NEWSWIRE: 7/9/18
- The surprise victory of 28-year-old Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez is drawing attention to the lack of generational diversity in Congress, particularly among Democrats. While the average age of Republican leaders is 59.5, the average among Democratic leaders is safely in retirement-age territory: 74.6. (The Washington Post)
- NH: Brace yourself, America, for Millennial leaders who unabashedly label themselves "socialist" (see: "Did You Know? Millennials Not Content to Be Capitalists"). Prepare as well for a new generation of working-class heroes (and heroines) who speak softly but carry a radical agenda. The unnoticed irony is that Joseph Crowley (born in 1961, barely an Xer), the incumbent defeated by Ocasio-Cortez, is by far the youngest of the Democrats' four top House leaders. The other three all belong to the Silent Generation: Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (born in 1940), Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (born in 1939), and Assistant Minority Leader Tim Clyburn (born in 1940). Indeed, leading the Democrats in Congress are quite a few politicians who can recall World War II as kids. In the Senate, you've got Nita Lowry (81) at Appropriations and Maxine Waters (80) at Financial Services. In the Senate, there's Pat Leahy at Appropriations, Diane Feinstein at Narcotics, and Bernie Sanders at Budget--average age, roughly 80. As we've been noticing for a while (see: "Incoming Gen Xers Carry the Midterms," back in 2014), the congressional GOP has been rejuvenating in recent elections thanks to a strongly Republican tilt of incoming late-wave Boomers and first-wave Gen Xers. Democrats on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, remain dominated by an aging cadre of Silent and first-wave Boomers. As a result, while the congressional leadership is aging on both sides of the aisle, it is aging much faster for the Democrats (average leadership age, 74.6, with 35.5 years of tenure) than for the Republicans (average leadership age, 59.5, with 18.0 years of tenure). When the demographic dam bursts--which is very likely to happen over the next two or three elections--expect Millennials to do a makeover of the Democratic party nationwide.
- Young kids today are better at delaying gratification than earlier generations of children as measured by the famous “marshmallow test.” Self-control and regulation have been hallmarks of the Homelander experience—which runs counter to the common notion that kids’ attention spans are shortening. (American Psychological Association)
- NH: Ask Americans today (the authors of this study do just this) whether kids today have less impulse control than they used to, and most Americans will overwhelmingly agree. Ask most pop psychologists about "Generation Z," and they will tell you that "shorter attention spans" and "more impulsive" are among their salient traits--compared with the generations of their parents and grandparents. It turns out that public and pop psychologists are both dead wrong. Welcome back to another follow-up study of the famous Stanford marshmallow test (see: "Children Get Better at Delaying Gratification"). This definitive study, written by a research team headed by Walter Mischel, the creator of the original Stanford experiment in the late 1960s, summarizes repetitions of the marshmallow test in subsequent years all the way up to the present day. (In case you need reminding, researchers test how long small children refrain from eating a marshmallow for the sake of a future reward when they are left alone in a closed room.) The results show that successive cohorts of kids are waiting longer to get the reward. For example, only 12% of today's kids eat the marshmallow in the first 30 seconds (versus 29% of young Boomers) and fully 57% are waiting the full ten minutes (versus only 31% of young Boomers). This improvement holds for all races, ethnicities, regions, and genders. See our overview piece, "Kids These Days: Homelanders."
- A whopping 86% of Millennials would consider taking a pay cut to work for an organization that shares their values, compared to just 9% of Boomers. While salary and benefits still rank high in importance, young employees expect their workplaces to reflect who they are. (LinkedIn)
- NH: The topic is interesting, but the study can't really be evaluated since LinkedIn is not publicizing its data. From what little LinkedIn discloses, however, it seems that "values" is not a very useful way to frame the generational difference. In fact, per this study, what Millennials want most in their workplace is strong leadership and a well-defined sense of purpose, along with a culture of belonging--that is, a group orientation. On the other hand, Millennials are less likely to quit a job just because their boss asks them to do something unethical. (Boomers come in first here.)
