Incomes· Generations They’re coming home How do the living standards of younger Millennials and Gen Z fare? 25 June 2026 Mike Brewer Charlie McCurdy Parth Pandya Jamie Titus-Glover Lalitha Try This briefing note provides an assessment of the living standards of younger Millennials and Gen Z, given the increasing number of people in their twenties who live with their parents, and what policymakers should do to help ensure generational progress in both income and wealth. It is well known that Millennials (i.e. those born between 1981-2000) have faced a more challenging path through life than previous cohorts when it comes to work, wealth and home ownership. But the older Millennials are now in their mid-40s, and it is timely to ask about Britain’s youngest cohorts: younger Millennials born between 1991-2000 and Gen Z born from 2001 onwards. Grim recent news about Britain’s resurgent ‘NEET’ problem and a rising prevalence of people living with parents later into adulthood gives us an impetus to comprehensively assess their living standards. The debate on how to respond has also intensified across the political spectrum, including how to provide a financial boost to younger people or university finance reform. Our new work shows a mixed picture for younger Millennials and Gen Z, with generational income progress on the one hand but a gloomy wealth and assets picture on the other. The Government should make it easier for young people to get onto the property ladder, go further to tackle the growing share of NEETs who aren’t benefiting from generational income progress, and recognise that the recent experience of rapid increases in the minimum wage rates, especially for some under-25s, cannot be relied on drive sustained pay progress for young people.
