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Young grads didn't suffer as badly as less educated peers in the aftermath of the recession, a new report finds.

The Great Recession was hard on young college graduates, but a new analysis finds that it was much tougher on people in their early 20s who didn’t have a bachelor’s degree.

The analysis of government data, released Wednesday by the Pew Charitable Trusts, found  that 21- to 24-year-olds with a college degree saw considerably smaller drops in both employment and wages than their peers with just a high school or associate degree.

“Having a college degree really helped individuals weather the recession at much better rates … than for those with lesser credentials,” Diana Elliott, research manager with the Pew Economic Mobility Project, said in a conference call with journalists Wednesday.

Pew’s findings come as some experts have started to question whether going to college is as valuable as it once was, given the rapidly rising cost of tuition and the growing burden of student loan debt. Those concerns have been exacerbated by years of high unemployment for the country overall, and particularly for younger workers.

The unemployment rate for all 20- to 24-year-olds, regardless of education level, was 13.7 percent in December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That compares with a general unemployment rate of 7.8 percent that month.

Elliott, the researcher, said she doesn’t think Pew’s findings discount the familiar reports of young college graduates who have had to move back in with their parents after being unable to find a job

But she said the new data shows that overall, many young college grads appear to be doing OK.

“It shows on a national level, with nationally representative and really reputable data, that the trends overall do not find this to be the case,” she said.

Pew used government data from 2003 to 2011 for its analysis. The researchers found that 69 percent of 21- to 24-year-old college grads were employed before the recession hit in December of 2007. That figure fell to 65 percent in the period after the recession ended in June of 2009 and entered a period of weak recovery.

By contrast, just 55 percent of people that age with a high school degree were employed before the recession began, and that figure fell to 47 percent after the recession.

The young people in each group who weren’t employed could have been in school, looking for work or out of the labor market for another reason.

The researchers did not find an increase in the amount of people at any education level who started attending school once the recession hit, so it doesn’t appear the sharper drop in employment among high school grads was the result of more people going to college.

Everyone in their early 20s saw a drop in average wages after the recession hit. But the Pew researchers found that average weekly wages fell by 5 percent for the young college grads, but by 10 percent for the high school grads.

College grads also earned much more, on average, even after the hit they took because of the recession. The average weekly wage for young college grads was $645 after the recession, the Pew researchers found. For high school grads that age, it was $394.

Young people with an associate degree generally fared better than their high school-educated peers but worse than those with a college degree.

“Any amount of education does improve the labor market outcomes for those recent graduates,” Elliott said.

A college degree has always been seen as a key part of achieving the American dream of upward economic mobility. There’s plenty of data to show that college graduates generally earn more money and are more likely to be employed than their less educated counterparts.

The unemployment rate college graduates ages 25 and over was 3.9 percent in December, compared with 8 percent for those with just a high school degree.

But some say that while it’s clear college graduates make more than those without a college degree, that doesn’t mean all college degrees will pay off. That’s because some graduates are so financially hobbled by high student loan debt, which has neared $1 trillion by some estimates, that they end up giving back much of their wage gains.

“The issue is the cost/benefit analysis of what do you have to give up to get that higher salary?” said Laurence Kotlikoff, an economics professor at Boston University who has calculated the relative lifetime benefit of things like choosing a private college over a cheaper public school.

Kotlikoff said people who are heading to college need to take a nuanced look at where they are going to college, what they will be studying and how much it will cost. He also noted that young people starting out their careers must be flexible and willing to adapt to a changing job market. That’s harder if you have tens of thousands of dollars in debt.

“Taking on tons of debt doesn’t give you much flexibility,” he said. “You’re stuck having to pay it off and taking maybe something that comes along, no matter how good it is.” 

Job opportunities for Hispanics and Asians have been recovering at a faster pace than those for their white and black counterparts.

While workers from all racial groups have seen job gains since the economy bottomed out in 2009, Hispanics and Asians are edging ahead, according to a new study released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center titled The Demographics of the Jobs Recovery.

