The Silver Tsunami Is Keeping the US Economy on Track
Older Americans are holding up consumption, immune to the frustrations of weak labor and housing markets.
A growing community.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about the direction of the US economy right now. The hiring rate is sluggish. The housing market is dormant, with younger Americans shut out. Borrowing costs are high and moving higher as Congress pieces together a deficit-expanding fiscal package. Yet the economic data continues to paint a picture of resilience.
That’s thanks to older Americans, who are helping to keep the economy from falling into recession. They are less affected by labor market uncertainty, less likely to be struggling in the housing market (the average age of homebuyers is a record 56), and they will be recipients of the growth in federal spending. This group is providing fuel to the economy at a weak point in the economic cycle, something we didn’t see as much in the mid-2000s or mid-2010s.