The researchers are missing the point. People are not stupid. They tend to do what maximizes value.
Baby Boomers saw maximum value in 9-to-5 jobs, with both men and women working. They began adapting to the idea that unlike their parents, they would probably not have lifetime jobs from a given employer, so had to make alternative arrangements for retirement. And by the end of their “wave”, taxes had been so increased that women’s work just paid the taxes, and did not make any additional money for the family.
Generation X’ers went for a different value set. Just grinding out time on the clock went against their desire for greater efficiency. When they wanted to work, they wanted to work hard and get the job done. But when the job was over, they wanted to go to the next job, not just push memos and drink coffee. They had lost any expectation of being supported by their employer, or government, for that matter, in retirement. It was a race against the clock to make their own prosperity.
Generation Y has reached the profound conclusion that the game is rigged against them. They saw how the X’ers worked hard and ended up losing their shirt to a disreputable government and their employers. They are also more than aware that they have to enter the work force with a college degree, but this effectively means that there is no way they *can* become prosperous, because they would spend half their career just paying off their debt.
So what are their alternatives? If they play by the rules, they will never be able to afford a spouse and children, much less own their own nonsensically inflated home. They have no retirement at all, and know that the government won’t help them a bit, since it is more broke than they are.
Boy howdy, are these some motivators for hard work. So why not start work with the idea of having your retirement up front? Since no matter what you do, you will be *cheated* out of your real retirement, and have to work until the last day of your life, why pretend otherwise?
Between an utterly reprehensible and spendthrift government, doing everything in its power to bankrupt and steal from the future, and employers with utter disregard for their employees, other than as “headcount”, why bother?
It is obvious that we are all headed into another, possibly even Greater Depression. Our currency and savings will be used like a stick to beat us, and what isn’t outright stolen or taxed away will be worthless.
So I don’t blame Gen Y one bit. If they want to join with Gen X to throw the elderly baby boomers off high cliffs, rhetorically speaking, I will not be surprised.
My thought too, party now because with all the crap in DC going on, they've got no future.
Thank you. I am a Gen X’er with my own business after leaving corporate america for good. I have watched my older siblings get screwed by cash balances and taking away of promised benefits at IBM. If I stayed at FDX I would have been in the same boat for sure.
Generation Y kids really do understand there is zero loyality in corporate america and even with our Government, hence the lack of care in mass by that generation. They have watched mom and dad get whacked left and right by corporation and the government while the top executives take huge money based on titles and not results. Then you have a Government with two parties that care nothing about the average family.... no wonder they don’t care. I am ready to cash out and leave America for good. I owe it to my kids. They can choose later in life if America is worth investing in or not. I am done.