“Their employment levels are higher now than just before the start of the Great Recession in December 2007, a milestone not yet reached by white and black workers,” the report stated.

The percentage change in employment for Asians and Hispanics, since the economy bottomed out, rose by 6.9 percent and 6.5 percent respectively. This compares to a decline of 7 percent for blacks during the same time period and a drop of 5.9 percent for whites.

But don’t get too happy or too jealous yet. No one group is going employment gangbusters even though the recovery has supposedly kicked in.

“Although jobs growth for Hispanics and Asians was more rapid than for other groups, it merely kept pace with the growth in their working-age (ages 16 and older) populations. The slower rate of jobs growth for whites and blacks reflects the relatively slow growth in their populations,” Pew reported. “Thus, the share of each group’s population that is employed, the employment rate, has barely risen since the end of the recession.”

Aside from race, immigrants and men fared better than natives and women.

Immigrants, made up mainly of Hispanics and Asians, saw a 5.2 percent recovery in jobs since 2009, compared to 1.8 percent for U.S. born workers.

And after outpacing men in the recession when it came to employment opportunities, women are not falling behind the guys. Men saw a 3.5 percent rate of growth, while women experienced a dismal 0.9 percent uptick.

As for where people got jobs, three industries created the most growth for all races: professional business services; wholesale and retail; and manufacturing.

The leading source of jobs increases for Hispanics in particular were the eating, drinking and lodging services sector, creating an increase of 326,000 for this group.

The economic funk of the past four years has made it tough for younger workers trying to grow up and get a good job. Lucky for them, a growing number of their parents don't really expect their 20-something children to be financially self-sufficient.

A study being released Thursday found that only 67 percent of parents expect their children to be independent by age 22 or younger, compared with 80 percent in a similar survey conducted two decades ago.

The shift appears to be at least partly a reaction to the difficult economic environment, according to the Pew Research Center study.

“These accommodations to a tough economy appear to have contributed to a broader change in social norms about when adulthood begins,” the report stated.

The report on younger workers and the economy also found that despite high unemployment, workers under 25 are optimistic about their future prospects and their ability to make ends meet. Perhaps that is related to the generous support many of them still enjoy from their parents.

“While young people are less likely now than they were before the recession to say they currently have enough income, their level of optimism is undiminished from where it was in 2004,” according to the Pew report.

Among the study's other findings:

• Nine out of 10 young employed adults said they don’t earn enough money to lead the kind of life they want but believe they’ll earn enough in the future.
• Among young adults who are not working and say they don’t currently have enough income, 75 percent are confident they will have enough income in the future (18 percent believe they won’t).

It’s a lot of positive thinking for a group that has had sustained double-digit unemployment. At the end of last year the jobless rate among  workers aged 18 to 24 was 16.3 percent, compared to 8.8 percent for all adults under 64.

“The gap in the unemployment rate between 18- to 24-year-olds and all working-age adults is the widest in recorded history,” the Pew study said.

The numbers would be even worse if more young workers were in the labor market. The labor force participation rate among the under 25-crowd has been on the decline for years, as a growing number of younger workers have opted to focus on school. The rate continued its decline last year, dipping to about 65 percent, compared with 69 percent in 2007.

Gen Yers are making less money too. Pew reviewed government data and found “young adults employed full time have experienced a greater drop in weekly earnings (down 6 percent) than any other age group over the past five years.”

In the face of such economic realities, actions by Gen Yers may speak more loudly than their optimistic words.

The survey found that about half have taken jobs they didn’t want just to pay the bills; and 24 percent said they took unpaid work to gain experience. More than a third said the tough job market forced them to go back to school.

Their personal lives have also been hit: 31 percent said they’ve postponed marriage and 20 percent have put off the nuptials altogether because of the dismal jobs picture. And 22 percent are opting to wait for better times before having babies.

The Pew study was based in part on a nationwide survey of more than 2,000 adults.

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One key issue for the Occupy movement has been the rift between the nation's wealthiest residents and the remaining 99 percent.

