Only half of millennial full-time and part-time workers in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and two-spirit community view their financial situation positively, nine percentage points lower than their older counterparts, according to a survey released Tuesday by TD Bank and TD Securities.
Like millennials — and older folks — in the general population, many of these workers have been forced to put off major life goals because of student loan debt: for 63% of survey participants accumulating emergency savings, for 51% saving for retirement and for 46% buying a house.
Seventy-one percent of the millennial workers surveyed who had a bachelor's degree reported outstanding loans, the median debt being $40,000 per person. About one in five owed $100,000 or more.
Sixty percent of respondents reported that they had less than three months of emergency savings.
Community Marketing & Insights conducted an online survey in April and May among 1,251 LGBTQ community members in the U.S. and District of Columbia, randomly selected from CMI's 90,000-plus LGBTQ research panel.
TD noted in a statement that the Equality Act recently passed by the House of Representatives would ensure equal treatment in the workplace. At present, however, discrimination remains a daily reality for many workers in the U.S.
Twenty-two percent of millennial survey participants said that being out about their sexual orientation to more senior staff would hurt their career advancement.
Less than one-third reported seeing senior management members in the workplace who were out as LGBTQ2 community members even though older generations were as likely as millennials to be out.