The 21st century is the age of high technology and rapid development. The world is changing, and transformations affect all areas of society. Someone seeks to keep up with innovations, someone, on the contrary, adheres to a conservative position. The problem of “fathers and children” has existed in the world for a long time, and the issue of mutual understanding between generations is regularly raised in various literature, both fiction and scientific.
In the modern world, the gap between the age categories is becoming more and more noticeable, since the conditions under which representatives of different generations grow and are brought up are changing dramatically. This undoubtedly has a significant impact on their values, where thinking, lifestyle, the attitude of people towards leisure and work is changing.
The Millennials, a group of people born between the 1980s and the mid-2000s, represent one-third of the nations’ total population, and they are the biggest age group (Dalessandro 2018). Since the oldest group of millennials is slightly over thirty years old, the rest of the majority of people are just beginning their careers and will become a critical fuel in the economy shortly. The significance of the millennials is not limited to their large number.
Millennials are the only age group that possessed direct Internet access during years that particularly affect the formation of personality. Millennials are also highlighted by the fact that they are the most educated and diverse generation today because about 42% of millennials belong to races other than white, which is twice as large as the baby boomer generation (Milkman 2017). About 61% of adult millennials attended college, while only 46% of baby boomers did the same (Blancero, Mouriño-Ruiz & Padilla 2018).
The most significant feature of the millennials is that a number of them grew up in the American economy’s challenging period. Thus, when the massive recession started in 2007, the oldest individuals of the given age group were around 27 years old. Due to the rise in unemployment in 2008, a lot of millennials struggled to get employed in the labor market (Dalessandro 2018). They were forced to quickly make correct decisions about their career paths and education, including which college to enroll in and whether to do it in times of deep economic instability.
The imprint on the first years of their adult life-imposed career, which they built at a time when the possibilities of the economy were minimal. Although today the economy is recovering, the recession continues to affect the lives of millennials and will continue to influence them for a long time.
It should be noted that today, there is no special theory devoted to the consideration of problems associated with the transition of young people from school to the labor market. Most social concepts do not allow for a relevant explanation of how institutional and personal communications are coordinated (Milkman 2017). As a result, there is a temptation to imagine the uncertainties of relations in the interaction of modern institutions, in particular, education and the labor market, as a result of the influence of market forces, and sometimes elemental forces. The given generation is also inclined to assume that everything will be resolved because ineffective forms of relations will not withstand the market test and will naturally go to a minimum.
In addition, scientific research is largely focused on the analysis of the rational actions of individuals, thereby leaving the shadow of the study of irrational behavior. For example, it is common to say that more zealous young people who studied well and were disciplined would find an outstanding job (Milkman 2017). Millennials also assume that those who were irresponsible and received poor grades would be rejected by the market down the social hierarchy. This type of logic is present in the rules of life and behind the various achievements of individuals, which are hiding their personal qualities.
However, this statement may contradict empirical results. As practice shows, there are many examples of the fact that such a logic of reasoning does not work in all societies, and even more so in market ones (Dalessandro 2018). In addition, the millennial is the generation that will shape the current economy over the next decades. For example, the formation of more affordable tuition fees, promoting digital literacy and innovation, the proclamation of equal and fair pay, and investing in more paid jobs are essential issues among the given generation (Blancero, Mouriño-Ruiz & Padilla 2018).
Their aims also include attracting more Americans to skills development programs to prepare them for sought-after jobs, support of affordable loans for those who are going to get housing, and increasing access to healthcare. This is the main reason why government leaders are inclined to continue working within the framework of the empowerment of the millennials and all Americans. In other words, the generation of millennials will be a significant part of the working population shortly.
The last decade was an example of unprecedented progress in computerization and technology. Starting from 1970, several technology companies were innovating and creating various software platforms and computer hardware, which were further developed and improved by millennials (Milkman 2017). Because most of the given period of advancement coincided with millennial childhood, technologies have left a big imprint on their creativity and innovativeness in their workplace.
