Photo courtesy of Rev Dan Catt.
When I first saw the headline “Will Millennials become the chump generation?” I was gearing up for another intergenerational throw down. I wasn’t exactly sure what we were being accused of this time, but last time I checked with Fred Durst, being called a chump was not a good thing. After reading Robert Samuelson’s column in the Washington Post, I realized that it was a more of a warning than a criticism. Samuelson discusses the recent Pew research on Millennials which shows that our generation is taking the effects of the recession hardest of all. Thirty-seven percent of Americans 18-29 are out of work, and proportionally more Millennials have lost jobs during the crisis than those over the age of 30.
Says Samuelson: “The adverse effects could linger. An oft-quoted study by Yale University economist Lisa Kahn found that college graduates entering a labor market with high unemployment receive lower pay and that the pay penalty can last two decades.…As baby boomers retire, higher federal spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid may boost Millennials' taxes and squeeze other government programs. It will be harder to start and raise families. Millennials could become the chump generation. They could suffer for their elders' economic sins, particularly the failure to confront the predictable costs of baby boomers' retirement. “
Having repeatedly heard the suggestion that Millennials might be the next great generation, I’m much less excited about this new potential tag line. Millennials: The Chump Generation is not a phrase I want to see inscribed on anything. While we may be saddled with some unfortunate economic circumstances, both now and in the future, I hope that we can do something more than sit back and watch it happen.
The traits of our generation may give us an advantage in facing these economic challenges. We are a tech-savvy, collaborative, upbeat, pragmatic and innovative generation, so, with the right resources, we should be able to dodge oncoming bullets…especially if some of said bullets are coming from 20 years down the road.
According to Pew, we are bound to be the most highly educated generation in America. I hope this means we should also be the most prepared to face some of these challenges. But education isn’t everything, so what else can we do now to ensure that we don’t end up looking like chumps?
We respect older generations and recognize we can learn a lot from them. Even if they’re not going to balance the national budget, perhaps the generations before us could try to atone for their economic sins by helping to prepare us now for the challenges to come. They could invest in us through career development, helping to make sure we get the opportunities for collaboration, resources and learning experiences that will help us thrive. Or they could provide advice and funds for Millennial start-ups, both in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. Since we respect those who have gone before, we would be happy to have Boomer and Gen Xer mentors and partners.
We not only adopt new technology at astonishingly high rates, but we’re helping to shape it. Many of both the most used and most innovative technologies were created by Millennials - Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook, Jack Dorsey's Twitter and Chad Hurley and Steve Chen's YouTube being the most obvious. And others are applying technology and new platforms to bring about social change. There's a great list of our generation's social entrepreneurs started on a previous post, and there are surely more to come.
We are the most diverse generation, respect those who are not like us, and hope this leads to a more just and open society. After use of technology and music/pop culture, Millennials reported that our liberal and tolerant outlook made us distinct as a generation. The Pew study confirms that we are the most open to interracial and same-sex couples, immigrants, and nontraditional family arrangements. Maybe our openness will translate to a willingness to work in nontraditional ways and arrangements to face the coming challenges.
What else can Millennials, and Boomers and Gen Xers for that matter, do to help prepare us to face a potentially shaky economic future?