No, millennials don't have it worse than previous generations
As a member of Generation Z, I feel I have a right to complain about a certain popular belief among young people in the United States today. According to one survey, 68% of American millennials "agree" or "strongly agree" that they have "more, tougher financial obstacles than previous generations" and 49% believe that they are "living in the worst economic environment in the last century."
To be clear, this perception isn't based on literally nothing—there are some dimensions along which young people have it worse. But as far as I can tell, this belief, when taken as a whole, is completely, ludicrously false. Pants on fire. It's not even close to being right.
Not only are young people not worse off than previous generations, they are better off along nearly every meaningful economic axis.
The first most obvious thing to point out is that real GDP per capita—meaning, adjusted for costs of living—is up about 374% since 1950. If GDP is calculated correctly, it should correspond to mean income levels, which means that the mean income among people alive today is nearly four times higher than it was in 1950.
