers, who are more likely to own homes, it harms Millennials and young families who have no equity and are trying to buy their first homes.
In addition, a number of studies have confirmed the trend of rising real estate prices over the past several decades.
The online brokerage Clever Real Estate <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/10/home-prices-are-now-rising-much-faster-than-incomes-studies-show.html#:~:text=A%20common%20rule%20of%20thumb,2.5%20times%20your%20annual%20salary." target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently reported</a> that while the dramatic rise in home prices worsened following the COVID pandemic, 2020 was not the start of the incongruence. Rather, the disparity between home prices and median household income has been growing for 50 years.
“After accounting for inflation, home prices have jumped 118% since 1965, while income has only increased by 15%,” Clever Real Estate found. “To afford a home in 2021, Americans need an average income of $144,192 — far more than the median household income of $69,178.”
<a href="https://anytimeestimate.com/research/housing-prices-vs-inflation/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to another estimate</a>, housing is currently far more expensive for Millennials than it was for Baby Boomers several decades ago.
“If home prices grew at the same rate as inflation since 1970, the median home price today would be just $177,788 – rather than $408,100,” Anytime Estimate, a data research entity, reports. “Compared to the average baby boomer entering their 30s in 1985, the average millennial entering their 30s in 2019 faced a 31% higher home-price-to-income ratio.”
Clearly, Millennials today face a much more difficult time entering the housing market than their parents did in the 20th century.
<h3>Wither the Starter Home?</h3>
Another phenomenon presenting a negative impact on younger people is the disappearance of the “starter home.”
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/upshot/starter-home-prices.html">According to a recent article</a> in The New York Times, “The nation has a deepening shortage of housing. But, more specifically, there isn’t enough of this housing: small, no-frill homes that would give a family new to the country or a young couple with student debt a foothold to build equity.”
Or start a family.
“Nationwide, the small, detached house has all but vanished from new construction. Only about 8 percent of new single-family homes today are 1,400 square feet or less. In the 1940s, according to CoreLogic, nearly 70 percent of new houses were that small,” The Times writes.
The type of less expensive, smaller houses young couples who desire to have children would be able to afford are all but vanishing.
Today, starter homes are disappearing. The homes being built and resold are far more expensive. The cost of housing has far exceeded inflation and wage increases. And the losers in that equation are younger people and families.
Stereotypically, older generations like regaling younger people with the difficulties of life “back in their day.” But what if it’s really the younger generations who have it hardest? What if Millennials should start saying, “Now in our day.”
Considering these statistics, should we really be surprised younger generations are struggling to make it on their own, much less marry and have children?
<h3>Millennials Delaying Family Formation</h3>
The above information isn’t esoteric. It’s having a real-world effect on young people and family formation.
A <a href="https://justthenews.com/nation/economy/survey-majority-young-adults-who-moved-back-parents-during-pandemic-still-live-there" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent survey</a> from LendingTree found that “nearly a third (32%) of millennials and Gen Zers moved back home with their parents during the pandemic … Two-thirds of young adults who moved back home remain with their parents [and are] focused on paying down debt and saving for a home.”
Young adults feel forced to pick between saving up for a home and moving on with their lives.
An important 2013 <a href="https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/95429/1/737808942.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> was the first to look at the role of housing in young adults’ decisions regarding family size. It was conducted by the LIS Cross-National Data Center, a non-profit economic data organization and found that the cost of housing “influences fertility by shaping transition decisions into parenthood.”
The study found that when it comes to decisions regarding family size, “housing costs are directly related to fertility. Children and housing are competing goods, and thus there is a tradeoff between the two.”
Additionally, “Housing costs are indirectly related to fertility through transition decisions of young adults. If housing is expensive enough to delay key transition decisions, fertility is also delayed, and sometimes lowered.”
Another 2009 <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0166046208000823" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study</a> found that higher rent prices negatively impact fertility rates. And a <a href="https://www.nber.org/digest/feb12/impact-real-estate-market-fertility" target="_blank" rel="noopener">third study</a> from the National Bureau of Economic Research published in 2012 found “housing prices have a significant impact on a family’s decision to have children&#8230;&#8221;
<h3>Where We Go from Here</h3>
There is no single, easy solution to help younger people get married, buy homes, and have children. But our society, including government authorities, must consider what practices and policies could be implemented to foster family formation.
It can be all too easy to turn to the government to solve our problems. But as former President Ronald Reagan said during his 1981 inaugural <a href="https://www.reaganfoundation.org/ronald-reagan/reagan-quotes-speeches/inaugural-address-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">address</a>, “Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.”
Following the bursting of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s, the U.S. Federal Reserve lowered the federal funds rate to near-zero, kept it there for nearly a decade, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/the-feds-damage-to-the-housing-market-may-last-years/2022/08/11/fa4e8f4c-1964-11ed-b998-b2ab68f58468_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">purchased</a> trillions of dollars in mortgage-backed securities. These actions had as their purpose, and consequence, the artificial boosting of asset prices, including stocks and real estate.
The federal government and unaccountable central bankers may not be able to solve our housing-affordability crisis, but maybe they can reverse their decades long easy money policies and stop contributing to it.
In addition, as the Brookings Institution <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/bigideas/to-improve-housing-affordability-we-need-better-alignment-of-zoning-taxes-and-subsidies/#:~:text=City%2Dwide%20zoning%20reforms%20that,accessible%20to%20many%20more%20families." target="_blank" rel="noopener">suggests</a>, local zoning reform could open up neighborhoods to more townhomes and duplexes, helping to increase the supply of more affordable housing – especially the kind of “starter homes” that the U.S. is in desperate need of.
Other policies, like expanding tax credits for first time home buyers, should also be considered.
Whatever the approach, helping younger generations purchase affordable homes, and start families, should be one of the main priorities of the federal, state and local governments.
Because without an increase in family formation and fertility rates, we face the dire prospect of an empty planet.
Zachary Mettler is a staff writer for Focus on the Family&#8217;s Daily Citizen. Mettler earned his bachelor&#8217;s degree from William Jessup University and is an alumnus of the Young Leaders Program at the Heritage Foundation.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Human Hand Placing A Coin On Increasing Coin Stacks

