Baran-Unland: How is inflation impacting millennials and Gen Z adults?

“Your taxes are too high. Well, sir, so are mine.”

This line from the musical “1776″ is often quipped in our home whenever anyone complains about the high cost of anything.

Few people, it seems, are unaffected by this year’s inflation, so the Herald-News has examined inflation’s effects in a series of stories.

We’ve talked to experts who’ve explained why the cost of living is so high now - and offered suggestions for coping.

We’ve talked to the owners of three Will County businesses who’ve discussed their challenges during the pandemic - and now inflation - and how they are tackling those challenges.

We’ve even conducted a reader survey.

But it’s mostly older and retired adults who’ve spoken up about the impact of inflation on their daily buying habits, even though millennials – ages 26 to 41 – are feeling inflation’s affects just as acutely, perhaps more so.

A 2021 report from National Association of REALTORS said student debt has kept millennials from buying a home, changing jobs, continuing their education, getting married and/or starting a family.

And a 2019 report from the Pew Research Center said that millennials with some college education earned $36,000 in 2018, less than the $38,900 workers made at the same age in 1982.

Those with a bachelor’s degree or more earned $56,000 in 2018, “roughly equal” to the wages their college-educated counterparts earned in 2001, Pew Research Center said.

But even as gas and food prices keep rising (we haven’t even talked about housing yet), so does the cost of owning such basic necessities as phones and cars.

For instance, when I got married in 1981, my phone bill a month averaged $20 a month – and I had two phones in my house. By contrast, my current cell phone cost almost as much as my husband and I paid for a used car in 1985 – and double the cost of one of our used cars in 1988.

We rented a townhome for $240. It was a small townhome, granted. But it had two bedrooms, a nice yard, and a full basement for my washer and dryer.

I remember arguing an $18 balance with a hospital billing department in 1982 – the balance after my first Cesarean section. The representative on the other end patiently explained to me that balance was my portion of the bill.

“But I have insurance!” I kept insisting.

I was 20 at the time. I can’t imagine Gen Z adults can relate.

But I’d love to chat with few Gen Zs and millennials about how inflation is affecting their lives - or their ability to pursue their life goals - and how they’re responding to the situation.

Contact me at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.

Denise M. Baran-Unland is the features editor at the Herald-News.