© Johnny Greig | iStockphoto
Stereotypes that need to go.
Four years ago, Millennial marketing expert Jeff Fromm was already reporting that maturing Millennials, also known as Generation Y, no longer fit the unattached, live-with-mom-and-dad stereotype. Partner at ad agency Barkley and co-author of “Millennials with Kids,” Fromm reported in 2013 that the group already accounted for 80 percent of all U.S. births. Today Fromm is even more adamant.
“It’s time to adjust. Millennials are not broke, unemployed and living in their parents’ basements,” he says.
Dr. Charlie Hall, Ellison Chair in International Floriculture at Texas A&M University, believes statistics on basement-living Millennials have been inflated all along. He made a surprising discovery while digging into government spreadsheets. A footnote deep inside the data explained that children living in dormitories were included in living-at-home numbers.
“Many people are misinformed about how many Millennials live at home. Just think of the numbers living in dorms,” Hall says. In actuality, the percentage of Millennials living at home is only slightly higher than the two previous generations, Gen Xers and Baby Boomers, at the same age.
