offer a critical assessment of your original argument appealing to the methods of argument analysis 1

In Lesson 4, Problem 1, you were asked to write a short essay defending some claim about which you felt strongly. Go back to this essay now and write a second paper in which you offer a critical assessment of your original argument, appealing to the methods of argument analysis

Original argument:

Problem #1

Millennials are out of their luck compared to previous generations

Millennials are those individuals who were born between 1981 and 1996.They are also commonly referred to as Generation Y. This age group largely comprises todayâ€™s workforce in all sectors. Compared with other generations, this generation was brought up uniquely under distinct conditions. They have experienced and have been the cause of paradigm shifts both in society and culture. They define a magnanimous change and, in some ways, can be considered to be the shifting point from an obscure world that held on to past ideals transitioning to a world more open to ideas, ways of thinking and what seems to be a brighter future with coming generations.

The life of millennials has been marred with both positive and negative factors. With the youngest millennials being well into adulthood, how do they compare to the preceding generation? Millennials are living in a time that was largely unfathomed by generation X. In comparison, Gen Y (millennials) are better educated than Gen X. They are more racially and ethnically accommodating and are gender fluid compared to their predecessors. This, however, might be a silver lining to an infinitely large cloud.

Millennialsâ€™ earnings havenâ€™t had much change over the last 5 decades. And whatâ€™s worse is there is an exponentially large difference in the earnings of millennials who went to institutions of higher learning and those who did not. In comparison to previous generations, at the same age as millennials, there is an indication that predecessors had amassed more compared to millennials (Bialik & Fry, 2019). This might have to do with the fact that millennials inherited the economy after the great recession.

This generation entered the job market as the economy was struggling to recover from the great recession and the remnants of the effect of this great depression were still fresh. With an increasingly tougher economy, challenges keep arising at every turn. Unemployment levels were unprecedented and industry wages stagnated at best. This coupled with Millennials having to service huge amounts of debt taken out to get educated (Elliott & Reynolds III, 2015). This detrimentally affects the ability of this generation to pay back student loans taken out, resulting in negative credit scores and high default rates across this generation.

A research report conducted by economists attached to the Federal Reserve compared how millennials spent their income to previous generations (Thompson, 2018). It concluded that despite having similar spending patterns, millennials were less well-off compared to preceding generations. It was also established that they had comparatively less earnings and had amassed less wealth and assets compared to generations before, at the same age. This depressed rate of consumption in wealth indicative goods such as cars and houses points to the incapability of millennials to afford these commodities. This compounded on by rising the difference between commodity prices and income earnings which has nearly surged to a factor of 2 in various regions such as Florida, California and San Francisco (Thompson, 2018).

Millennials are quickly approaching middle age without experiencing economic booms previously enjoyed by previous generations. They are reaching optimal income earnings with current economic forces. There is however still some glimpse of hope for millennials. There are still some economic stimulating initiatives that could help individuals experience some modicum of economic relief if implemented.

Some ways in which the adversity facing millennials could be curtailed include, creating more opportunities for youth employment so that more millennials can gain access to meaningful employment. Secondly, cultivating inter-agency and industry relationships and having the state government, local government and industries collaborate in working with local communities. This will help to serve all stakeholderâ€™s benefits as well as create an opportunity for various individuals at different levels. Lastly, in a bid to stimulate entrepreneurship, banks and financial institutions can extend credit facilities to the young generation with manageable repayment plans.