- Support for an active U.S. foreign policy agenda declines moving down the age ladder—but that doesn’t mean younger generations want to disengage. Instead, Xers and Millennials want to engage differently; they support global commerce and international cooperation, but are far less concerned about maintaining military power. (Chicago Council on Global Affairs)
- NH: Big takeaways from this study: Millennials are less supportive than older generations of more defense spending or of American exceptionalism in the world. They are, however, little different in their support of existing U.S. alliances and even more supportive of going to war for "humanitarian reasons." Their disinterest in exceptionalism may actually be compatible with Trump's version of isolationism, which is premised on the notion that America today has to look out for itself "like any other nation does." Will this isolationism persist? Maybe not. Millennials are more interested than older generations in how America is doing economically relative to the rest of the world--and how well all nations are supporting principled global causes like policies to end global warming. Push those buttons, perhaps, and Millennials could become aggressive globalists.
- Educational travel nonprofit Road Scholar now offers more than 100 “grandtravel” trips, with more added every year. This trend is a testament both to intergenerational closeness and elder affluence; total costs for the most popular foreign tours run into the five digits. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
- Fully 49% of Gen-X gig-economy workers say their gig work is their household’s sole source of income, compared to 36% of Millennials and 32% of Boomers. More than any other generation, Xers are working in the gig economy to make ends meet—yet many are still falling short. (Prudential)
- NH: Woe unto Gen Xers! The key statistic from this study is that half (49%) of Xers with gigs say that these gigs are their sole source of income and an even larger share (59%) say they need them to make ends meet. That's compared to 32% and 46% (respectively) for Boomers and only 36% and 28% for Millennials. Sure, maybe a higher share of Millennials do gig work, but a lot more of them have other sources of income (including parents) and few family responsibilities. Not surprisingly, Xers with gigs are by far the most likely to say that they are struggling financially and dislike their current work situation.
- With Boomers and Millennials vying for the same homes, the competition for mid-range real estate has gotten fierce. At the same time Boomers are downsizing, Millennials are starting to enter the market—resulting in frenzied offers, sky-high bids, and even heartfelt personal letters. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
- Business is picking up again at beleaguered casual dining chains such as Red Lobster and TGI Fridays. While the annual increase in same-store sales is modest (up +0.5% through April), it’s the first sign since 2015 that this sector’s efforts to upgrade dishes and décor are paying off. (The Wall Street Journal)
- Millennials are the only generation whose large-metro residents are happier than their small-community peers. Even after adjusting for life stage, Millennials still prefer large metros compared to earlier generations of young adults—a reflection of this generation’s search for economic and social opportunity. (Regional Studies)
- NH: We must be careful about interpreting the findings of this article (authored by neo-urbanist crusader Richard Florida). There has always been a sizeable life cycle effect in people's attraction to urban living: It goes way up in young adulthood and then gradually declines at older ages. This explains why cities typically experience a large net inflow of younger people and a large net outflow of midlife family heads and retirees. That said, some generations are more or less attracted to cities at a young age. Boomers were relatively unattracted to cities, so much so that the 1970s were one of the very few decades in U.S. history when young adults were net emigrants from cities. Millennials, by contrast, are unusually attracted to cities and are unusually apt to move into them. It is also true that over the last couple of decades rural America has experienced much less economic growth than urban America. Put these trends together and you can understand the following two charts. Note the huge positive margin in small-town happiness during the 1970s and the narrowing margin since 2000. Note also the positive net happiness advantage of big cities over small towns for Millennials. A similar pattern by age would have shown itself in earlier decades (had similar surveys been conducted then), but Florida is right: It's probably steeper today.
- Biscuits & Bath, a Manhattan-based doggy day care center, lets individuals play with dogs that don’t belong to them for $25. This “buddy program” may be a good fit for Millennials who love pets but can’t afford one of their own—or who are afraid of making such a commitment. (The New York Times)
DID YOU KNOW?
The Dying Summer Job. What happened to the seasonal teenage workforce? That’s the question at the heart of a new Pew Research Center report, which documents the long-term drop-off in teen summer employment. As recently as 2000, more than half (52%) of 16- to 19-year-olds had a summer job. That rate plummeted to 30% following the Great Recession—and has barely budged since, sitting at 35% in 2017. What’s going on? A rising emphasis on academic achievement (complete with drawn-out school calendars and overloaded extracurricular schedules) is one possible explanation. Another is an economywide shift away from the types of low-skill jobs that have always attracted teens. Case in point: Just 21% of 16- to 19-year-olds with a summer job work in retail, a share that has been trending downward for over a decade. Reporter Ben Steverman offers a final explanation: intergenerational competition. Record-high senior labor force participation means that, increasingly, Boomers occupy the jobs once reserved for seasonal job-seekers.
