Gen X is losing confidence
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Generation X is not OK. The oft-forgotten cohort once identified with slacking has the lowest consumer confidence of any generation, per The Conference Board's latest numbers.
Why it matters: Xers might say nothing matters, but many in this generation are near or at their peak earning years, and if they're growing more morose it could drag down spending and the economy, to boot.
Zoom in: The business think tank's survey is meant to measure people's assessment of business conditions, jobs, incomes and outlooks — but it doesn't get into why generations differ.
Conference Board chief economist Dana Peterson — herself an Xer — offered some "probable causes."
- These include the financial and emotional pressures of being in the so-called sandwich generation, caring for both aging parents and their own children.
- Feeling unprepared for retirement.
- Plus, regrets, various.
Reality check: Gen X's elders aren't feeling so great either — confidence among Boomers and the Silent Generation is only slightly better, per the data.
Between the lines: Gen X is actually being true to the generational pattern. Often cited research finds that happiness follows a U-shaped curve over a lifetime.
- Meaning: You start out happy in youth, then things begin to fall apart. Happiness bottoms out in midlife in the mid- to late-40s.
- Gen X is around 45 -61 — either in the pit of despair or just climbing out (and not the fun mosh pit kind of their youth).
Yes, but: Researchers note that more young adults are facing a crisis in wellbeing. And, slumping confidence across all generations so far hasn't put much of crimp in Americans' appetite to spend.
The bottom line: There's a reason the term midlife crisis exists.
