Economist Studies Generational Trends
By: Emma Fahrlander
"Time use reflects your station in life, whether you're married, employed, retired or have kids. These places in life affect how you use your time."
Photo credit: Michelle Freeman
Michelle Freeman (B.A. ’98, M.A. ’07) really had to manage her time during her UMKC career. She was vice president of the Economics Club, a member of Omicron Delta Epsilon, a Joe Brown Award winner and pledged to the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. These activities were all in addition to working full time.
“I did a lot,” she said with a laugh.
Now an economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) American Time Use Survey, Freeman studies how others spend their time. The American Time Use Survey is the only federally funded survey that measures the different ways that Americans use their time, such as doing housework, childcare, or playing sports.
“Until now, no one had looked at how specific generations spend their time,” Freeman said. “I've always been fascinated by generations. I’m biased and believe Generation X is the best, but I saw how millennials started to dominate the conversation when they came into the workforce. This cohort does things so differently from baby boomers or Gen X. A lot of chatter has surrounded them, and I wanted to look at how they spend their time.”
Freeman has published two papers on the subject: “Time use of millennials and nonmillennials” in 2019, and “Time use of millennials and Generation X: differences across time,” published last year.
“In my first paper, I used 2017 data to look at millennials versus other generations we have data on, including Gen X, baby boomers, the silent and the greatest generation. In the second paper, I compared millennials and Gen X when they were ages 23 and 38. Gen Xers were in their late thirties in 2003, and millennials were in 2019.”
In her papers, Freeman discovered some interesting trends. Millennials did not differ significantly from preceding generations in the 2017 data.
“Time use reflects your station in life, whether you're married, employed, retired or have kids. These places in life affect how you use your time. When Gen X and millennials were the same age, we saw a lot of similarities, including the time they worked each day.”
Freeman learned that shortly after their late thirties is when millennials started diverging from the trends of previous generations.
“Millennials were less likely to be married, have young kids at home or be homeowners,” Freeman said. “The scenario in 2019 for millennials versus the Gen X cohort in 2003 was vastly different. Underemployed millennials in 2019 made less money than Gen X in 2003 because of economic conditions at the time. Newly graduated millennials entered the workforce during the Great Recession. Many chose to live with their parents rather than work."
Homeownership by Generation
Homeownership remains a main driver of household wealth, and lower ownership percentages for Gen X and millennials impact their overall financial picture. This is part of the reason that we see that millennials hold only 6% of all household wealth currently compared to baby boomers. Baby boomers owned more than 20% of all household wealth in 1989 when they were about the same age as millennials are now.
Nathan Mauck, Associate Professor, Finance UMKC Henry W. Bloch School of Management
Homeownership by the age of 40
Baby boomers
Gen X
Millennials
Freeman has lived and worked in San Francisco, New York, Washington D.C., and Baltimore, but Kansas City still has a special space in her heart.
“My entire family is here [in Kansas City],” she said. “You can get anywhere in between 15 and 20 minutes. I laugh when people talk about the traffic here. There's no traffic here. It's affordable, and the people are friendly.”
Her frequent moves have made Freeman grateful for her connections at UMKC.
“One day, in Washington, I was walking to get lunch and saw one of my classmates from UMKC down the street,” she said. “We didn't know we both were working in D.C. That UMKC connection has been amazing. I'm in a sorority, so wherever I've lived, I've had friends. That's what made the moves much easier.”
Her time at UMKC also prepared her to become truly involved in those different communities, including volunteering with foundations for children.
“When we think about privilege, we always think about white privilege, but I have privilege as an African American with three degrees,” Freeman said. “When I started volunteering with the kids in West Baltimore, I saw their home environments were so different from what I’d experienced.
“Learning about economics, from that standpoint, allows you to see it play out because many of these kids are living in neighborhoods that have been abandoned. No one's investing resources there and that shapes how they approach society and move forward. I think the program at UMKC prepared me to volunteer and be able to offer my assistance, but also to be able to meet people where they are, as well.”
Her success at UMKC also prepared her for success in her field and there's now an initiative to make the American Time Use Survey a federal economic indicator. Freeman’s work will contribute to that effort.
“My job gives me the freedom to do what I want and what I like – which is research,” she said. “I love economics, and it’s so cool measuring how people spend their time. I had never heard of that before working at the Bureau.”
"I love economics, and it's so cool measuring how people spend their time."
Photo credit: William Ropple
Millennials comprise the largest generational segment of the American workforce but hold the least household wealth of current generations. Much of this is due to the historically low homeownership rates of the generation. Millennials' lack of wealth in this area greatly influences the way they spend money. Most surprisingly, despite drastically lower homeownership rates, housing accounts for nearly 5% more of total expenditures for millennials than it does for Gen X.
J. Antonio Molinar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor UMKC School of Humanities and Social Sciences Department of Political Science and Philosophy