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I don't think this phenomenon is limited to Europe. I'm 31, I have an advanced degree in a highly technical field, and it's unlikely that I'm going to earn enough money to afford to buy a home (w/o ridiculous leverage) in the places where I can find work in my field.

When my parents were my age, they had two children, a house and two cars on a single electrical engineer's income. There's no way that's possible today.

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I was watching a video by Elizabeth Warren of Harvard Law School on the topic the other day. The gist of it is (I think) basically that housing and healthcare are taking up most of the money of the middle class. In the 1970-ties a single earner could bring in enough money to support the whole family. Now in the middle class both parents have to work, which doubles the financial risk for the family if one of them (for example) looses a job. If you are interested: the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A

It is the cost of housing that is the real problem.

Largely agreed. Cost of energy is bad too, though, and that's driving increases for nearly everything else.

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