A pair of surveys has found that the pandemic's economic chaos has induced a sense of anxiety and concern among young people that has left them more uncertain of the future than most.

CNBC reported on the findings of WalletHub’s recent 2020 College Student Financial survey: Two-thirds of college students said the pandemic has changed how they feel about their financial futures, and 70 percent think it will be harder for them to get a job after they graduate, likely an accurate observation, given the millions upon millions of jobs that have already been lost. Compounding these concerns will be the large amount of debt they wind up graduating with, a problem that continues to weigh on even millennial graduates, to the point where the Federal Reserve recently suggested it's acting as a drag on the economy.

Young people out of college aren't feeling much better, according to a poll by TD Ameritrade, which CNBC also reported on. The poll found that one in three Americans aged 15-29 have been laid off already, and of those who are still employed, 63 percent are worried they will lose their jobs in the near future, compared to 52 percent of people overall. Meanwhile, young people are increasingly having trouble holding on to what money they do have, as 62 percent of Gen-Z and 59 percent of millennials say they are living as if they are broke, rather than above their means.

The survey fits nearly with the findings of a 2018 study looking at the aftermath of the last financial crisis. The report said that, generally, the most rapid wealth accumulation happens earlier in life, with later wealth building upon it. Given that, for this cohort, their prime earnings years happened in the middle of a financial crisis, this means they have less to build upon than those who accumulated their assets beforehand. The report also pointed out that, relative to other generations, those born in the '80s tend to carry more debt, which can increase instability and eat away any gains they do make. Further, this debt tends to stem less from big purchases like houses (in fact, far fewer people born in the '80s are homeowners at all) and more from student loans, auto loans and credit cards.