May 12 (Bloomberg) — Ryan Yang could have taken a job in a New Jersey DNA sequencing laboratory after graduating from college last year. Instead, the 23-year-old lives with his family in Queens, New York, still unemployed and searching.

With the expense of commuting or relocating, "I thought about it and it just didn't seem right," said Yang, a biology major who rejected the job 50 miles away in Piscataway to look for opportunities closer to home. "If I was previously living in New Jersey, I think I would have taken that job in a heartbeat."

Yang belongs to the age group, adults under 35, that's traditionally the most mobile part of an American work force constantly on the move since the 19th century. Now, that's changing as members of the millennial generation, the estimated 85 million born from 1981 through 2000, prove less restless than their forebears. The standstill may be holding back recovery in the labor and housing markets.