Nonetheless, the cost of distributing and creating any digital content, including music and software, has decreased significantly. This series of occurrences allow this age group to become pioneers in consuming and creating various technologies. One scientific study showed that more than half of the millennials surveyed showed high interest in starting their own business (Dalessandro 2018). Although some millennials became well-established entrepreneurs in their early years, the given generation is only beginning to reach its peak of entrepreneurship, which usually comes around 40-50 years of age (Blancero, Mouriño-Ruiz & Padilla 2018).
In addition to increasing business opportunities, a breakthrough in computer technology, coupled with the proliferation of the Internet and mobile phones, has changed the way millennials interact and communicate.
Millennials do not solely communicate through social media because they also value their role in the community. For example, today’s students, much more often than other generations, state that social contributions are highly valuable and they are willing to be engaged in extracurricular activities for the benefit of the community (Milkman 2017). This community-oriented thinking also includes a strong bond with the family.
The Millennials are very close to their parents, and about half of the high school graduates say that it is important for them to live alongside their friends and parents. Their close relationships with their parents have spread to the workplace, where several companies have stated that there is a close relationship between parents and their millennial employees (Blancero, Mouriño-Ruiz & Padilla 2018). The close relations of the millennials with their mothers and fathers might be because they lived with their parents for an extended period in the process of growing up.
In terms of work ethics and goals, the millennials are highly resembling older generations, because they also aim to be financially free and seek prosperity in which the following age group will not need anything. They value creativity as a feature of work more than previous generations (Thompson 2016). This is not surprising for an age group whose technology is a key part of education. On the other hand, they rarely state that it is important to have an interesting or promising job, thus, many millennials reported that income is significant for their work (Farrell & Hurt 2018).
However, by breaking the data by gender, it is clear that this desire applies most to young women. The younger the category of women, the more often they refer to income as a key indicator of work, while for men, this indicator is stable (Milkman 2017). This is a result of the fact that millennial women strive in no way to yield to their male peers.
Quality of life, is the focus of this generation, because, for millennials, it is important to be close to parents and friends, have free time for entertainment, and work in the creative field. However, they also want to positively influence their children and the environment, as well as society as a whole. Many argue that representatives of different generations hardly understand each other because they grew up in radically different conditions (Dalessandro 2018).
It is believed that the younger generation, which is now entering the labor market, has other labor values, other job requirements, and different expectations. Increasing the number of college students is, in particular, a response to decades of wage growth among educated workers and rising income inequality between educated and uneducated people (Dalessandro 2018). Millennial commitment to higher education is a rational response to the labor market, which provides better wages to more educated workers. Moreover, during the recession, young people enrolled in more schools than usual and also stayed in school longer.
Millennials are more inclined to study applied and social sciences, such as public relations, criminal law, and librarianship, which do not fit into the traditional humanities but are more relevant to specific professions. Millennials are also less prone to areas such as business and health (Hoyle 2017). The number of millennials studying engineering and sciences is significantly less compared to previous generations. However, several millennial graduates are showing interest in acquiring degrees in unpopular fields, which might be highly relevant and critical in the future.
In conclusion, this is a significant difference from the previous age group, whose representatives did not name these values among the priorities. This means that the labor values of the generation of the games, which were formed in completely different economic and political conditions than the benefits of the millennials, are to some extent different from each other. The new generation has developed positive attitudes towards employment because they are ready to work. Millennials also improve their knowledge and apply their skills, and this predetermines high claims to decent wages and high-quality working conditions.
Reference List
Blancero, DM, Mouriño-Ruiz, E & Padilla, AM 2018, ‘Latino millennials-the new diverse workforce: challenges and opportunities’, Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, vol. 40, no. 1, pp. 3-21.
Dalessandro, C 2018, ‘Recruitment tools for reaching millennials: the digital difference’, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 2-7.
Farrell, L & Hurt, AC 2018, ‘Training the millennial generation: implications for organizational climate’, Journal of Organizational Learning & Leadership, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 1-6.
Hoyle, R 2017, ‘Learning strategies for a changing workforce’, Strategic HR Review, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 255-260.
Milkman, R 2017, ‘A new political generation: millennials and the post-2008 wave of protest’, American Sociological Review, vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 1-31.
Thompson, KS 2016, ‘Organizational learning support preferences of millennials’, New Horizons in Adult Education and Human Resource Development, vol. 28, no. 4, pp. 15-27.