Millennials are worried that they are about to experience a “unique in life” recession. Again.
It is assumed that terrible economic recessions are rare, but millennials, defined by the Pew Research Center, such as those born between 1981 and 1996, have already had several recessions during the training stages of their lives, from the bubble of the point and the explosion when most were children, to the great recession when they entered the workforce after the university, until the Covid-19 care
Once called the “most unfortunate generation”, millennials have postponed important milestones during past recessions. A significant portion of them graduated from the university between 2007 and 2009 and struggled to find jobs, which led them to delay the purchase of houses, marry and make important purchases, such as cars. Then, after the pandemic led to another strong recession, some millennials, which contain student loans and growing costs of life, decided to rethink children.
Now, as the Trump Roils Global Markets Administration Tariff Program, which increases the fears of another recession, the millenary cohort of approximately 29 to 44 years is expressing its frustration and fatigue about the financial instability that has pursued much of their lives.
Some have published videos about Tiktok joking about how they have few tips for the Zers gene that may have to navigate for their first possible recession. Others have shared how they are preparing for economic agitation. Most only go to social networks to exchange memes and jokes.
“It is out of our control, and why not handle it with a sense of humor and joke about it?” Said Jeremy Dozier, 38, real estate agent in Los Angeles County, California, who has published fun Tiktok videos as a way of expressing his disdain for the current economic situation.
Dozier knows how painful recessions can be: he graduated from the university in 2008 and was forced to get temporary work from the university because he could not find full -time work during the great recession. When the pandemic hit, he had been in a stable work for a decade, but then he was fired.
“Every time we begin to move forward or begins to feel like ‘Ok, things are going to work’, the other shoe falls,” he said.
Tiktok has been a way out for him. In a video that Dozier published in February, He pretends to sob as the song “I Dreamed to Dream” by “Les Misérables”. Play. The video subtitle says: “Millennials prepare to live their fourth recession before reaching 40”. The video accumulated 23,000 likes and hundreds of comments.
For young people, sarcasm and memes have become increasingly popular coping mechanisms, said Pamela Aronson, a professor of sociology in the Department of Behavioral Sciences of the University of Michigan-Dearborn.
“These areas of social networks represent a shared cultural understanding, and then extend between groups that are connected to each other digitally,” he said. “‘So much reflects and transforms how we think about things.”
Not all members of this generation have gone wrong during the past economic uncertainty. A wave of millennials was able to buy houses during the pandemic. And the concern for another recession is not limited only to his age group, said Jean Twenge, professor of psychology at the State University of San Diego and author of the book “Generations” of 2023, which postulates that technology, not important events in history, is the main cause of generational differences.
“The millennials went through these horrible economic times at the beginning of their adult lives, then built everything, did it really well, and now they are legitimately worried that if there is another recession, they could lose everything again,” Twenge said. But, he added: “I think this is something that is emerging for people of all ages.”
There was some relief on Wednesday afternoon, since the actions shot after President Donald Trump announced that he would stop for 90 days of higher rates in dozens of commercial partners.
John Sabelhaus, a visiting member in Economic Studies in the group of experts based in Washington, The Brookings Institution, said that “the general strategy of the current Congress could be extremely harmful” and pointed out that a financial recession at this time would be especially harmful to millennials.
“Millennials are exactly at that age in which they are building business, and are trying to make these businesses work,” he said. “It’s always risky, and when you throw a lot of macroeconomic risk, it makes it much worse.”
Christie Cronan, a creator of millenary content in the central Florida who has been publishing about the recession fears, said she feels that her videos have brought comfort to others in her generation.
“Everyone feels validated, that this is what people expect, that we are in an economic recession of some kind, whether they want to call it a recession or not,” he said.
Dozier, the millennial in California, said that publishing Tiktoks Alegre has led other people to open about their economic anxiety. He said that people have shared what they are doing to prepare for financial stress, and some say they are cultivating their own food and others commenting that they bought an additional freezer so they can try to store frozen items now before the tariffs reach.
“While people in the comments are talking about the struggles that are happening, everything is handled with a sense of humor and a sense of community,” he said. “We are going to resist the storm together.”
