Key Trends, Events, and Statistics

Let’s consider the socioeconomic statistics and events that define the millennial generation.

Again, if you work for a global organization or are based in a different country, I encourage you to find the statistics that define the generations in your country of interest. In general, while the absolute values may differ, many of the trends for millennials may sound familiar because of the wide-reaching influence of digital technology. The statistics related to economic and societal trends, however, may differ significantly.

Here are how the generations are defined in the United States:

Table 1.1 Defining generations in the US

*Estimated population of generation Z as of December 2015.
Source: Pew Research 2015 and 2016 data sets.

A generation’s size often determines how it influences societal changes. Some of the factors that impact size of generation include birth rate, death rate, immigration rate, and the presence of conflicts such as war or environmental disasters. For example, the decreased birth rate demonstrates one reason why generation X is a smaller population. In addition to the increased birth rate, the high immigration rate for millennials has increased their overall population to 75.4 million, overtaking the 74.9 million boomers in 2016.

In addition to the size of each generation, other societal trends have made an impact. The battles fought for ethnic and gender equality significantly progressed during the boomer generation and the results are overwhelmingly evident in the millennial generation. For example, during the boomer generation, women made significant strides into higher education and the workforce. Today, millennials are the most educated generation in terms of number of degrees earned. In addition, females are outpacing males in this arena, with 27 percent of female millennials earning at least a bachelor’s degree compared to 21 percent of male millennials! That is nearly double the number of female boomers who held bachelor’s degrees (14 percent). In addition, the millennial Caucasian population in the US has fallen below 60 percent, compared to 77 percent during the boomer generation. Companies today with primarily Caucasian, male leadership should take notice of these changes.

Millennials are also the most diverse generation in history, not just by ethnicity but by income, parent marital status, and individual marital status. Millennials experienced a wide range of parenting styles, including the continuation of single-parent homes. Though there is much debate and diversity when calculating the rate of divorce, it’s agreed that it sharply increased during gen X’s formative years and has fallen since then, but it remains much higher than for the boomer generation. In addition, there has been a rise in homes with remarried parents and no parents. Only 46 percent of children in 2013 lived in two-parent first-marriage homes, compared to 61 percent in 1980 and 73 percent in 1960. Millennials are also delaying marriage significantly. Compared to 64 percent of the Silent generation and 49 percent of boomers, only 28 percent of millennials aged 18 to 32 are married.

Lastly, inflation and recession have hit millennials hard. Underemployment and unemployment are still highest for the millennial generation compared to other generations, more than eight years after the recession. In addition, college costs have risen exponentially, from $929 per year in 1963 to $17,474 per year in 2013 for four-year public colleges (stated in 2015 dollars). For private institutions, the jump is even more drastic, from $1,810 in 1963 to $35,074 in 2013. This is in sharp contrast to the relatively favorable economic prospects for boomers upon graduation, when a college degree essentially guaranteed a job and didn’t require an enormous debt.

Table 1.2 Summary of generational socioeconomic trends.

Sources: Pew Research Center, National Center for Education Statistics.

What do these societal trends indicate regarding the workplace? There are several initial conclusions we can draw from the above statistics:

› Short-term trend (next 5 to 10 years)—accelerated leadership development of millennials. Reviewing the population statistics, in the US, there are not enough gen Xers to fill the leadership gaps left behind by boomers. As boomers retire, gen Xers will be taking on an increased workload if millennials haven’t been adequately prepared to step in. Organizations that currently lack mentoring and have unstructured training programs will find they have a hard time accelerating development compared to those that do. Gen Z will likely have a similar population size as millennials, so this particular demographic shift is specific for today’s generation transition. For first world countries, this trend is generally the case. For some third world countries, often up to 50 percent of the population is composed of those under the age of 25 and therefore, there are differing challenges.

› Mid-term trend (next 30 years)—job-hopping due to lack of trust in organizations. Instead of preparing for a midlife crisis, millennials often intend to have a quarter-life crisis. For many, this is a direct result of witnessing higher divorce rates and parents who have experienced layoffs, benefit reductions, and regrets about putting their eggs in one, usually unfulfilling, basket during the Great Recession. Millennials are spending more time in their early career years exploring self and their passions. Delaying marriage also allows for pursuing careers for exploration instead of “for the paycheck.” Organizations that help them discover and leverage their strengths and passions, while having a clear commitment to valuing employees, have a distinct advantage with talent that has witnessed the recession. Gen Z has been affected similarly. If the global economy continues to recover and trust is rebuilt, this trend could be partially reversed.

› Long-term trend (beyond 30 years)—engaging a highly diverse population. It is very difficult to characterize millennials in the workplace because of their much greater diversity than previous generations, including their gender, ethnicity, income background, and parenting style. With more than half of the college graduates being female and only 60 percent being Caucasian, we can expect a wider variety of expectations. Because of this diversity, the common attributes of “everyone gets a trophy” or being reared by “helicopter parents” don’t necessarily ring true across the full generation. Eric Hoover was pointed in his criticism of the generational labels: “Over the last decade, commentators have tended to slap the millennial label on white, affluent teenagers who accomplish great things as they grow up in the suburbs, who confront anxiety when applying to super-selective colleges, and who multi-task with ease as their helicopter parents hover reassuringly above them. The label tends not to appear in renderings of teenagers who happen to be minorities or poor, or who never won a spelling bee.” Similarly, gen Z and generations to come will have greater diversity, especially with increasing globalization. Modern talent is diverse and expects diversity to be present and respected in the workplace.