I heard this stat, while watching a clip of Chris Hayes' new show -- and it struck a chord, because the same thing happened to me, back in the day. Only it was not very common then. It was a mark of defeat, in that struggle for young adulthood and independence.
It was a sign of NOT being able to "make your own way" ...
'Boomerang' Kids Return Home After College
Dreams are tested in a tough economy
by Ted Landphair, VOANews, Washington, D.C. -- September 12, 2011
“Boomerang kids,” they’re called - flying far away for awhile but circling back home. And thousands of boomerangers are knocking on grandma and grandpa's doors as well.
[...]
Going away to college used to be the ultimate flight of young people from the nest. It represented freedom for them and their parents alike.
But last school year alone, instead of flying free, a whopping 85 percent of seniors about to graduate from college told researchers they were moving back home to Mom and Dad.
They had no choice, they said. Job prospects were grim in a struggling economy. According to one estimate, 20 million young-adult Americans who left home for all sorts of reasons have moved back.
Here's that flight path, for the uninitiated:
Chris Hayes and panel discuss Occupy Wall Street
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
Up With Chris Hayes
When I had to move back home, back in the eighties and again in nineties, as a young adult, it was tough. It is never easy to admit you need help. It is never easy to give up your independence. It is never easy to impose.
When this boomerang happened to me, it was an early-forerunner of more of the same to come for my home state, back in the once booming manufacturing midwest. It was an early sign of "Good Jobs, leaving the building" ... and taking opportunity with them, as they went.
Today it is happening to an entire generation of young adults -- a graduating from college generation. A generation of America's future leaders -- with their own unique hopes and dreams.
Today it's just another sign echoing that once small trickle of Jobs going elsewhere -- that the trickle has turned into a modern day tsunami ... of far too many opportunities lost.
These are among the demands, I suspect the Occupiers want -- they want the Opportunities to return to America, in the form of Good Jobs ... in the form of real solutions ... of social equity.
As an often-struggling Boomer myself, I can relate to these demands; and yes they are still needed -- now more than ever.
Keep on "tying to fly" people -- afterall what else can we do ... except maybe create our own opportunities ... for everyone. One day.