Find Out Why Generation Y is also Known as Generation Earn

Feb 17, 2011
Pervin Shaikh

Moving in the Right Direction - Renjith Krishnan

Generation Earn faces many challenges personal and professional challenges and has adopted a different approach in seeking employment and managing careers.

Generation Y has become synonymous with a number of labels including Millennial, and Generation Earn. Generation Y totalling nearly 70 million and already actively involved in today’s workplace. Sometimes, Generation Y faces unfair press, especially when they are portrayed by many critics as being over pampered and spoilt. However, Generation Y is the generation facing greater changes and challenges presented in globalised world.

Gone are the days of jobs for life and job security for millions of people. Instead, Generation Y has to deal with unprecedented economic volatility and their career outlook is reflective of economic and technological changes. Baby Boomers and Generation X had their fair share of challenges in dealing with workplace change, but it is Generation Y, who has to succeed in navigating and carving out a career. It is also taking longer for Generation Y to feel professionally established than previous generations.

Interestingly, the changing nature of the working world actually suits Gen Y because it presents greater choices and style of working, without feeling shackled to a long term career. Many are exhibiting enterprising skills and investing in themselves to make them more marketable in the business arena. Not only is Generation Earn seeking ways to improve the quality of their lives, but also seeking to benefit others.

Just take Mark Zuckerberg, who is only 26, and the creation of the social networking site, Facebook. Facebook now have over 500,000 members and an estimated market capitalization of $41 billion. Membership is due to rise exponentially in the next coming months and year and no doubt, market cap will follow suit.

Generation Earn Characteristics

There are a number of distinctive characteristics of Generation Earn and there are as follows:

Generation Earn is the most technologically astute and well connected generation. This has been facilitated by social networking platforms (Facebook, Bebo, Myspace, twitter) to applications (IPad, IPhones, Blackberries, Smartphone etc).
Gaining skills and knowledge, which will help them progress personally and professionally and to become more marketable.
Interested in undertaking activities which make a difference to themselves and others. This includes greater social awareness projects, developing products and services which make a big difference to other peoples’ lives.
Generation Earn has learnt to deal with instability for longer periods of time and become accustomed to dealing with business and economic volatility.

Generation Y known as Generation Earn

Generation Earn is also more realistic in dealing with money and astute about finances generally. They have seen their parents and older siblings face many financial challenges and hope to avoid the pitfalls experienced by them.

Generation Earn approach to saving and spending money is also different too because of the expectations placed upon them. Many are now living with debt as a part of their adult lives because of rising study and tuition costs and living expenses.

Choice of degree is also important in securing employment after graduation. Generation Earn has to balance the concept of studying for the pleasure of learning or studying to secure good employment upon graduation. Decisions are dictated by potential employment success.
Many also have to live with large amounts of debt for longer periods of time too. For example, it is not novel to hear of young professionals in their late 20s and early 30s are laden with over $30,000 in student fees and tuition loans.
Working and studying at the same time is a necessity for millions in order to meet the business and personal demands in the 21st century.
Despite having degrees, there is still no guarantee of a good job at the end of the studies.
Generation Earn is more realistic about future prospects and internships (paid and unpaid) form an integral part of their professional portfolio.

Challenges faced by Generation Earn

The working landscape is very different for this generation than it has been for previous generations. Long gone are the days when employees could be assured some sort of continuity or job security. Instead, today’s workplace is reflective of the changing global and connected world.

The world is still trying to recover from the financial crises of 2008, and the coast is still not clear. In reality, employer recruiting confidence is higher than before, but still not as high as 2007. Employment prospects are likely to improve, but this could be hampered by employer confidence and changes in the economic world.

In light of these global challenges, employers’ expectations are also evolving to meet business and client requirements. They are looking for new hires that are able to “step up” and meet the many challenges presented by global, economic and social changes in the way business is now done.

It is fair to say that not all of Generation Earn has the entrepreneurial flair exhibited by Mark Zuckerberg. However, what has become the norm for many of Generation Earn is the adoption of a proactive approach in securing employment, amidst continuous business and economic changes.

Readers may also be interested in reading Misunderstood Gen Y in the Workplace and Managing Gen Y in Today’s Workplace and seeking internships and graduate placements.