4 years

Millennials are often described as tech-savvy, socially conscious, entrepreneurially minded, and “the unluckiest generation in U.S. history.” Over the course of their lives, the average millennial has experienced economic downturns, life-altering setbacks, and unwavering uncertainty. Many came to age in midst of the Y2K phenom, not knowing if the world would come to an end on January 1, 2000. The following year, the 9/11 terrorist attacks triggered the subsequent war on terror and deepened the 2001 recession, thus forcing the oldest millennials to enter the labor market when jobs were scarce. As a result, many spent their early years struggling to find work only to be hit by the Great Recession years later. The 2008 financial meltdown also had devastating effects on mid-age and younger millennials who graduated college with trillions of dollars of student debt during a dismal job market. And yet, in spite of being plagued by recessions more than any other generation, millennials embraced the turn of the new decade with “2020 vision” only to be hit with a global pandemic that completely upended our lives, drove the U.S. economy into a tailspin, and created a worldwide public health crisis. While the entire world struggles to recover from COVID-19, it’s millennials in their prime working years who are bearing the worst economic effects, per The Washington Post.