Increase in NEETs to 8.6%... Impact of Employment Difficulties
Worsening Social Isolation... Significant Rise in Suicide Cases
The issue of so-called 'Kangaroo kids,' adults who do not become independent and continue to live with their parents, is considered a serious social problem in the United States. It has been reported that about 20% of American young men aged 25 to 34 are Kangaroo kids, indicating that the problem, previously limited to teenagers and those in their early twenties, has expanded into the thirties. The increase in Kangaroo kids is intertwined with various social issues such as a contraction in the domestic economy, rising rates of remaining single, and declining birth rates.
19.7% of Men Aged 25-34 "Living with Parents"
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), data from last year's U.S. Census Bureau showed that 19.7% of young men aged 25 to 34 live with their parents as Kangaroo kids. Among women of the same age group, 12.3% were also counted as Kangaroo kids. WSJ analyzed that the relatively higher percentage among men is largely due to the decline of the manufacturing sector, which was predominantly male, and the overall downturn in the job market.
In particular, teenagers who were high school students during the COVID-19 pandemic missed opportunities to enter the job market and became adults while still living with their parents, leading to a mass increase in Kangaroo kids in the U.S. Richard Reeves, chairman of the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM), pointed out, "Teenage boys, who rely heavily on face-to-face interactions for forming human and social relationships, found it much harder to recover from the pandemic period, which also led to giving up on employment. They found it difficult to feel needed by society and lost motivation to enter the workforce."
The main factors making it difficult for young generations to become independent are soaring prices worldwide and especially high housing costs, which are problems not only in the U.S. but globally. In a survey conducted by Bank of America in July among 1,091 Americans aged 18 to 27, 50% of respondents said they would not reach an asset level sufficient to buy a house within the next five years, and 40% said they were not prepared to start investing in the next five years. Additionally, 46% responded that they had no savings prepared for retirement.
Rapid Increase in NEETs... Suicide Rates Also Rising Sharply
Youth who remain Kangaroo kids for more than ten years often become 'NEETs'?young people Not in Employment, Education, or Training?who have completely lost the will to work or become independent. NEETs are young people who neither work, attend school, nor receive job training and are isolated at home.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a U.S. think tank, the proportion of NEETs among Americans aged 16 to 29 is steadily increasing, with 8.6% of males and 7.8% of females classified as NEETs. As these individuals have extremely limited social interactions and often suffer from depression, suicide rates have also risen significantly. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 49,449 suicides in 2022, an increase of over 20,000 compared to 29,350 in 2000 over about two decades.
Experts warn that NEET men, who spend a lot of time alone, face heightened psychological distress, increasing the risk of suicide or criminal behavior. Niobe Way, a developmental psychology professor at New York University, told WSJ, "Adult men who are NEETs have a reduced ability to talk about their emotions, which decreases their opportunities to make friends with other men and causes greater psychological suffering. They lose all social networks and social capital that would enable them to go out to work."
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