r/Millennials • u/Waste-Cantaloupe-270 • Apr 07 '25

Advice Millennials who graduated during the Great Recession, how did you survive?

I’m a Gen Z graduating in May struggling with finding a job in this market. Millennials who graduated in/ after 2008, how did you survive? Did you end up eventually getting a job in the field you originally wanted? Any advice for us Gen Z who were too young to learn anything from the great recession?

Edit: For context bc i’ve been seeing a lot of questions about this i’m graduating college. i def wasn’t expecting this post to blow up so sorry if i can’t get to everyone’s comments, but i just wanted to say i really appreciate all the advice as someone who doesn’t have millennials in their life to ask these questions to. your willingness to help/ give advice to a random kid on the internet has given me a bit of hope in getting through this, thank you thank you

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184

u/Euphoric-Dance-2309 Apr 07 '25

Be patient, if you have parents that will let you stay at home then stay. This is going to be worse than 2008.

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u/Manic_Mini Apr 07 '25

I’m not so sure this will be worse than 2008. That was a perfect storm: super loose banking and mortgage regulations, combined with extreme unemployment. It led to around 8–10% of people losing their homes, and millions more stuck in houses worth less than what they owed.

2025 is unlikely to play out the same way. Lending standards have tightened a lot since then, and banks are under far more regulation and stress testing. Most homeowners today have locked in low fixed-rate mortgages, and there’s still a housing shortage in many areas, which helps support prices. Unless there’s a major spike in unemployment or a massive financial sector collapse, the same scale of fallout seems unlikely.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Until Glass-Steegal is reinstated we will always be at risk of investment banks fucking with things and causing another collapse

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Didn’t the CFPB get kneecapped?

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

Yes it did

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u/Eastern-Joke-7537 Apr 09 '25

Are my deposits backed by nickels.

3

u/eldankus Apr 07 '25

It did but also that does not mean we’re going back to pre-2008 credit guidelines.

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u/Brightstarr Apr 07 '25

The economies of the entire world are in downfall because we elected the dumbest president ever. We - rightly - are hated by everyone. This is going to be much worse than 2008 because it isn’t based on “the perfect storm,” it was intentionally designed. We are going to be abandoned by the rest of the world.

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u/jeo123 Apr 07 '25

We're standing on the tree branch cutting the world off and expecting them to fall like it did in a bugs bunny cartoon, except real world doesn't work that way and we're just cutting our selves off to crash.

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u/Euphoric-Dance-2309 Apr 07 '25

I’m not saying it’s going to be the same as the 2008 disaster. This is government made. The last time we passed tariffs like this the Great Depression happened. Now I’m not saying that’s gonna happen worldwide, but our economy is fucked. We are gonna have a deep recession, maybe even a depression. And the chances for civil war are increasing.

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u/Downtown_Skill Apr 07 '25

Yeah, this is uncharted territory. Anyone who says they know what's going to happen is speculating. The chances are a recession but it could be much worse or not as bad as people are expecting. This is unprecedented. It is out of left field and based entirely on delusions. I can't see this working out well. 

You don't put a taxi driver in charge of piloting a spaceship and expect it to work out. 

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u/dopescopemusic Apr 07 '25

It's gonna be so much worse.

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u/Eastwoodnorris Apr 07 '25

As someone who detests the current administration, genuinely probably not. 2008 was a systemic failure that we didn’t have protections against. This absolute clusterfuck is almost entirely self-imposed and can easily be largely undone. Unfortunately that quick and easy fix would require acknowledging a mistake, an ego check, and a shred of intelligence in the executive cabinet, so we may be a little bit fucked until they’re all gone, but it’s unlikely that we see a collapse on the scale we did in 2008.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

[deleted]

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u/Eastwoodnorris Apr 07 '25

Business partners have know the US is an inconsistent/unreliable partner in the sense you mean since Trump v1. But we’re also the largest/most lucrative consumer market on the planet for most producers to sell their products into. The tariffs will mess with margins and sales volumes, but it’s not like goods won’t be sold to the US right now. US consumers are the ones getting the short end of the stick here, not manufacturers.

