Adjusted for inflation, young Americans are earning the exact wages their counterparts were paid a decade ago and are feeling left behind economically, according to a study released Tuesday by Young Invincibles.
The analysis by the Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group indicated that young adults ages 25 to 34 earned $807 a week in 2009, and that number is the same today, based on data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The analysis also found that wages for college grads dropped from $1,353 per week in 2009 to $1,324 per week in 2018.
In that same period, the cost of one year at a public, four-year college increased 30 percent from an average $16,460 in 2008-2009 (in 2018 dollars) to an average of $21,370 in the 2018-19 academic year.
Meanwhile, average per-student state spending in higher education decreased from $8,489 in 2007 to $7,642 in 2017 while student loan debt over the last decade has more than doubled from $60 billion to $1.5 trillion.
“This analysis shows there are young people being left behind who are not reaping the benefits of the so-called best economy in history,” said Soncia Coleman, senior director of program at Young Invincibles. “This economy is leaving behind a whole group of young people.”
Unemployment rates may be at historic lows, but stagnant wages and crushing student loan debt are plaguing young people across the nation, she said.
