I'm Home! Adult Children Moving Back In

By Les Christie

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- With job openings scarce, getting adult children to leave the nest is becoming a lot more difficult.

The number of adult children who live with their parents, especially young males, has soared since the economy started heading south. Among males age 25 to 34, 19% live with their parents today, a 5 percentage point increase from 2005, according to Census data released Thursday. Meanwhile, 10% of women in that age group live at home, up from 8% six years ago.

Among the college-aged set, the 18- to 24-year-olds, 59% of males and 50% of females lived with their parents, up from 53% and 46%, respectively.

The fact that so many young people are unable or unwilling to flee the nest "cuts into the formation of new households quite a lot," said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody's Analytics.