Millennials (now aged 21 to 37) have paid a price for starting their careers during the Great Recession. They had to face historically weak labor demand and unusually tight credit conditions.
Millennials are less well off than members of earlier generations when they were young, with lower earnings, fewer assets, and less wealth. For debt, millennials hold levels similar to those of Generation X and more than those of the baby boomers.
The two generations that precede millennials are Generation X, which describes individuals born between 1965 and 1980 (ages 38 to 53 in 2018), and baby boomers, who are individuals born between 1946 and 1964 (ages 54 to 72 in 2018). Older cohorts are the Silent Generation, which describes individuals born between 1928 and 1945 (ages 73 to 90 in 2018), and the Greatest Generation, which describes individuals born between 1915 and 1928 (ages 90 to 103 in 2018).
