The Green Sheet Online Edition

August 25, 2008 • Issue 08:08:02

ISOMetrics

Generation Y not?

In 2007, the television news magazine "60 Minutes" concluded members of Generation Y are technologically savvy, expert at multitasking, especially attuned to their value in the job market, have limited loyalty to any particular employer, tend to mistrust large corporations, and value education and recreation time.

Here are some additional perceptions of Gen Y, a demographic that has never known life without computers and is sometimes called the echo boomers, millenials, Gen Next and Gen Why:

• Generation Y is defined as individuals born between 1978 and 1993; they represent 26 percent of the U.S. population and spend approximately $200 million annually, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

• Authors Reynol Junco and Jeanna Mastrodicasa surveyed 7,705 U.S. college students and found 97 percent own computers, and 94 percent own cell phones.

• The Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California at Los Angeles noted that 61 percent of 13- to 25-year-olds feel personally responsible for making a difference in the world.

• Gen Y comprises more than 70 million U.S. consumers who earn a total income of approximately $211 billion annually and spend nearly $172 billion per year. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• The average time a Gen Y employee will spend at any given job is about 18 months, the Brazen Careerist Inc. predicted.

• By 2015, 100 million members of Gen Y will make up 34 percent of the U.S. population. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• Reuters Group reported that mothers working outside the home raised 75 percent of Gen Y.

• Eighty-one percent of Gen Y have done volunteer work in the past year. (UCLA)

• Approximately one-third of Gen Y are minorities, predominantly African-Americans and Hispanics. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• Six percent more women in their 20s now work in management and professional jobs than in 2005. (Reuters Group)

• Since 2001, salary increases for females in their 20s surpassed that of their male counterparts by 20 percent in Dallas and 17 percent in New York City. (Reuters Group)

• Eighty-three percent of Gen Y trust a company more if they perceive it to be socially and environmentally responsible. (UCLA)

• Seventy-six percent of Gen Y use instant messaging and social networking sites; 34 percent use Web sites as their primary source of news. (Junco/Mastrodicasa)

• In 2006, for the first time ever, more women than men graduated from college. The ratio was 4 women to 3 men; in 2017, it is projected to be 3-to-2. (U.S. Census Bureau)

• Sixty-nine percent of Gen Y consider a store's social and environmental commitment when deciding whether to shop there. (UCLA)

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