Two-Thirds of Americans Think Kids Will Be Financially Worse Off Than Their Parents

The coronavirus pandemic has financially hit a lot of Americans. Many lost their jobs, and struggled for months with unemployment, some still are. And since, financial concern has grown so much that parents are worried their kids will become financially worse when they reach adulthood. And they’re probably right. Here’s what you need to know.

According to CNBC, a new global survey by Pew Research sought to understand how parents feel about their children’s future. The survey was conducted between February 1 and May 26 and was sent to 18,850 adults in 17 advanced economies.

More than two-thirds (68 percent) of American parents polled shared concerns that today’s kids will be more financially worse off when they are adults than their parents. This number had jumped from 60 percent in 2019.

“The U.S. ranked No. 6 in pessimism towards children’s financial futures,” CNBC reports, which is “tied with Canada and behind Japan, France, Italy, Spain and Belgium.”

With only 32 percent of parents thinking their kids will be financially better off in the future, it’s not surprising to hear that 71 percent of Americans feel the current economic situation is bad. Only 29 percent say it’s good, which also isn’t surprising.

And the pandemic financial fallout certainly hasn’t helped anything either – for adults or kids. “The economic fallout from the crisis also hit households across the country, leaving millions of Americans unemployed,” CNBC reports. And kids “faced a double whammy” with the economic hit and learning loss resulting from schools shutting down during the pandemic.

“Although the pandemic safety net has addressed some of the resulting inequality, these divergent employment trends make it clear that there are still two Americas, a well-off America that’s thriving and a struggling America that’s poised to struggle yet more,” said David Grusky, a sociology professor at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality.

“This is a very troubling warning sign for the future.”