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Msnbc.com, Tough Love: Help Your Grown Child Get A Job, Eve Tahmincioglu, June 4, 2007

1 year, 5 months ago

Is there a twenty something unemployed kid lying on your couch?

If so, you're not alone. Quite a few parents write me about their struggling adult children, many who are fresh out of college, who just can't get on the right career path, or any path at all. Many found the professions they had hoped to break into weren't easy to break into. Others haven't quite figured out what it is they want to do, biding their time in the rooms they grew up in waiting for the career fairy to show them a sign.

Nicholas Aretakis, author of "No More Ramen: the 20-something's real world survival guide," notes that 14 percent of all U.S. families had at least one adult child in their household in 2005, a big increase from 3 percent in 1970. And last year the jobless rate among 20- to 24-year-olds was 8.2 percent, more than double what the rate was among the 25-plus crowd, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"Hands on" parents who are more likely to say they are "good friends" with their sons and daughters, Aretakis says, are willing to help with the job search and give their older children room and board in hopes of providing them with all of life's advantages.