Robbie Hiltonsmith

Robbie joined Demos in March 2010 to give research and analysis on problems surrounding retirement security in the United States, with a particular focus on how these problems impact young individuals. This function has two main components. The very first focuses on developing assistance for Social Security amongst young individuals and strengthening the program for the future. The second project–which is being conducted in collaboration with Demos Distinguished Senior Fellow Teresa Ghilarducci–documents the failures in the 401(k) system and makes the case for a government-sponsored, universal pension system in its place. Robbie’s prior function has focused on right reform and Latin America. He features a B.S. in mathematics and philosophy from Guilford College and a M.S. in Economics hard money lenders from the New School for Social Research. One of his post was entitled: Generation Y Bother. The recession officially finished almost two and a half years ago, in June 2009, but for the generation of young adults who’ve been attempting to take their 1st actions into adulthood, its effects could shape the future for decades to come. Why is this recession various from other sharp downturns? The normal economic indicators fail to tell the whole story. Yes, unemployment rates for young individuals remain at the record-high levels they hit in the Excellent Recession’s peak in 2007, but this really is typical for young workers, who have a tendency to be the final group microdermabrasion machines that recovers after a recession-and have a tendency to really feel its effects far following the economy has rebounded. The young infant boomers who bore the brunt of the 1981-1982 recession had lower earnings even 15 years after the economic climate recovered, and throughout that downturn, the economic climate only lost half as many jobs as throughout the Great Recession. For youth entering the workforce today, not just has the sour economic climate delayed their careers; they’re entering a workforce that offers historically low wages and, unlike their parents, they’re coming in with huge amounts of student-loan debt. Rising debt, un- and underemployment, and dim job metal detector prospects have forced numerous millennials to postpone the important decisions that historically marked entry into adulthood. Almost half in the 25- to 34-year-olds surveyed stated they’ve put off buying a house; 29 percent say they’ve delayed beginning a family; and 26 percent still reside with their parents. These decisions have long-lasting effects. Somebody who is forced to delay purchasing a house till their 30s will likely not have that house paid off by the time they retire in their late 60s. The lower wages, skimpy benefits, debt burdens, and persistent unemployment that young tankless water heaters workers face today aren’t simply the result of random economic fluctuations or forces beyond our control: They’re the direct results of decades of bad government policy and inaction. The assault on collective-bargaining rights, the loosening of corporate oversight, the deregulation of the monetary sector, and the repeated reductions in taxes-particularly for corporations-have all combined to make a bleak economic landscape. But there are lots of ways policymakers could help millennials start their lives with a higher opportunity of economic security and prosperity. Growing the minimum wage, for instance, would raise the wage floor and help combat a decades-long slump. Expanding access to subsidized child care, too, which would video camera stabilizer decrease the burden of child-care costs on parents with young kids, giving them more flexibility to pursue career-track jobs? Policymakers could also produce an option to the failed 401k plans, giving young people a low-cost, safe place to conserve for retirement. These are just a few of the many policies that could help young individuals, but policymakers require to take action at this time to stop a lost generation of youth whose parents simply didn’t pay forward the social advantages they inherited.