Baby Boomers gloomier than younger and older adults: Study

Washington, June 26 (ANI): A new survey has revealed that Baby Boomers are gloomier than young people and seniors about their lives and the prospects for improvement.

The Pew Research Center Social and Demographic Trends survey involved baby Boomers who are presently 44 to 62 years old.

Fifty-five per cent of the Boomers surveyed reported thinking that their income would not keep up with the cost of living, compared to 44 per cent and 43 per cent for younger and older adults respectively.

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The survey also revealed that the Boomers thought that getting ahead was harder these days than it was 10 years ago.

The surveyor found that the Boomers were less strained financially than younger adults, and less likely to have been laid off in the past year.

However, they were also less likely than younger adults to have gotten a raise.

When the subjects were asked to rate their present life on a scale of zero to 10, Boomers came in with an average rating of 6.2, those over 62 averaged out at 6.7, and adults aged 18 to 41 came in at 6.5.

Only 26 per cent of the Boomers expect to live very comfortably in retirement, compared to 37 per cent for younger adults, and 33 per cent for older adults.

Bloomers also rated the financial prospects for other groups more gloomily, showing that they were not just more pessimistic than others about their own lives.

About 70 per cent of Boomers are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, compared to 54 percent for the younger crowed.

"Demographically speaking, this is a generation at the peak of its earning power, but with a lot on its plate," Live Science quoted the Pew researchers as saying.

The study report says that the bleak outlook is not just about reaching middle age.

"Boomers generally have been downbeat, compared with other age groups, for the past two decades. So their current sour ratings may be related to getting older, but they also may be related to the attitudes and expectations about life they formed when they were young," says the report.

The telephone survey of 2,413 adults was conducted January 24 through February 19.

A similar survey released in April also showed Boomers to be the most miserable group, and less happy than their age group in decades past. (ANI)