[US] Gen Z unafraid of the prospect of a recession

According to a new study, younger workers in the US have few concerns about the prospect of a recession, CPA Practice Advisor reports.

Gen Z was the only generation not to cite a recession as a top concern affecting their household finances within the next 6 months, TransUnion’s latest Consumer Pulse study found.

Gen Z respondents reportedly named inflation, housing prices and jobs as their top personal finance worries instead.

“Gen Z doesn’t know from personal experience what a recession is,” Charlie Wise - senior vice president and head of global research and consulting at TransUnion - said. “They may have been around when the great financial crisis happened, but for the most part this is not something that they have experienced or been through.”

Inflation, however, was a list-topping concern for every generation, from Gen Z to baby boomers. Half of all the survey respondents cited it as their biggest worry. 

For millennials, Gen X, and boomers, recession fears did rank highly with it as the second-largest concern for Gen X and third for millennials and boomers.

Nearly half of all consumers said their incomes are not keeping pace with inflation, as rising prices for groceries, fuel and utilities take their toll, according to TransUnion.

“A recession is kind of this looming cloud, and for the people who are impacted, in terms of a loss of job or loss of income, it matters a whole lot,” Mr Wise said. “Inflation, it may be less severe, but it hits absolutely everybody.”

“Gen Z, they’ve never been through a recession,” Mr Wise added. “They don’t know what it means. They’re all living through inflation today.”

The last U.S. recession was in 2020, at the pandemic’s onset. Markers of a recession usually include at least two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, high unemployment and weak consumer spending, among other potential indicators such as the health of the stock market.

Despite their economic concerns, Americans continue to seem optimistic about their finances. Of all the respondents, 55 per cent said they are optimistic about their household finances over the next 12 months. 

Gen Z was the most optimistic, with 65 per cent of those surveyed feeling positive about their financial health, followed by millennials at 64 per cent, boomers at 49 per cent and Gen X, at 47 per cent.

Mr Wise stated that this optimism was due to the US’s low unemployment rate remaining at historically low levels despite slight recent rises.

“An employed consumer with a job who’s seeing material pay increases is an optimistic consumer,” Mr Wise said.

Source: CPA Practice Advisor

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

According to a new study, younger workers in the US have few concerns about the prospect of a recession, CPA Practice Advisor reports.

Gen Z was the only generation not to cite a recession as a top concern affecting their household finances within the next 6 months, TransUnion’s latest Consumer Pulse study found.

Gen Z respondents reportedly named inflation, housing prices and jobs as their top personal finance worries instead.

“Gen Z doesn’t know from personal experience what a recession is,” Charlie Wise - senior vice president and head of global research and consulting at TransUnion - said. “They may have been around when the great financial crisis happened, but for the most part this is not something that they have experienced or been through.”

Inflation, however, was a list-topping concern for every generation, from Gen Z to baby boomers. Half of all the survey respondents cited it as their biggest worry. 

For millennials, Gen X, and boomers, recession fears did rank highly with it as the second-largest concern for Gen X and third for millennials and boomers.

Nearly half of all consumers said their incomes are not keeping pace with inflation, as rising prices for groceries, fuel and utilities take their toll, according to TransUnion.

“A recession is kind of this looming cloud, and for the people who are impacted, in terms of a loss of job or loss of income, it matters a whole lot,” Mr Wise said. “Inflation, it may be less severe, but it hits absolutely everybody.”

“Gen Z, they’ve never been through a recession,” Mr Wise added. “They don’t know what it means. They’re all living through inflation today.”

The last U.S. recession was in 2020, at the pandemic’s onset. Markers of a recession usually include at least two consecutive quarters of negative GDP, high unemployment and weak consumer spending, among other potential indicators such as the health of the stock market.

Despite their economic concerns, Americans continue to seem optimistic about their finances. Of all the respondents, 55 per cent said they are optimistic about their household finances over the next 12 months. 

Gen Z was the most optimistic, with 65 per cent of those surveyed feeling positive about their financial health, followed by millennials at 64 per cent, boomers at 49 per cent and Gen X, at 47 per cent.

Mr Wise stated that this optimism was due to the US’s low unemployment rate remaining at historically low levels despite slight recent rises.

“An employed consumer with a job who’s seeing material pay increases is an optimistic consumer,” Mr Wise said.

Source: CPA Practice Advisor

(Link and quotes via original reporting)