Millennials still living with mom and dad despite hiring, pay hikes

The Great Recession has passed and given way to a new and improved job market but that hasn’t stop millennials from living with their parents.

A study, conducted by the Pew Research Center, revealed that 18- to 34-year-olds are more likely to be living with their families today than they were five years ago, when young adults were struggling to find work.

The results are counterintuitive, considering unemployment is down from 12.4 to 7.7 percent, wages have improved and full-time work is on the rise. While the number of young adults in the job market has increased by nearly three million since 2007, a lesser number are living independently from their parents.

Before the Great Recession hit, 42.7 million young adults lived independently, compared to about 42.2 million in 2015. Nearly 26 percent of millennials are still living in their parents’ homes while 24 percent did in 2010.

This trend may have consequences to the nation’s housing market, as the demand for housing units has decreased with the growing young adult population.

Recent research has suggested that student loan debt is a contributing factor that deters independent living, with the average borrower carrying more than $35,000 in debt . The Pew study however, refutes that idea. It found college-educated millennials with student loans are more likely to establish their own households than those that are less-educated with little debt.

Pew also found 72 percent of young women live independently compared to 63 percent of young men.