My independence is currently in storage.

Somewhere between the boxes of books, kitchen equipment, and assorted crap I have accumulated over four years of university, it made the journey back home.

Which (apparently) puts me in good company.

This week, the BBC reported that more than 40% of 25-year-olds are living with their parents.

According to analysis of housing, employment, and wealth data, people in their twenties are facing a tougher start to adulthood than any generation in almost half a century.

I have graduated. I've got the degree. I've completed an internship. These were all things that seemed impossibly grown-up when I first arrived at university. Yet somehow, after ticking off all the boxes, I have even less of a clue what I'm supposed to do next.

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So off I trot back home. 

It turns out moving back home is no longer a fallback plan. For a growing number of graduates, it's simply the next step.

Graduation is supposed to feel like a finish line. You work hard for years, get awkward family photos and you're told everything will kind of work itself out. 

Nobody really tells you what happens when it doesn't.

After four years of lectures, deadlines and surviving on meal deals and Red Bull, I thought I had finally done everything I was supposed to do. Then I entered the graduate job market.

Within minutes of a vacancy going live, hundreds of people apply.........

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