Gen Y Wants Job Security, Too

The conventional wisdom holds that the federal workforce is about to change dramatically, because the attitude of Generation Y workers is so different than that of their parents. I've long been skeptical of that notion, and now I'm more skeptical than ever. The Washington Post's Steve Barr reports today on new Merit Systems Protection Board data showing that younger folks working at federal agencies came into government for the same reason their elders did: job security. Benefits and advancement opportunities were big factors, too. It's true that lots of younger folks these days expect to hop from job to job and even career to career before settling down. But not all of them do. And it looks like those that don't are disproportionately interested in federal careers.