Millennials already had it tough as the first generation to enter the professional world during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. And while they’re bringing fresh values to the workplace, many still have more trouble achieving financial independence than those in prior generations.

Americans born between 1982 and 2002 are the most educated generation but face high levels of underemployment. They’re also narrowing the gender wage gap but are most likely to have to move back home at some point in their lives, according to a study released Wednesday from personal branding firm Millennial Branding and PayScale, a compensation information company.

The findings underscore the severity of the Great Recession, which encouraged many young people to stay in school as the value of higher education grew compared with the anemic wages generated by a high school diploma alone.

“They’re having a tough time getting into the professional world. Even a lot of the ones with a doctorate degree are underemployed," says Dan Schawbel, founder of Millennial Branding. "They keep moving up the ladder in the educational world but not up the ladder in the professional world.”

According to the study, which included responses from more than 1 million workers over the course of two years, 78 percent of millennials reported having at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 69 percent of Generation Xers – those born between 1965 and 1981 – and 63 percent of baby boomers, or those born between 1946 and 1964.

But even though they're the most educated, millennials are the most likely to have moved back home with family. One-quarter of millennials with a bachelor’s degree said they moved home at some point in their lives for financial reasons, compared with 11 percent of Gen Xers and 5 percent of baby boomers. For millennials, the likelihood of returning home decreases with more education, though millennials with a J.D. are more likely than those with a non-business administration master’s degree, MBA, Ph.D. or M.D. to have moved home.

Compared with prior generations, the most highly educated millennials face higher levels of underemployment, which means they’re working in jobs that don’t require their full skill set or education level. For example, 30 percent of millennials with an M.D. are underemployed, compared with 22 percent of Gen Xers and 21 percent of baby boomers.

Perhaps tied to underemployment is the fact that more education for millennials doesn’t guarantee as high of a pay return as it does for other generations, the report found. Compared with median pay for a bachelor’s degree, it’s a bigger payoff for millennials to get a non-MBA master’s degree or a Ph.D. than it is for Gen Xers and baby boomers. All other postgraduate degrees don’t earn millennials as much pay as they do for older generations.

Millennials also don’t see the need to stay in a job for long. More than a quarter said it isn’t necessary stay in a job for a full year before looking for something new, compared with 17 percent of Gen Xers and 14 percent of baby boomers who said so. Millennials and Gen Xers said two to three years is the preferred length of time to stay in a job; baby boomers said it should be more than five years.

This could be a symptom of both improving economic conditions and a workplace cultural change, says Lydia Frank, PayScale’s editorial director. The Labor Department reported last week that the rate of Americans quitting their jobs finally edged up in October after months of remaining unchanged – a sign workers are gaining confidence in the job market.

“If they're graduating and they have a master's or bachelor's degree and they're ending up in a job that is not a good fit for those skills … it would make sense that they don't think they need to hang out there for more than a year if they find something that is a better fit,” Frank says. “I do think that some of it has to do with the current state of the economy.”

One other glimmer of hope for the selfie generation: They’re starting to narrow the gender wage gap. When corrected for job choice, experience and hours worked, the gender wage gap is smaller for millennials at all job levels than for prior generations. But the gap still widens for millennials as it does for Gen Xers and baby boomers with jobs that carry more responsibility.