Buried within last week’s sluggish job report were some particularly sobering data points: Virtually all of the Americans laid off over the past six months are members of Generation X.
This means that X-ers — the fifth of the workforce born between 1965 and 1980 — now comprise a full quarter of America’s total unemployed, up from less than 20% at the end of last year, according to careers consultancy Glassdoor.
The news is not entirely surprising. Back in 2021, cries of a Gen-X “unemployment crisis” were already brewing as X-ers shouldered the brunt of the nation’s COVID layoffs — while finding it hardest to return to the workforce.
Two years on, the challenges facing X-er jobseekers appear decidedly more daunting: Ageism (both real and perceived) has hit epidemic levels; thousands of jobs are being replaced monthly by AI; and as employers demand a return to offices, X-ers appear the most resistant to fulltime desk work.
Worse still, vast numbers of X-ers are in a financial pickle, saddled with record amounts of credit card debt with little or nothing saved for retirement.
Oh, and let’s not forget about parents — and kids: X-ers, says Pew, form the lion’s share of the sandwich generation, those of us (myself included) tasked with caring for both children and aging elders at the same time.
Unsurprisingly, X-ers are the most financially stressed (and pessimistic) generation in America, according to a recent wealth report from New York Life.
Almost a third feel they’re unable to manage debt while 70% are worried about inflation.
Politicians — especially on the left — should take note of all this X-er economic anxiety. Not because X-ers are particularly partisan; actually the opposite is true.
According to a Gallup study from last summer, 44% of X-ers identify as “politically independent,” exactly the same as in 1992. The durability of this figure is remarkable considering that both boomers — and the “silent generation” before them — sharply decreased independent leanings as they grew older.
The problem with independents — at least where progressives are concerned — is that while they front as nonpartisan, they’re actually losing faith in the Dems.
In 2018, a full 51% of independent voters said they supported the Democratic Party; four years later, that figure had shrunk to just 42%, according to AP VoteCast. Support for Republicans, meanwhile, was flat at 38%.
True, left-leaning sentiments remain higher among independents. But as President Biden scrambles to lay out a cogent reelection plan, he must now play catch up with a crucial voting block hard hit by economic turmoil and lacking the ideological stickiness to guarantee their ballots come to Election Day.
The good news is that it’s not all bad news for X-ers. As The New York Times excitedly reported last week, for the first time ever, the average incoming CEO is now, at roughly 54 years old, a member of Gen-X.
“The unlikely warriors for flexible work,” is how the Times branded these success stories, which sounds great if you’re a fancy C-suiter, or the rare X-er actually able to get work.
For the rest of us slackers, it’s overdue credit cards and endless inflation fears as our parents reach their health insurance caps and our kids demand impossible-to-secure spots at impossible-to-afford summer camps.
True, X-ers stand at the precipice of a massive wealth transfer worth upwards of $70 trillion over the next two decades. But in a typical cynical style, barely 12% of us believe that money will ever materialize.
For politicians on both sides, the message is equally clear. The culture wars stoked by DeSantis and simmered by Biden are off-putting and counterproductive. Out of work and increasingly out of options, X-ers don’t want to hear about book bans, legacy admissions, or gender ideology.
We want an end to the fentanyl crisis, a return to manageable mortgage rates, and reassurances that our lives hold more intrinsic value than some know-it-all algorithm.
Reality has never bitten harder for X-ers these days. And there’s no new-fangled Prozac around to help take the edge off. Instead, the past can supply a worthy potential outcome.
Bill Clinton — America’s first Boomer president — secured his place in early X-er lore thanks to historic job growth and support from independents. Three decades later, both parties would be wise to follow suit.
