Millenials Weather a Challenging Job Market

The Millennials, also known as Generation Y, is known as the demographic group that has followed Generation X. While there are no specific dates as to where they stop and start, they are generally referred to those born from the late part of the 1970’s to the early 2000’s. They are essentially the biggest part of the job market in 2013. Many have faced the best part of the economy and the worst. They have experienced extreme economic volatility and political upheaval and now are facing over $1 trillion in student loan debt and record unemployment numbers. They have witnessed a job market in shambles with recent college graduates seeing the absolute worst of it. Recent signs, however, are pointing to better news for the Millenials entering the workforce.

With the pending retirement of approximately 80 million Baby Boomers and the relatively small number of GenXers, the Millennials are not only expected to enter, and move up, in the work force at an ever-increasing pace but they also will face obstacles not encountered by prior generations. Despite the fact that there will be ample need for Millennials in the workplace as Baby Boomers retire; Millennials are facing intense competition from older, experienced workers for even entry level positions. This is because of the poor economy of the past few years.

Millennials with college degrees are taking jobs paying as little as $10 per hour just so they can pay the bills. With little prospects for getting started off on the right track, like our parents were able to do, we have instead turned to them for help. About 1 in 10 Millennials, aged 25-34, are reporting that they are living with their parents due to the recession. Millennials are also putting off major life decisions such as getting married, buying a house, and starting a family, not because they want to, but because they have to. Consequently, this is having a negative impact on the economy.

Sounds bleak, doesn’t it? But there are definitive signs things are improving. The numbers being reported by employers expect to hire 10% more college graduates in the coming New Year. Recruiting at college campuses has been pervasively abundant and some are even conducting onsite interviews.

The sooner the job market improves for the Millenials, the sooner the economy as a whole will get back on the right track. Once the economy gets on track then all of those things that most people fresh out of college usually do will start to happen again.

Source: “PolicyMic.” PolicyMic. Web. 13 Jan. 2013.