4 questions about young adults’ anxiety on the cusp of adulthood

His account is one person’s experience, not a measure of every student’s job search. But it points to how milestones such as a first career job and a place of one’s own can feel distant when work is uncertain.

Praveen Amunugama, a 21-year-old biochemistry major, hopes to attend graduate school while waiting for the job market to improve. He also wants to own a home. “It’s just something to laugh at, but, you know, I really do want a house when I’m older,” he told PBS News, which published the AP report.

Other worries reach beyond work and housing. The AP account describes students anxious about violence, artificial intelligence and political change. Kira Saiti, a 19-year-old sophomore, said images of violence in the Middle East and closer to home made it difficult to feel hopeful. “It’s kind of hard to look at that and say, ‘This world is a great place,’” she told PBS News.

The students interviewed offer a window into particular concerns at one university. The report does not establish that they represent all Michigan State students, all college students or young adults who are not in college.

How difficult is the job market for young adults?

The AP report cited an unemployment rate of 7.2% for people ages 22 to 27 and 5.6% for recent college graduates, compared with a broader rate of 4.1%. Those figures indicate a tougher reported picture for younger workers and graduates, but the story does not identify the underlying datasets or the periods measured. They should be read as figures cited in the AP account, not as independently verified current rates.

The age-based group and recent graduates are different categories, and the report does not provide enough detail to explain how the figures were calculated or how they overlap. An unemployment rate also does not tell readers whether someone has found work related to a degree, how long a job search has lasted, or what pay and stability a job offers.

Economist Kathryn Edwards described the situation for recent graduates as difficult, citing unemployment along with housing prices and costs for essentials such as food and health care. She told PBS News, “It’s pretty bad for them.” The report provides no specific price measures for housing, food or health care, so it cannot quantify how much those expenses weigh on a particular student.

The job search itself can add another layer of uncertainty. Marla McGraw, Michigan State’s assistant dean for career management in the business school, said students encounter spam, scams and fake listings online. “Think about the amount they get spammed and scammed, and there are tons of fake jobs out there,” she told PBS News. Her warning describes what students and her office see; the report does not estimate how common fraudulent postings are.

Does a long-term wealth forecast ease today’s anxiety?

A 2024 study cited by the AP report projects that Generation Z will be wealthier than millennials, and that millennials will be wealthier than the generation before them. That projection is not a promise to any individual or a forecast of when a young person might get a job, afford rent or buy a home.

The long-term wealth outlook and the reported unemployment figures describe different things. A generational wealth projection does not erase current job-search difficulties, just as unemployment figures alone cannot determine the financial future of an entire generation. The AP account does not detail the study’s assumptions or explain how outcomes may differ among people within Generation Z.

Kevin Corinth, an economist and co-author of the study with the American Enterprise Institute, said he understood why young people feel uncertain. He pointed to questions about artificial intelligence and young adults taking longer to leave home and start families. “For previous generations, if you took certain paths you were likely to succeed, to do better than your parents,” he told PBS News.

Young people can hear an optimistic forecast about their generation and still face immediate obstacles on the path to independence. The account offers no specific price data or comparison of household wealth, so it cannot show how the forecast translates into a student’s chance of reaching those milestones.

Why are economic worries intersecting with political frustration?

The students’ frustration does not point to a single political response. The three students profiled who support progressive, antiestablishment Democrats back Abdul El-Sayed, who is running for U.S. Senate, and Will Lawrence, who is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett. The AP report also cited AP VoteCast, which found that Donald Trump won 47% of young voters in the 2024 election. The account does not show that economic anxiety alone caused either support for Trump or current support for progressive candidates.

Julian Bautista, a 20-year-old junior, plans to seek environmental work in the Netherlands after graduation. He views the country’s political leadership and democracy as failing; those are his assessments, not findings established by the report. “Throughout my life, we’ve either stagnated or declined, we haven’t improved,” he told PBS News.

Political unease is not limited to students who support progressive candidates. Karlee VanAntwerp, a Michigan State senior who leads the local Turning Point chapter and works for Barrett’s campaign, described polarization and frustration with changes between administrations. “One administration does a bunch of stuff, another administration comes in and wipes it all out,” she told PBS News.

At a campus event, Lawrence spoke about finding direction through organizing. He told PBS News, “When I was a little younger I wanted to drop out of society, and it was organizing that gave me a path in life.” That is his account of organizing’s role for him; the AP report does not detail the candidates’ policy proposals on jobs, housing or the costs of essentials.

A practical question remains for young voters: what, specifically, would candidates do to make work and housing more attainable? The report documents the anxieties and political choices students describe, but not the detailed plans that might address the material concerns behind them.