'Gen Z' Job Attitudes Compared With Other Generations

Young working adults from Gen Z - born between 1997-2012 - so far have a different relationship with their employers than other generations.

Gone are the days of sticking with one company for an entire 40-year career.

According to Oliver Wyman, Gen Z workers shop around when it comes to work: 62% of them are actively or passively looking for new jobs.

In the chart below, Visual Capitalist's Avery Koop and Bhabna Banerjee, using data from Oliver Wyman’s Gen-Z Report (2023), showcase the generational divides of survey respondents who said they were either actively or passively looking for new work. The survey assessed 10,000 adults in the United States and United Kingdom.

The Survey Results

As of 2023, Gen Z already makes up approximately 15% of the workforce in the U.S. and UK. By 2031, that share is predicted to climb to 31%, second only to millennials.

And many in this young, up-and-coming labor force are more open about seeking alternative employment compared to their older counterparts:

While millennials follow closely behind, far fewer Gen Xers and baby boomers are seeking new roles. Part of this, however, could simply be that those in older generations are far more established in their roles or careers, and are less actively looking for change.

Regardless, Gen Z is incredibly flexible. When compared to other generations, they are also more than twice as likely to have an additional job on the side of their main role.

Shifting Approach to Work

One of the biggest reasons Gen Z actively scours available job postings is because of economic disparities between generations.

Of Gen Z workers, 37% feel underpaid for the amount of hours they work, compared to 29% of non-Gen Z workers. Gen Z women in particular were found to be almost 60% more likely than Gen Z men to leave a job in search of better compensation.

On top of consistently seeking better pay, Gen Z also wants to retire earlier. Looking at average U.S. and UK data, Gen Z’s ideal retirement age is astoundingly young at 54 years old, but most don’t realistically expect to be retired until 60.

Gen Z is important to watch as they are the most diverse, most educated, and most technological savvy generation in history. How they want to work will become increasingly important for employers to consider in order to keep them invested.