Middle-aged couples squeezed by elderly parents, adult kids

The Pew Research Center is inserting a new phrase into our lexicon – the “sandwich generation.” According to a new Pew report, the sandwich generation consists of middle-aged adults who have a parent over the age of 65 and are either raising a young child or financially supporting a grown child. About one-in-seven are providing financial support to both an aging parent and a child. While the share of "sandwiched" adults has increased only marginally in recent years, more say they are providing financial support to grown children.

“Adults who are part of the sandwich generation -- that is, those who have a living parent age 65 or older and are either raising a child under age 18 or supporting a grown child -- are pulled in many directions,” the report said. “Not only do many provide care and financial support to their parents and their children, but nearly four-in-ten (38%) say both their grown children and their parents rely on them for emotional support.”

Then the Pew researchers add this gloomy overall assessment:

“One likely explanation for the increase in the prevalence of parents providing financial assistance to grown children is that the Great Recession and sluggish recovery have taken a disproportionate toll on young adults. In 2010, the share of young adults who were employed was the lowest it had been since the government started collecting these data in 1948. Moreover, from 2007 to 2011 those young adults who were employed full time experienced a greater drop in average weekly earnings than any other age group.”