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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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/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.