Episode 4: Do young people work less hard?

Are “kids these days” working less hard than before? Are they less willing to make the sacrifices older generations did? Steve and Kim discuss the data and theory behind one of the most prominent workplace debates on this episode of Yes & No.

Paul Fairie: A brief history of “nobody wants to work”

NCES: Percentage of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college, by level of institution and sex and race/ethnicity of student: 1970 through 2016.

NBER: Rates of absolute income mobility have fallen from approximately 90% for children born in 1940 to 50% for children born in the 1980s.

Pew Research: During their young adulthood, Baby Boomers had unprecedented levels of divorce. Their marital instability earlier in life is contributing to the rising divorce rate among adults ages 50 and older today, since remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages.

Association of Health Care Journalists: Baby boomers suffer more comorbidities than prior generations at similar ages.

Steve’s Notes

Ng, T.W., & Feldman, D.C. (2012). Evaluating Six Common Stereotypes About Older Workers with Meta‐Analytical Data. Personnel Psychology, 65, 821-858.

• Review of research testing the empirical validity of common perceptions about age, attitudes, and ability.

Finkelstein, LM, Voyles, EC, Thomas, CL, & Zacher, H (2020). A Daily Diary Study of Responses to Age Meta-stereotypes, Work, Aging and Retirement, Volume 6, Issue 1, 28–45.

• Study exploring how the existence of age based stereotypes impacts people at different ages regardless of the accuracy of the stereotypes.