Half the Creatives You Know Are Getting Rent Money From Their Parents
Everyone has that one friend.
They live in the city and they have a pretty dope apartment, but you have no idea what they actually do.
Sure, they might have an internship or a random gig or two, but you know there’s no way they can afford their rent on that paycheck — not to mention those Gucci loafers they just bought. You may wonder if they have a sugar daddy or some secret arrangement, but you’re probably wrong.
Because they don’t have a sugar daddy, but there’s a good chance have a regular daddy.
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In fact, 53% of young people who aspire to have a career in art and design get rent money from their parents, according to a survey covered by The New York Times.
Must be nice for them, right?
And while you may be envious, you probably try to tell yourself that it’s not their fault that they were born into a rich family that loves to spoil them and you should just get over it. But the thing is, your friend Rebecca who works an underpaid fashion industry job without it bothering her might be hurting you more than you think.
This all goes back to unpaid internships. If you’ve worked one, you know that they’re complete BS, but guess what? Employers know that too. They also know that if you’ve worked an unpaid internship, you’re probably willing to work a job with horrible pay.
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Research found that people with unpaid internships tend to end up with lower-paying jobs than people with no internship experience at all ($35,721 vs. $37,087). On the other hand, students with paid internships had way higher initial salaries ($51,930). Granted, this might be because industries where people “need” internships are traditionally lower-paying creative industries, but it might be something else.
The fact is, if a business knows they can find someone to do what needs to be done on as little money as possible, they will. After all, that’s how profit is made. And those people who are getting rent money from their parents can accept underpaid jobs without worrying, because they have another source of income and don’t have to worry about making rent.
Someone who doesn’t get a “big kid’s allowance” is left perusing entry level job openings with horrible salaries at “cool” companies because these companies know there is someone named Geoff with mommy’s credit card that can accept the job with no worries.
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The person without parental funding is left with a full-time job that doesn’t cover their bills, which leads to them getting a second part-time job and overworking themselves like so many US workers do.
Sure, this may not be every situation, but talk to any 20-something working in the creative industry, and they’ll likely nod their head in agreement.
And it’s not just the creative industry. 47% of people in the STEM industry received money from their parents, along with 45% of people in education and social work and 39% of people in professional services. Not all of this money goes to rent, and the report says it may simply be gifted money or revenue for “starting a business.” Either way, it’s something not everyone is getting.
And don’t even get us started on how getting your rent paid by mommy and daddy drives up housing prices for the rest of us.
In a perfect world, we’d all agree to stop accepting underpaid jobs and force businesses pay their workers what they deserve. But until then, you now have adequate reasoning to hate your friends who get money from their parents even more than you already did!
