The Millennial Contradiction

We want it all and we have been raised to expect it all. Except our expectations are dramatically failing to match up to the reality of a post-recession world.

Job stability was the Holy Grail of our parents’ generation, and with that came the benefits of financial security, home ownership and a relatively affordable cost of living. The message of ‘aim to achieve job stability and personal prosperity will follow’ is one we were raised on, watching the enticing success of our Baby Boomer parents. Indeed, our start in life was more privileged than any previous generation due to the relative stability and wealth that our parents were able to offer, and we had expectations to match when we entered the workforce.

There is no longer a trade-off, as when we work hard to gain our degrees and are then lucky enough to gain one of the elusive stable office jobs, we no longer reap the rewards. The social contract has been broken.

Despite this we demand more than any before us, and many of our elders have been vocal in criticising us for that. We have been accused of being lazy, fickle and ungrateful. We want work/life balance, flexibility and fulfilment. The debate between generations on this is raging — a wider and more positive dialogue needs to be established.

Perhaps this is our way of rebelling against that broken social contract, as we are simply no longer willing to play the games of the rat race as the cost-benefit makes it simply not worth it. Why work as hard as our parents for a substantially smaller reward? So instead we try to change the only area we have some influence over to be weigh more in our favour — the job component of that contract is raised up in status to make up for the lack of reward. Our aim of fulfilment and flexibility could stem from the current lack of ability to better ourselves despite our hard work.

Can you blame us?

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