Introduction
The parental expectation of having an "empty nest", traditional in the United States and some other industrialized cultures, is increasingly giving way to the reality of a "cluttered nest" or "crowded nest". The latter term was popularized by Kathleen Shaputis's 2004 book The Crowded Nest Syndrome: Surviving the Return of Adult Children, which takes a critical view of the trend.
University of Western Ontario professor Roderic Beaujot discusses the phenomenon of delayed home-leaving at length. He cites Canadian census statistics showing that, in 1981, 27.5% of Canadians aged 20–29 lived with their parents; in 2001, the figure had grown to 41%. In United States the proportion of adults ages 20 to 34 living with their parents has increased from 9% in 1960 to almost 17% in 2000. However, US census data also suggests that the rate at which adult children have been living with parents has been steady since 1981.)The U.S. Census Bureau reported a 5% increase in the number of young men (ages 24-34) living with their parents for the period between 2005 (14%) and 2011 (19%). For the same period, number of young women living with their parents increased from 8% in 2005 to 10% in 2011. )
The 18th through 21st birthdays of this generation coincide with the economic downturn starting with the collapse of the stock market bubble in 2000. This led to rising unemployment until 2004, the same time this generation was entering the workforce after high school or college graduation. Additionally, in the new economy, where globalisation-induced phenomena like outsourcing have eliminated many jobs, real wages have fallen over the last twenty years, and a college degree no longer ensures job stability, this is the easiest, if not only, way for these young adults to maintain the middle class lifestyle they anticipated. Additionally, with the recent economic crisis hitting much of the world, many young people were either laid off or could no longer afford to live on their own. Moving back home allows them the option of unpaid internships and additional schooling without the burden of paying rent at market rates (or paying rent at all).
This generation differs from previous ones in that many members expect to remain with their parents for some years while maintaining their own social and professional lives. Home-leaving remains a priority for most in the Boomerang Generation.
The parents of these adult children have been referred to as "babygloomers."
Read more about this topic: Boomerang Generation
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“Do you suppose I could buy back my introduction to you?”
—S.J. Perelman, U.S. screenwriter, Arthur Sheekman, Will Johnstone, and Norman Z. McLeod. Groucho Marx, Monkey Business, a wisecrack made to his fellow stowaway Chico Marx (1931)