Young adults today are more educated than ever before, with record numbers earning college degrees. However, their incomes have barely grown in 50 years when adjusted for inflation. Today's 25-38 year olds also have fewer assets (like homes and savings) than people their age had in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
In 1989, the typical young household had assets worth about $75,000 (in today's money), which rose to $142,000 in 2007 during the housing bubble, but dropped to only $90,000 by 2019. This comes at a time when student debt keeps rising. The Up to Us organization explains that addressing our national debt could help improve this situation - reducing the debt could increase each person's income by as much as $6,300 by 2050.
The organization encourages young people to get civically engaged to help solve these economic challenges through their campus competition, leadership bootcamp, and advocacy efforts.