No, I am not going to talk about Skittles’ Twitter debacle as it is still underway (stay tuned). Instead I want to revisit a topic I first addressed January 27, how the financial crisis is affecting Millennials. I speculated that this may be the defining event of their generation, and made five predictions:
1. Many will return to school.
2. Many will seek alternative jobs in the not-for profit sector.
3. Many will try to supplement their income with side jobs.
4. Many will redirect their careers.
5. Many will move back home.
6. Some will sign up for military service.
While I stand by these predictions, they don’t address the more subtle impact the crisis is having on Millennials’ values and outlook. An article in the LA Times yesterday, “The Millennial Generation Test” speculates a prolonged recession may start to contradict Gen Y’s basic assumptions about how the world works. Perhaps not everyone does get a trophy? — or even a fulfilling job. Will the Millennials become even more resilient? Or embittered? There are voices on both sides of the argument.
UC Irvine researcher Ellen Greenberger is the lead author of a recent study that found that a third of college students thought they deserved a B just for attending lectures, and that 40% said they deserved a B just for completing the required reading. She worries that this generation will be deeply embittered. “The insults of this recession might be seen as a personal affront to their high expectations,” she said.
Morley Winograd, coauthor of “Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics,” has no such concerns. “This is not an embittered and cynical generation,” he said. “Although they did tend to be protected as children, they were also taught to compete and to perform. This will only make them more determined.
I don’t presume to know the answer, but there is mounting evidence the financial crisis has Millennials’ full attention. It is affecting their lives and narrowing their choices. Parents who have devoted their lives to protecting their kids from the hard knocks of life are now confronted with hard choices on everything from allowances and family vacations to college educations. Students see their programs squeezed by fewer resources. New graduates face the reality that many more qualified unemployed workers would be happy to claim entry level jobs once reserved for them.
This week YPulse posted the question, “How Has The Recession Affected You?” to its youth advisory board. The video above is a great window into the pain of the financial crisis as it is experienced by twenty-somethings. They also shared this from Nina, a high school freshman in Washington state:
“I go to a public school in a wealthy community where money has never been a problem until now. For the 2009-2010 school year, they may have to drop up to 17 teachers throughout the district. And even though many of my friends are not going right out and saying it, I know that it has been affecting them, too. Over the past couple of months my lunch table has converted from hot lunches to bag lunches. Also, as a group, we have opted for low-cost activities, such as wagon racing, watching old movies at home, and perfecting that classic teenage-skill of loitering. Last year when my girlfriends and I went to the mall, we bought junk like lip gloss, cheap earrings, an ugly hat that we’d never actually wear. Now when we go, we just look, or go to Nordstrom and try on wedding dresses.”
Now that’s frugal! They aren’t the only ones, Scarborough Research shows teens are cutting back in many ways:
15% of teens dropped out of a sport or recreational activity
13% missed doctors’ appointments
11% stopped or cut back on taking vitamins
33% changed eating habits. The most frequent change cited is a reduction in eating out, particularly at quick service restaurants
20% have cut back on eating organic food
