Which generation had it toughest? New data reveals surprise finding

It’s been the source of many family rows, so we’ve crunched the stats and finally found who is really doing it tougher - Generation X parents or Baby Boomer grandparents?

Three generations of family love: Liam Cillia, Bernadette Cillia, Terry Cillia, Jasmine Cillia, Doris Cillia, Justin Cillia and Bella Cillia. Thomas Lisson

The data is in and it’s official: Generation X – those born between 1965 and 1979 – have had it far tougher than any other generation.

That is unless, of course, you ask a millennial, who will complain about house prices, or a baby boomer, who will talk about lack of opportunities back in the day.

And don’t forget the new Generation Z, who are swamped with technology and may never leave home. Which brings us back to their mums and dads – Generation X.

Demographer Mark Mc­Crindle has crunched the numbers across the generations and found Gen X, in particular, had “some hard financial ground” to work through.

“There were a few economic shocks that hit Gen X,” he said.

“The recession of 1991 struck just as they were hitting their mid to late 20s and getting into their careers.

“Then they had the dotcom crash of 2000 followed by September 11 in 2001 and then the global financial crisis in 2008 and 2009. That’s a lot of impact on Gen X.”

The essentials of life for millennials, who were born between 1980 and 1994, and Gen Z, who were born between 1995 and 2009, are cheaper.

They can pay off a new Toyota Corolla with four months of an average salary compared to more than double that for Gen X.

A Qantas flight to London has stayed at about $2400 for the past 30 years, which means it takes half as much time to earn the money to pay it off.

Technology is also cheaper. A baby boomer – born between 1946 and 1964 – had to work for 88 hours to pay off a $600 colour TV. Today, Gen Z can pay the $300 bill with less than a day’s work.

But even though Gen X did it tougher financially, they own more property than any other generation.

“They got jobs, saved hard, cut back on expenses and went without discretionary spending on cars and holidays to buy a home,” Mr McCrindle said.

With every other Gen Z going to university, compared to just 20 per cent of boomers, that financial prudence has made Gen X “the sandwich generation”.

A Qantas flight to London has stayed at about $2400 for the past 30 years. Picture: William WEST / AFP

They are in the perfect position to help older kids at home and help their ageing parents, who are living longer.

All of this, however, fails to address the elephant in the room – house prices.

Sixty-four-year-old baby boomer Tim McKibbin, chief executive of the Real Estate Institute of NSW, said his “heart goes out to people” trying to get into the market now.

“When I was buying my first home, there was no bank of mum and dad, because we didn’t need it.”

For boomers and Gen X, the average home could be bought for just over five times the average salary. For millennials and Gen Z, that same home has gone from $197,000 in 1995 to almost $1.5m today and costs a whopping 14 times the average pay.

ANU demographer Dr Liz Allen said that meant a whole generation of millennials had “lost hope” and were no longer planning families because they could not secure a roof over their heads.

“It’s the worst it has ever been. If we look at four major factors – housing, community security, gender equality and climate change – things are the worst they have ever been apart from, maybe, gender equality,” she said.

Coogee Surf Life Saving Club’s surf-loving Hawkins family: Callum Hawkins, Heather Hawkins, Doug Hawkins and Sarah Teitler. Picture: Justin Lloyd

The intergenerational division is played out on the sands of Coogee Beach, in Sydney’s east, where the surf-loving Hawkins family have grown up through nippers to regular patrolling and now fear that tradition will be lost for the next generation.

Millennial Callum Hawkins, 30, who works as a hiking guide with World Expeditions, said he and his partner were trying to save for a home.

“But we’ll have to move away from our community if we want to buy a home,” he said.

“This will have a huge impact on surf lifesaving clubs. We have generations who want to bring their children to nippers at the club where they were nippers and now patrol.

“If we’re forced to live away from the community where we live, the surf club will lose that connection.”

Mr Hawkins is not getting a lot of sympathy from his baby boomer dad, Doug, who remembers his own mortgage as “a hell of a lot of money” and believes his son is part of a lucky generation awash with opportunities.

“We didn’t have the restaurants, the theatre, the culture or the visiting foreign bands. I look at what kids have today and think, wow, opportunities for everything,” he said.

“I went straight to the Bank of NSW as a clerk at 17. We had a lot less opportunity or variety – it was a different life, it was not as big,” he said.

However Callum’s mum, Heather, a Gen X nurse, has more sympathy for the younger generations, with technology making life faster-paced with less time to “be yourself”.

“Constant connectedness has made life busier and harder, with social media creating huge pressure to constantly compare yourself to others,” she said.

“When I was growing up, we would walk to school and come home to play with the neighbourhood kids until the sun was sinking and then Mum would call us in for dinner.

“There were a lot more freedoms and a lot less fear.”

That’s a feeling shared by Gen Z law and strategic communications student Sarah Teitler, who has come through nippers and been a surf lifesaver for the past 15 years.

“I think Gen Z has it hard because we’re growing up in a completely different age that no one understands,” she said.

“We’re still finding out about technology, and society is changing with us, so you don’t have anyone to teach you.”

Ms Teitler worries the advances in artificial intelligence are leaving her behind and feels sorry for the baby boomer generation because “they grew up in a society that is now changing and they don’t know how to deal with it.

“I don’t know if I’m going to be equipped with the skills to teach my future children about technology and society because by the time they grow up, things will be completely different,” she said..