Millennials Changing the Face of the Workforce
Millennials are the largest generation in U.S. history. As a generation, they have surpassed Baby Boomers as the nation's largest living generation, according to population estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The meaning of “work” for this generation is changing. With life expectancies growing, the economy changing, and artificial intelligence taking plenty of people’s jobs, Millennials will have careers that look very different compared to those of the past.
The first group born, 18-35 year olds, are into the digital age, and technology is naturally a part of their everyday lives. Not only that, lower employment levels and smaller incomes have created an environment where younger Millennials will have to innovate in order to survive. Depending on their age, Millennials have witnessed up to three major crashes in the stock market — 1987, 2001, 2008.
Student loans and other debt are also taking up a growing chunk of postgraduate Millennials' income, so with less to spend, they're putting off commitments like marriage and home ownerships. There is also a move toward alternative schooling, like online degrees through online courses and internships.
Because of this, Millennials are poised to transform nearly every facet of the U.S. and global economy. And the older generation needs to catch up. In any company you might see a board meeting with younger employees on their phones the whole time. An older employee might complain saying, “These kids are on their phones Facebooking and chatting with their friends during a meeting. It’s unacceptable!” When the truth is they were probably just taking notes on their phones.
In the era of the “shared economy,” Millennials will most likely fine-tune their spending to become the most capital-efficient generation of all time. And their income model may well change as well, with a rising popularity of profit sharing in the workplace.
As Millennials age, their wealth will grow, and they will naturally become investors as well. And beyond the sheer amount of wealth they will be controlling, they will be markedly different in their investing activities than the generations before them.
For one thing, they appear to know something the rest of us don’t. While Baby Boomers and Gen X’ers were selling during the two most recent stock market dives — Brexit and the oil price crash in February — Millennials were buying at a ratio of more than two-to-one.
Think about it. To them, crowdfunding and lending online aren’t new alternative fads or models, they’re the norm. To them, analogue models are old-fashioned and outdated.
For the world of investing, the stage is set for a coming together of technology and the habits of America’s largest generation to reshape investing norms.
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