NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Generation Y employees may have been hardest hit by the daily financial pressures exerted by the economic downturn of recent months. More than half (53%) of Gen Y employees (ages 21-32) say they are now living paycheck to paycheck - up from 50% in 2007—versus 44% of their older associates. And nearly three in four (73%) are very concerned about having enough money to make ends meet, compared to 56% of Generation X employees and 62% of Baby Boomers, according to MetLife's 7th annual Employee Benefits Trends Study.

Compounding this financial uncertainty is the fact that many of these youngest employees are less likely to own core protection products such as disability income insurance and life insurance. Less than half (46%) of full-time Gen Y employees have disability income insurance, compared to 59% of their older colleagues; and about one-third of Gen Y employees (compared to one-fifth of employees in the older generations) say they have no life insurance. Since the MetLife study found that almost half (49%) of surveyed Gen Y employees are married and 46% have children, these gaps in personal financial safety nets could undermine their - and their families'—financial well-being.

(Read the entire release.)