‘Largest Disparity In Eight Decades’: Millennials Face Unprecedented Hurdles Buying First Home, Starting Family

Interest Rates

Population

<a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/california" target="_blank" rel="noopener">California</a> is home to many cities in which at least half of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/millennials" target="_blank" rel="noopener">millennials</a> cannot afford to <a href="http://dailywire.com/topic/housing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rent</a> a one-bedroom apartment, according to a recent <a href="https://filterbuy.com/resources/cities-with-largest-millennial-wage-gap/">analysis</a> from Filterbuy.
Beyond inflationary pressures in staples such as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/steak-is-now-less-expensive-as-inflation-pushes-consumers-toward-cheaper-protein">food</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/gas-prices-are-1-50-higher-since-biden-took-office-cnn-business-america-got-a-raise">gasoline</a>,  median rental prices increased 17.6% in 2021 and a total of 6.7% in the first seven months of 2022, according to <a href="https://www.apartmentlist.com/research/national-rent-data">Apartment List</a>. Rent hikes are especially impacting the millennial cohort — defined by the Filterbuy analysis as those between 24 and 39 years old — which has the highest proportion of renters in comparison to other generations.
“The combination of rising rents and stagnant wages has been a challenge for Americans of all stripes, but certain groups have been more disadvantaged by this state of affairs than others,” Filterbuy explained. “Even well-off households are feeling pressure, as rising real estate costs price would-be buyers out and keep them competing for space in the rental market — and as they spend more on rent, they have a harder time saving for homeownership.”
The renter wage gap — the difference between median wages for millennial renters and median wages necessary to afford a one-bedroom rental without spending more than 30% of wages — is highest in the metropolitan area constituted by Los Angeles, Anaheim, and Long Beach. Although median wages are $36,649, the annual wage necessary for a one-bedroom apartment is $72,560 — pointing to a renter wage gap of 49.5%.
Because the median constitutes the middle of a data set, the data imply that over half of millennials are unable to afford one-bedroom apartments in the southern California cities.
“For millennials in some parts of the country, rental units fortunately remain relatively affordable,” Filterbuy continued. “The interior of the U.S. tends to have the most affordable locations, including 13 states where a typical millennial renter’s earnings exceed what is needed to afford the median one-bedroom unit. In contrast, most of the states where millennials have larger renter wage gaps are coastal states that tend to have higher housing costs due to limited supply, like California.”
Other cities in the Golden State — including San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Riverside — rank among the least affordable for millennials, with respective renter wage gaps of 39.9%, 37.4%, 36.1%, and 34.5%. Similar disparities between income and rent exist in Miami, Orlando, New York City, Portland, and Boston.
Single family homes have soared in price since COVID and the lockdown-induced recession. In the first quarter of 2022, the median sale price of a home in the United States was $433,100, according to data from the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS">Department of Housing and Urban Development</a>, marking a 34% rise from $322,600 in the second quarter of 2020.
Home prices are expected to increase another 4% in 2023 — a relative slowdown from 17.8% in 2021 and 12.8% in 2022, according to a forecast from government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac.
“The Federal Reserve’s action to help manage inflation has created significant volatility in mortgage rates and, by extension, the housing market,” Freddie Mac chief economist Sam Khater said in a <a href="https://freddiemac.gcs-web.com/news-releases/news-release-details/freddie-mac-market-slowdown-will-continue-high-rates-and-prices?_ga=2.144200565.1999635517.1658409327-1899122076.1653489074">press release</a> last month. “Although house price appreciation will grow at a more moderate rate, home prices remain high relative to homebuyer incomes. Taken together, these factors are exacerbating affordability challenges and causing a slowdown in the housing market.”

Low Angle View Of Townhouses Against Blue Sky

Half Of Millennials Can’t Afford To Rent A One-Bedroom Apartment In California’s Biggest Cities

Millennials Struggle To Rent One-Bedroom Apartments In Many California Cities

California