Gen Z Is Getting Hit Hard By Inflation

Gen Z is getting hit hard by inflation. A new study from credit reporting agency TransUnion found those in their early 20s are earning less and have more debt than Millennials did at their age. Gen Zers are defined as those born between 1995 and 2012. Millenials are those born between 1980 and 1994.

Gen Zers, like Millennials, have had to deal with economic calamities early in their careers. For Gen Z, it was the Covid-19 pandemic. For Millennials, it was the global financial crisis. But Gen Z has to deal with another challenge: sticky inflation. This has driven up everything from gas, to food.

Interest rates perched at a 23-year high have also hiked borrowing rates for auto loans, student loans and mortgages. With increased college costs, and thus increased student debt, as well as a rapid increase in cost of living, more and more members of Gen Z are unable to get a start in life.

If everything costs more, you are more in debt, and interest rates are high, it is financially difficult for anyone. But for someone just starting in the workforce, with the least amount of money and capital, it is doubly hard. But of all of these challenges for Gen Z, inflation might be the biggest.

Inflation makes your money worth less. At a time of increased costs and difficulty finding jobs, it is difficult for most Gen Zers to increase their savings. If they cannot increase their savings, then inflation will make them steadily poorer over time. This is soul crushing. You are supposed to progress, socially, economically and financially, as you go through life. For too many members of Gen Z, this is impossible.

In fact, inflation is such a problem that Jerome Powell, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has played down hopes of rate cuts. Rate cuts can only happen if inflation goes down, which it sadly has not. If things don’t change, Gen Z will fall further behind older generations were at their age. This is not a recipe for social cohesion.

Gen Z is getting hit hard by inflation. This, along with many other economic and social challenges afflicting this generation, is making Gen Z more depressed, less patriotic, and less able to live independently. If we don’t change things, we will have failed our young people. We will have failed our future.