Retailers were given the good news by a Bank of America analyst who predicted that a millennial baby boom could be on the way, leading to a boost in sales for stores.
Millennials, those aged 25 to 40, now make up the biggest generation in the United States, having overtaken Baby Boomers.
According to Pew Research, approximately 72.1 million people are categorised as millennials, also known as Gen Y.
Robert Ohmes, the BofA analyst, reported that birth rates are on the up, more pregnancy tests are being sold, and more couples say they’re trying to have a baby.
According to data from Nielsen and research by Bank of America, sales of pregnancy tests have grown by an average of 13 per cent year on year since June 2020.
Between 2016 and 2019, the sales of pregnancy tests increased by an average of two per cent.
The data suggests that the surge in sales could change the pandemic era drop in births.
Live births rose 3.3 per cent in June 2021, the highest level of growth seen since 2013.
Ohmes said that it would likely trigger an increase in sales for big-box retailers such as Target, Walmart and Costco as new parents shop for diapers, cribs and strollers.
Ohmes and his team spoke to 1,000 people in October, and 11.3 per cent of respondents said they or their partner were expecting or trying to have a baby over the next 12 month period.
He predicted that Albertsons, Kroger, Dollar General and BK’s Wholesale Club would profit from the new baby boom.
The prediction of a surge in spending came as household debt hit a record high.
In a report, the Federal Reserve said that the total household deficit rose by $286 billion to $15.24 trillion in the third quarter of 2021, after levelling off for much of the pandemic.
Mortgage balances, which are the largest component of household debt, increased by $230 billion and stood at $10.67 trillion at the end of September, reflecting fast-rising home prices.
Total non-housing balances grew by $61 billion, including a $28 billion hike in auto loan balances as supply chain problems drove enormous increases in the prices of both new and used vehicles.
Although credit card balances increased by $17 billion, they remained $123 billion lower than they’d been at the end of 2019.
Student loan balances grew by $14 billion, coinciding with the academic borrowing year, and during the pandemic, countless households paid down debt and raised their savings, thanks to government stimulus checks and cuts in discretionary spending.
Some would say that it’s mad bringing a child into the world because since the pandemic started this has been the biggest and most catastrophic event since World War II and there’s about to be a breakdown of the global financial system.
But loads of people have perished since COVID 19 began and therefore it’s now the survival of the fittest, and in this natural selection people are going to leave the most copies of themselves in successive generations.
Some might not want to bring children into this world because the chances of them leading a healthy and happy life is probably pretty slim, and I do worry for the future of our children because there are so many things going on in the world that we just don’t have any control over.
However, if people were to stop having children, the generation of today would grow old with no family to care for or spend time with and they will rot away in their beloved government institutions.
I can also see there being a lot of abortions because numerous people won’t want to produce right now. After all, there are a lot of people under the age of thirty-five hardly earning enough money to feed one mouth, let alone two.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 