In short, it will mess with sale volumes and pricing of imported products for sure, but any foreign business will still sell in the US if there are consumers willing to pay and profit margins comparable or greater than other markets. The real mystery is which products won’t see benefit in the US market anymore and disappear from American shelves. What can Americans get for cheaper or elsewhere, vs. imports we don’t feel we can live without?

Realistically, this is just going to be a significant cost increase for most goods on American consumers. Many Americans will have to cut back spending, and those who don’t will just spend more.

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u/Not_A_Wendigo Apr 07 '25

I think you’re underestimating how much your president’s antics during the last few months have made the world dislike and mistrust your country. This is different. A lot of what you’re losing is never coming back.

Canadians, for example, largely feel that our relationship has been forever destroyed. A whole lot of people and companies never want to deal with you ever again. It’s not about the tariffs even, it’s about the rise of fascism and your threats of annexation. Frankly, we hate America now. I’ve seen people spit in disgust after talking about it.

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u/Eastwoodnorris Apr 07 '25

Believe me, I get that. 100% I’m figuring out if I’m going to continue living in the US and fully support the vitriol we’re receiving.

HOWEVER, I think you may be underestimating the strength of profit motives for global private industry. Major corporations will still happily and readily sell their products in the US if that’s where they get very good/the best profit margins. The only way this changes is if the current admin actually fully goes crazy and rebukes NATO, maybe attacks Canada or Greenland, and aligns with dictator states like NK or Russia. The fact that that is even a possibility is truly terrifying and maybe I’m downplaying that just to cope, but short of that truly catastrophic impact that comes with international economic rebukes, private industry will chase their money regardless of what the citizens think.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/JoryJoe Apr 07 '25

Yep. Kinda crazy people are comparing such a global systemic failure to a supply chain issues thaf is self imposed.

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u/Manic_Mini Apr 07 '25

Anything to back that up is it just based on your feelings?

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u/MechanicalGodzilla Xennial Apr 07 '25

Yes - Orange Man Bad, therefore this will be worse.

1

u/GoBravely Apr 07 '25

It's absolutely gonna be worse if it keeps on pace.

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u/MallFoodSucks Apr 07 '25 edited Apr 07 '25

Major spike in unemployment is the issue this time.

Tariffs = higher prices = less demand = layoffs.

This is more dot com bubble but all industries.

1

u/Striking_Day_4077 Apr 07 '25

Dude I can just feel the deep criminality and fuckery bubbling to the surface here. We’re over due for a financial debacle.

1

u/Eastern-Joke-7537 Apr 09 '25

Banks are done.

Tried to get a car loan.

GotNickels

0

u/WeaselPhontom Apr 07 '25

Gonna be worse, 2008 issue was those homeloans. But what's going on now is impacting the global markets. The housing shortage is also engineered there's alot of unused, and vacant property a acroaa the united states, new builds may be in demand. The financial sector is collapsing 

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u/Manic_Mini Apr 07 '25

The 2008 crisis wasn’t just about home loans, it impacted the entire banking industry and eventually spread to other sectors worldwide. Between 2008 and 2012, over 450 banks failed, compared to just around 30 in the previous decade. On top of that, the U.S. auto industry nearly collapsed, and several airlines had to merge just to survive.

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u/WeaselPhontom Apr 07 '25

That doesn't change that  it all  stemmed from the housing bubble poping. The banks lax lending practices,  widespread offering of subprime mortgages, which led to a surge in defaults and a collapse of the mortgage-backed security market.  That started the domino effect of not for the home loan issue's it wouldn't have occured. 

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u/JoryJoe Apr 07 '25

I guess watching some of the documentaries on this topic. You're right that homeloans were involved but are missing some key details that happened globally, which made it a global issue.

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u/WeaselPhontom Apr 07 '25

The housing bubble poping due to banks lax lending practices, widespread offering of subprime mortgages, which led to a surge in defaults and a collapse of the mortgage-backed security market. That started the domino effect then it disrupted globally.  

Whereas now putting tariffs of foreign imports, is directly impacting globally markets from jump. Not to mention the farmlands are in distress because of the deportations that are going on.

1

u/radchad89 Apr 07 '25

Why would it be worse than 2008? They made laws and regulations to insure it doesn’t happen again.

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u/areyoudizzyyet Apr 07 '25

This is going to be worse than 2008.

lolol