Obviously, this is all about jobs. It’s unfortunate that so many young people have no choice but to live at home.

Maureen Downey of the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.

Homeward bound: More young adults and college students now living with mom and dad

I read this report with particular interest as the parent of two twentysomethings.

The report documents the rise in young adults returning home to mom and dad. Many of my friends are seeing their college graduates back under their roofs.

They are not alone. Among young adults in the 18 to 24 age group, more than half now live at home, 56 percent.

From the Pew Research Center:

In 2012, 36% of the nation’s young adults ages 18 to 31 – the so-called Millennial generation – were living in their parents’ home, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.

This is the highest share in at least four decades and represents a slow but steady increase over the 32% of their same-aged counterparts who were living at home prior to the Great Recession in 2007 and the 34% doing so when it officially ended in 2009.

A record total of 21.6 million Millennials lived in their parents’ home in 2012, up from 18.5 million of their same-aged counterparts in 2007. Of these, at least a third and perhaps as many as half are college students. In the data used for this analysis, college students who live in dormitories during the academic year are counted as living with their parents.

Younger Millennials (ages 18 to 24) are much more likely than older ones (ages 25 to 31) to be living with their parents – 56% versus 16%. Both age groups have experienced a rise in this living arrangement since the onset of the 2007-2009 recession.

Men of the Millennial generation are more likely than women to be living with their parents – 40% versus 32%. This continues a long-term gender gap in the share of young adults who do so.