A Pew Research Center study highlights the problems facing Millennials who attempt to purchase a home

A new study released by the Pew Research Center [Can we link to the study?] highlighted that Millennials are still struggling to live independently, despite the strengthening job market.

While the unemployment rate was down to 7.7 percent in the first four months of 2015, only 67 percent of young adults, or those between the ages of 25 and 34 years old, were living independently, compared to 71 percent before the Great Recession, Pew reported.

There are three million more young adults today than in 2007; however, the number of young adults living independently has remained virtually the same: 42.2 million in 2015 versus 42.7 million in 2007. The number of households headed by young adults remained similarly static at 25 million in 2015, versus 25.2 million in 2007.

Millennials Struggle Despite Education Levels

The problems Millennials face, Pew found, persist no matter the education. Young adults with a bachelor’s degree or more, some college and high school or less all saw a similar drop in the share living independently from 2007 to 2015. Those with bachelor’s fell from 90 to 86 percent, some college from 85 to 79 percent and high school or less from 80 to 75 percent.

The average median weekly earnings for young adults is still below their 2008 peak of $592. The current median is $574. To expand, young adults with a bachelor’s degree or better are nearly back to their 2007 peak of $966, with a median of $951. However, both some college ($640 in 2007 versus $560 in 2015) and high school or less ($527 in 2007 vs $500 in 2015) have not yet recovered. Some college has especially fallen, being down 12.5 percent.