by Norman Halls, contributor
Millennials have been widely studied, with numerous surveys highlighting ways in which they differ from older generations. For example, a survey by Pew Research Center revealed that Millennials are much more likely than Boomers and Gen-Xers to describe themselves as political independents. Another survey by Deloitte found that Millennials wanted businesses to focus more on “people and purpose.” No wonder, then, that many studies on Millennials, especially those on workforce patterns, are driven by concerns that Millennials may be following radically different career trajectories than prior generations; reported Dr. Patricia Buckley. Comprised of an estimated 80 Million people in the U.S., Millennials are first to replace baby boomers as they retire from the workforce.
“…In 2011, the youngest of the Millennial generation turn 16 years old. The oldest, they’re now 31. The average age of the world population is 28. By 2015, almost half (47%) the world population will be under the age of 25. While many still view Millennials as punky kids playing on their tablets between high school classes, the reality is that two-thirds of Millennials are now over the age of 21, and many have established careers, families and an incredible amount of influence…” said: Stephen Abram, Lighthouse Consulting.
The Millennials are also more greatly educated than individuals in earlier generations. What we know about Millennials and Politics; they are political independents – voted for President Obama by double digits in 2008 & 2012, 50% are self-described as independent; Millennials are the most racially and ethnically diverse generation – 40% of Millennials are non-white or Hispanic: Millennials are the most moderate of any generation – plurality of Millennials, 39% are moderates, with another 31% describing their political views as liberal, and 26% as conservative. Reported Michelle Diggles Republic 3.0.
This November will be a watershed moment for the American electorate: It will be the first presidential election in which Generation Y—a.k.a.: Millennials—makes up the same proportion of the U.S. voting-age population as the Baby Boomers. In the biggest picture, young people don’t just feel that they have been uniquely disadvantaged by the economy, but also that they are revolutionaries for urgent social rights, particularly for black Americans and gay couples. They sense that they are both America’s impoverished generation and its moral guardians—absent on the payroll, but present at the revolution.
Since 2010, Millennials’ views of the national news media also have grown more negative. In 2010, four-in-ten Millennials said the national news media was having a positive impact on the way things were going in the country, a far more positive view than among older generations (just 27% of Silents and Baby Boomers and 29% of Generation Xers said this). But now, Millennials’ evaluations of the news media have grown more critical and are currently on par with older generations: Just 27% now say it has a positive impact, compared with 26% of Xers and Silents and 23% of Boomers. Younger generations tend to have more-positive views than their elders about small and large businesses as well as financial institutions and labor unions. Views of each of these institutions have grown more favorable over the past five years. Hannah Fingerhut of Pew Reseach.
With a spending power hitting trillions of dollars, Millennials are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in the market. But experts and analysts are raising concerns whether all this power is being used wisely and companies are harnessing that buying power. Sarbjit Nahal, head of Thematic Investing at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told CNBC just how important the spending power of millennials will become in the near future.
“We very much think of this as an American phenomenon but from a demographic perspective, there’s 2 billion millennials around the world and 86 percent of them are living in emerging markets, and in Brazil, India and China they’ve overtaken the number of boomers (born in the post-war years),” Nahal said Monday. Despite the risks of borrowing, many millennials are keen to start up their own ventures. According to Ethan Senturia, chief executive of DealStruck, which offers small business loans up to $250,000, young people make confident entrepreneurs. Reported by Holly Ellyatt Europe News.
Generations, like people, have personalities, and Millennials — the American teens and twenty-something’s who are making the passage into adulthood at the start of a new millennium — have begun to forge theirs: confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change. They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults. They’re less religious, less likely to have served in the military, and are on track to become the most educated generation in American history. Millennials have grown up with the internet and smartphones in an always-on digital world. Millennials follow news and information in remarkably different ways than prior generations. They are able to appraise it faster by watching many news resources and have a perceptive as to their ethics.
