From Pioneer Press, 2/25/2010
Adult millennials more diverse, educated — and pierced
By Bill Glauber
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated: 02/24/2010 11:25:41 PM CST
MILWAUKEE — Meet the millennials, digitally connected, artfully tattooed and on the road to becoming the most educated generation in American history.
A report released Wednesday by the Pew Research Center profiles America's adult millennials — 18 to 29 years old — offering a provocative look at their goals, their lives and their political beliefs. (The end of the millennial generation is generally considered to be somewhere between 1995 and 2000.)
These adult millennials, also known as Generation Next, are nearly 50 million strong. Nearly four in 10 members of the generation are African-American, Latino or Asian, making it the most diverse in the country's history.
Politically, the generation leans left. By a 2-to-1 ratio, millennials supported Barack Obama for president in 2008. But their enthusiasm for Obama has cooled, with only 57 percent of millennials approving of the way he has handled his job as president.
"This is an age group that went big for Obama and big for his message of change and has scaled back a bit," said Paul Taylor, executive vice president of the Washington-based Pew Research Center.
"Compared to their elders, this is a liberal generation, particularly on social issues," Taylor said. "They're very tolerant of newer social arrangements, gay marriage, receptive to immigrants. ... They are less supportive of their elders on assertive national security policy."
The generation remains quite optimistic despite
growing up in a time of war and economic recession. Nearly four out of 10 millennials are unemployed, a consequence of the poor economy as well as the large numbers of the generation staying in school.
Just 2 percent of the generation has military experience.
Nearly four in 10 millennials are in college, high school or trade school and two-thirds of those not in school said they plan to return to class someday. About half of those in high school, college or graduate school said they want to earn a graduate or professional school degree.
Asked to list their priorities, half of them said one of the most important things in their lives was to be a good parent, while 30 percent said it was having a successful marriage.
Only six of 10 millennials were raised by both parents. And just one of five millennials are married.
Nearly four in 10 have tattoos and one in four has a piercing on a part of the body other than an earlobe.
Most of the report's findings came from a January telephone survey of 2,020 adults, including 830 millennials.
