Answers to an Age of Uncertainty

Paycheck paralysis, rising cost of living, out of control student loans, credit card debt… many young workers, even those with college degrees, are facing hard economic realities. Is it just perception, or is it really tougher being a 20- or 30-something today than it was 30 years ago? Americans of all ages face an era of economic insecurity. This uncertainty is now so common that younger generations know it as part of the experience of being American. But it hasn’t always been this way, and we have the ability to change course. In the face of new realities and challenges, our old social contract — the complex, largely unwritten agreement between workers, employers and government that defines and provides for an individual’s security among the larger society– is no longer working as we face a dynamic new economy.

Join the New America Foundation for an event about the growing economic insecurity facing America’s Generations X and Y as we explore the roles of wage stagnation, credit card debt, and spiraling student loan costs in creating this problem and discuss what we can do to change course and negotiate a new social contract that will better provide for America’s future.

Participants

• Heather Boushey
  Economist, Center for Economic and Policy Research
• Michael Dannenberg
  Director, Education Policy Program
• Tamara Draut
  Director of the Economic Opportunity Program, Demos and Author of Strapped: Why America's 20- and 30-Somethings Can't Get Ahead
• Mark Schmitt
  Senior Fellow