They're the most educated generation in history, and now they're the least employed. Their unemployment rate is nearly twice that of other generations. And they have an average student debt of $26,000 to boot.
Miodrag Gajic | E+ | Getty Images
The job market around them, too, continues to plod in its recovery. The US added 113,000 jobs in January, well below the 185,000 expected, according to figures released Friday morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The unemployment rate dropped to 6.6 percent—its lowest level since 2008— but economists still consider those results tepid.
Yet millennials, on balance, don't appear overly discouraged. Instead, they're becoming inventive.
(Read more: What the millennial generation wants from work)
Take Jim Wangercyn, for instance. With his brother, he created the Loopy Case, which allows people to hold their smart phone securely while having it in hand, say when running or attending a concert. The product won a $5,000 award at a business school innovation competition and, with sales beginning to take off, offers the brothers a way to work for themselves.