More Americans are seeing a significant rift between rich and poor people, with most people saying there is a strong or very strong conflict between those who are wealthy and those who are not.

A survey released Wednesday by Pew Social & Demographic Trends finds that 66 percent of Americans see strong or very strong conflicts between rich and poor people. That’s a 19 percentage point increase over 2009.

Another 23 percent said there was conflict, but it wasn’t very strong.

Only 7 percent of respondents said there is no conflict between wealthy and struggling Americans, according to the survey of more than 2,000 Americans conducted in mid-December.

The strife between rich and poor people is now seen as a bigger issue than other social conflicts, including conflict between immigrants and native-born Americans and tension between black and white Americans, according to the Pew study.

Despite the perception that there is a growing conflict, the Pew report said they did not find clear support for things like government measures to address income inequality.

In addition, people’s perceptions of how the rich get rich have not changed much in recent years.

Pew Social & Demographic Trends

More than 4 in 10 respondents said they think people are wealthy because they were born into wealthy families or know the right people. But a nearly equal percentage said they think they earned their money through hard work, ambition or education.

“While the survey results show a significant shift in public perceptions of class conflict in American life, they do not necessarily signal an increase in grievances toward the wealthy,” the report said.

There’s no question the gap between rich and poor has been a particularly hot topic in recent years.

As millions of Americans have struggled with high unemployment and other lingering effects of the recession, the nation’s median household income has actually fallen slightly.

Meanwhile, the wealth gap between the richest Americans and the rest of the country widened during the recession, which officially ended in 2009.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has been perhaps the most visible sign of people’s frustrations over the gap between rich and poor, prompting national attention and similar protests throughout the country.

Some have focused their attention on the tax system.

In August, Warren Buffett generated a huge national debate when he asked lawmakers to tax the rich more, chastising what he called the “billionaire-friendly Congress” for coddling him and his wealthy friends.

Many elected officials are wealthy themselves. The New York Times noted last month that nearly half of all members of Congress are millionaires, and many Congress members have actually gotten richer in the past six years.

The Republican presidential candidates’ wealth also has been a sensitive issue over the course of their primary campaign.

Mitt Romney, one of the wealthiest presidential candidates in years, has been criticized for being out of touch after gaffes such as jokingly offering fellow candidate Rick Perry a $10,000 bet.

Meanwhile, Romney has taken shots at his rivals’ wealth, last month insinuating that Newt Gingrich was out of touch because he’s “a very wealthy man.”

Related:

The rich got richer and, well, you know the rest

Downturn takes heaviest toll on younger Americans

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The unused crib as an indicator of a troubled economy?

A new report adds further evidence to the theory that the nation’s economic hard times have caused some families to delay having kids.

The U.S. birth rate has fallen sharply since hitting a high in 2007, although researchers have been hesitant to pinpoint the exact reason for the drop.

The report released Wednesday by Pew Social & Demographic Trends found that states that have been hardest hit by economic hard times between 2007 and 2008 also were the most likely to see bigger fertility drops between 2008 and 2009.

In contrast, states that weren’t as hard-hit did not see such big drops. North Dakota, which has been among the least affected by the nation’s unemployment woes, actually saw a slight increase in births between 2008 and 2009.

The Pew researchers looked at statewide indicators such as per capita personal income, state gross domestic product and unemployment to make the correlations.

The report also found that the birth rate for Hispanics fell much more sharply than for other racial and ethnic groups. Hispanics have generally been harder hit by the economic downturn, in terms of employment and wealth, according to Pew.

More than 4.3 million babies were born in the United States in 2007, a record high. According to preliminary calculations in Pew’s report, based on government data, there were a little more than 4.1 million births in 2009 and about 4 million births in 2010.

The birth rate, or the number of births per thousand women ages 15 to 44, has fallen from 69.6 in 2007 to an early estimate of 64.7 in 2010.

The nation went into recession December of 2007, and technically emerged from it in June of 2009. But economic growth has mostly been sluggish since then, and many Americans have struggled to make ends meet.

