Millenial Madness

The Pew Research Center has released a major study into the attitudes and situations of the so-called Millenials, the generation of which I'm a part, so today the internet and Twitter are a-buzz with discussions of generational differences, especially as they relate to the workplace. Pew's got a cute little quiz up that will tell you how Millenial you are (I scored only a 59 out of 100, putting me squarely in between the extremes of my own generation and Generation X).

But I think the most useful things are the discussions of employment rates and workplace styles. Just 41 percent of Millenials have full-time employment. That's quite low, even considering some of the 59 percent are still in college, and gets at some of the points I was making earlier in the week about how the recession is going to force young workers to adapt and compete very hard if they want to find and keep what few jobs are out there. And our employment rates have actually fallen 9 percent since 2006, while the number of baby boomers and Gen-Xers who have jobs is up slightly. Just 15 percent say that having a high-paying career is one of the most important things in their lives, while 52 percent say being a good parent is what matters.

Older workers may claim that Millenials are flaky. But they'd do well to remember that young workers today are seeing vast swaths of opportunity close off to them. It might be a good time for compassion, rather than unproductive competition or condemnation. If older workers are willing to teach younger ones how to get by and build good job skills, I'd wager a lot of us are going to be unusually ready to listen.