Recession Transforming Youth Into Lifelong Savers

At least one upside to the financial crisis is that it has most likely turned people between the ages of 18 and 25 into lifelong savers, much as it impacted young people who lived during the Great Depression, according to a report by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The report, which analyzed recessions between 1963 and 2006, found that young people who experienced a recession feel little control over their careers and attribute success more to luck than to personal worth or action. And they are even more skeptical if they have lost a job or witnessed their parents or a relative losing a job.

Indeed, unemployment is a distinct possibility for this age group. Whereas the national unemployment rate is 10%, among 16- to 19-yaer-olds it is at an extraordinarily high level of more than 26%.

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Money Management Executive
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