Millennials are getting older, making way for the next wave of consumers and workers, called Gen Z. These youngsters, ages 9 to 25, are expected to impact the workplace in unique ways that may surprise you.
Gen Z’ers grew up during the recession, many watching their parents deal with financial hardships. They understand scarcity, Whereas Millennials (ages 23 to 38) grew up in a time of abundance.
On average, Gen Z is more financially responsible, and more focused on saving money than Millennials, and Gen Z shies away from taking on huge student debt. It is believed that Gen Z will take a greater interest in blue collar jobs than Millennials, whose lack of interest created labor shortages in many areas, including car audio installation.
Fast Company reports that 75 percent of Gen Z believe there are better ways than college to get a good education. These demographics have led industries such as construction to develop programs to reach out to Gen Z and offer an alternative career path to college. See Constructiondive.com
Executive Director of The Mobile Electronics Specialists of American (MESA) buying/marketing group, Ryan Gunter, says the trend may be a positive one for the car audio industry, which is challenged by a shortage of experienced technicians.
“It’s a concern for all of our members that they can’t get enough installers,” said Gunter. “It really comes down to the fact that work forces out there don’t want to do manual labor right now for whatever reason; they think they’re above that. Generation Z is coming in to replace Millennials. It’s a totally different work ethic. They are savers. They are the ‘give me a chance to work and I will prove myself’’ generation, and that’s something we’re missing right now,” he said.
Chart by Visual Capitalist
Bank of America says more than 30 percent of Gen Z’ers between the age of 18 and 23 are already saving for a home. “Gen Z’ers are also prioritizing saving over frivolous spending and making sacrifices to prove that they are willing to do whatever it takes,” including getting second jobs or moving in with their parents, said D. Steve Boland, head of consumer lending at Bank of America, according to Bloomberg.
Much of Gen Z is made up of the children of Millennials. Gen Z’ers were born from 1997 and up and Millennials between 1981 and 1996.
National studies of 4,000 teens found “drowning in college debt is the No. 1 concern for 66% of Gen Zers, says the book “Gen Z @ Work,” reports Constructiondive.
Here are some other statistics about Gen Z:
98 percent own a smartphone
70 percent watch more than 2 hours of YouTube a day
They prefer Snapchat and Instagram while Millennials prefer Facebook and Instagram
They don’t remember 9/11
They grew up knowing only the digital age.
Photo: Bustle
2 hours of youtube, per day?? Wow, I can barely find a video a day to interest me on there.
Gen Z’ers are more like their grandparents than their parents. I agree with almost everything mentioned in the article and I have even attended seminars teaching how to understand, attract and hire millennial’s and GEN Z’ers. My 9 year old saves his money, he thinks the things I did as a kid are cool and is interested in knowing more about “back then”. He suddenly wants to go camping so we bought a tent and all the gear, he is interested in history, he reads paper back books, he likes my old rock and roll music and he even cracks up at the 3 Stooges. He talks about college and we will encourage college and would like to be an engineer but that changes every 6 months. He loves to help me set up amplifiers, speakers and subwoofers on the bench and has a pretty good understanding how they work.