Are they really still entering the workforce at this point? The bulk of “Millenials,” as the term is generally understood, are already well into adulthood, and the oldest are already in their mid-thirties. The very youngest are now in their early 20s.
I think the “next wave” entering the workforce now are not Millenials, but rather the following generation, whatever you want to call them. Some call them “Generation Z,” while the guys who came up with the term “Millenial” call them “Homelanders.”
I don’t really buy into this Strauss-Howe generational stuff, but I do think studying age cohorts can provide interesting insights on where we’ve come from and where we are going.
For example: According to Pew, even though unemployment is the same, significantly fewer Millenials are participating in the labor force at all—the number of nonparticipating Millenials is 15%, vs. only 10% of Xers at the same age and only 8% of Boomers. One fact that went unremarked in the same survey: even FEMALE Millenials have a lower participation rate than the prior generation. That’s the first time that has happened in modern American history.
Interestingly, despite this, their inflation-adjusted median household income is still higher than prior generations enjoyed at the same age, though the increase is much smaller than the increase Gen X had over the Boomers. I think a good amount of the lower labor participation rate is explained by more Millenials spending longer as full-time students. Significantly more of them have 4-year degrees and advanced degrees than their predecessors. They are also far less likely to be married.
So Millenials are less likely to be working, have on average spent much longer in college, and are far less likely to be married or have kids. That’s quite a recipe for political radicalization. The Democrats have assumed that this means they will all radicalize to the left, but may be starting to realize that assumption is wrong. Unfortunately, radicalizing to the right does not mean they are going to become conservatives: most people don’t really become conservatives until they have a stake in in our society, which means jobs and kids.
Interesting, post Millenials are demographically different and more like their grandparents.
Overall it is a vexing issue as companies need to evolve in so many ways, and the latest issue and much talked about problem is Customer Experience and User Experience on which I am focused at the moment.
Interesting insights and much appreciated, would appreciate talking with you about this as your viewpoints are welcome.
Thanks