The unemployment rate is still above 9 percent, with about 14 million Americans out of work. The poverty rate is at its highest level in 18 years and median income has fallen for three years in a row.

For many families, that may have been enough to put off starting a family, or adding another child to the family.

The report notes that it’s not clear yet whether women are postponing having kids or not having them at all. Previous research has shown that women put off having kids during weak economic periods, but then play catch-up once the economy improves.

The United States also saw a steep and yearslong drop in birth rates during the Great Depression in the 1930s.

In May, msnbc.com wrote about several families who had been forced to put off having a child because they didn’t feel like they could afford the health care costs and other expenses.

“We’re hurting, financially,” Diana Lorenzo told msnbc.com. “We’ve streamlined everything, and that’s why I can’t imagine. Where can I cut?”

Related:

Breaking up is hard to do because of the economy

I’ll marry you … when you get a job

Weak economy means more unhappy ex-workers

Pew Research Center

The Great Recession appears to have brought families closer together, literally: The share of Americans who are living in multigenerational households has spiked as the economy has tanked.

About 51.4 million people were living in some kind of multigenerational household in 2009, according to the Pew Research Center’s analysis of the Census data released last month. That’s a more than 10 percent increase from just two years earlier, when about 46.5 million people were living with another generation of their family, according to Pew.

The percentage of Americans who are living with multiple generations has been on the rise for a few decades, reversing a trend toward living apart that had begun in the 1940s. About 16.7 percent of Americans lived with someone from another generation in 2009, up from 15.1 percent in 2000.

Pew found that more than half of the multigenerational householdsinclude two adult generations, such as an adult child and his or her parents. The second largest group includes multiple generations, such as Grandma, Mom and Dad and their child. There’s also a small group of households with a skipped generation, such as grandparents living with their grandchildren.

There are clear financial advantages to living with your family. The Pew analysis found that the poverty rate for families in multigenerational householdswas lower than people in other types of households.

Sharing a household with Mom, Dad or your adult child is an even bigger help if you are out of a job. The overall poverty rate for unemployed people was 30.3 percent, according to Pew. But for people living with another generation, it was just 17.5 percent.

The spike in multigenerational households also reflects how tough the weak economy has been on younger adults. The analysis found that more than 20 percent of 25- to 34-year-olds were living in some type of multigenerational household.

 Related:

It’s crowded at Mom and Dad’s

The high cost of single parenthood

Pew Research Center

We know the weak economic recovery hasn’t been much of an upturn for anyone who wants a job. But after a recession that was so tough on men it was dubbed a "mancession," it is women who are having by far the hardest time in the recovery.

From June 2009 –- when the recession was officially declared over --  to May 2011, men gained about  768,000 jobs, while women lost 218,000 jobs, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Pew Research Center.

That’s a switch from the recession of December 2007 to June 2009, a period in which men lost more than 5 million jobs, while women lost just over 2 million jobs, according to calculations based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The lopsided trend is something we first reported on in January.

Of course, no one is seeing a jobs bonanza, and the meager gains by men aren’t nearly enough to offset the millions of jobs that were lost. The official unemployment rate of 9.1 percent has fallen only slightly from its peak of 10.1 percent in late 2009. And whle men have done better than women in the recovery, their jobless rate is still higher than the rate for women.

Pew researchers say it’s not entirely clear why men are scoring more jobs than women in the recovery. Women have lost more jobs in certain sectors, such as government jobs. Men have gained more jobs than women in two key fields: professional and business services, and education and health services. 

Pew Research Center

There’s been plenty of talk lately about the cost of college, and whether it’s worth it.  But here’s another interesting question: What’s the main purpose of a college?

It turns out, we’re pretty divided on this point.

The Pew Research Center surveyed about 2,000 Americans and found that 47 percent think the main purpose of college is to teach work-related skills and knowledge. But 39 percent say the main purpose of college is intellectual and personal growth. About 12 percent said the years we spend at an institute of higher learning should be devoted to both.

Interestingly, those with more education are more likely to view college as a place for personal and intellectual growth.