PART II: FINANCES AND WORKPLACE PREFERENCES
(See Part I: Demographics, Part III: Housing, and Part IV: Politics and Society)
In the next decade, projections show that Millennials will make up 75% of the U.S. workforce. But what do Millennials want out of the workplace, and how does that differ from other generations? How does student debt affect workplace preferences? And how do Utahns feel about their current employers and incomes?
In an effort to answer these questions, Part II of this report compares Utah Foundation survey findings with recent national surveys regarding attitudes about finances and the workplace for Millennials (18-34 year olds), Gen Xers (35-50 year olds), Boomers (51-69 year olds) and members of the Silent Generation (70 to 87 year olds). Over 1,300 Utahns participated in the Utah Foundation survey.
FINDINGS:
- Utahns seem to be more content than their national peers regarding their current incomes and more optimistic about their potential for future earnings. (see pages 2 and 3)
- While student debt burden has increased significantly for Utahns in the past decade, the average returns on higher educational attainment are already being seen by Millennials (see pages 3 and 4)
- Utahns are more content than their national peers with current employers; Utahns with families are less likely than their unmarried and/or childless counterparts to want different employers. (see page 5)
- Millennial Utahns are more likely than older generations to think that finding a job they want will be very easy. (see page 6)
- Millennials, Gen Xers and Boomers have similar attitudes regarding attributes of their ideal jobs – good compensation and having a good work-life balance were both high priorities. Millennials placed a higher level of importance on jobs that would allow them to pay off student loans quickly. (see pages 7 and 8)
Click here for the Executive Summary of all four parts of the report.