Millions of young adults moved in with parents during coronavirus pandemic, report says
Millions of Americans have moved back home as the pandemic causes financial strain, a report found.
A Zillow analysis on current population data from the U.S. Census Bureau found that a record 32 million adults were living with their parents or grandparents in April, and of those who have recently moved back home, many of them are adult members of Generation Z.
The pandemic has been tough financially on younger adults.
A Pew Research report from March found young people were likely to be disproportionately affected by layoffs related to the crisis as nearly half of workers ages 16-24 work in the service sector and younger workers make up 24% of employees in higher-risk industries.
Unemployment numbers have surged in the United States during the pandemic, with another 1.5 million filing claims last week, per Labor Department data.
In April the unemployment rate hit 14.7%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And though unemployment spiked among all worker groups, young workers got the brunt, CNN Business reports.
“Initially, at least, layoffs were concentrated in a certain set of industries, which hit the 16-24 age group hard,” Richard Fry, senior researcher at Pew, told CNN. “That initial unemployment was very much concentrated on Gen Z. (They) got hit badly.”
Things haven’t been easy on millennials either.
“Lasting fallout” from the 2008 recession, little financial cushion and “disproportionate job reduction” have made the current crisis especially hard to weather, CNBC reports.
The Zillow analysis this week found about 2.7 million adults moved in with a parent or grandparent in March and April - 2.2 million, or about 80%, of whom were from Gen Z, which the report considered those age 18-25.
The person had to be a child or grandchild of the “head of the household” to be considered living with their parents, the report says.
The 32 million adults living with a parent or grandparent in March and April is up 9.7% from that time last year, and is the highest level recorded, according to the report.
“Employment and living situations among this young age group are generally the most in flux even in normal times, and the added uncertainty of the pandemic and future employment prospects makes this group even vulnerable to volatile swings in job and housing markets,” the report says.
Living arrangements for those in this age group are usually “seasonal,” per the report, with more living at home in the summer and spring months because of breaks in school or seasonal work.
Usually between 53% and 55% of those in this age group live at home in April. But this year it surged to 61%, according to Zillow.
“But while students returning home after the nationwide closure of college campuses this spring is undoubtedly driving some of this surge, young adults were overwhelmingly driven back home by the major labor market swing in the wake of COVID-19,” the report says.
It’s not just Americans who have lost their jobs that are moving back in with their families.
Prior to the pandemic, 46.5% of employed young adults lived with their parents. It rose to 49% by April, according to the report.
Additionally, millennials and Generation Z members across the country are staying with their parents to escape cities where outbreaks have been worse, The New York Times reports. Some want to be close to their parents to take care of them if they get sick while others need extra help with child care as they work from home.
The movement of young adults found in the Zillow report could have an impact on the rental market.
About 76% of those ages 18-25 who don’t live with their parents rent their homes and account for $6 billion in rent each month, the report says.
If moves home become permanent, about 1.4% of the rental market could be “at risk,” Zillow says, and the trend is likely to stop only once the unemployment situation improves.
“But the fact that many who have moved home are still employed or looking for work will hopefully mean that the rental market impacts described above will not be realized in full,” the report says.
This story was originally published June 11, 2020 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Millions of young adults moved in with parents during coronavirus pandemic, report says."
