Pew Research Center: Portrait Of Millennials [Part One]

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Today Dan Coates, Ypulse Insights president, reports back with part one [Update: part two and three up now]  from a daylong conference on Millennials hosted by the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. The event coincides with the release of a comprehensive report from Pew that aims to capture “Generation Next.” Here’s the first of three posts from Dan on the dynamic discussions happening around the data on the ground.

Pew Research Center: Portrait Of Millennials [Part One]

Some of the greatest minds focused on the Millennial generation assembled in Washington, DC, today at the Newseum to review and comment on a slew of recent data published by the Pew Research Center.  Moderated by Judy Woodruff from PBS Newshour, the event was nearly impossible to get into but worth every bit of cajoling required to obtain an invite.

While all of the data itself is available online on the Pew site, it was the color commentary by the members of Pew as well as some industry luminaries that made this event intelligent and insightful.  Rather than condense all three panel sessions into one post, we’re going to cover each of three panel discussions in as many days.

The first panel, Portrait of the Millennials, examined the values, experiences and demographics of the Millennial generation.  Based on a bedrock of Pew data that was presented by Paul Taylor, EVP of the Pew Research Center, the discussion of the nature of the Millennials was discussed by Neil Howe, President of Lifecourse Associates (and keynote speaker at the upcoming Ypulse Mashup), David Campbell, Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, Mark Lopez, Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center and Allison Pond, a Research Associate at the Pew Forum on Religious & Public Life.

While it’s no secret that we’re big fans of Neil Howe, his brief summary of American generations and the distinct qualities of the Millennial Generation stole the stage.  While I’ve heard him describe the 7 core traits of Millennials (Special, Sheltered, Confident, Team-Oriented, Conventional, Pressured and Achieving) many times before it literally never gets old. His anecdotes along the way provide the most value.  We can’t wait for him to take the stage at the Mashup and similarly help the Ypulse community understand the fundamentals of the Millennial Generation.

The massive impact of the economic downturn was mentioned frequently.  In the words of Paul Taylor, “The Millennial Generation has been dealt a dirty hand.”  The fact that 37% of Millennials are either unemployed or not participating in the workplace is an astounding statistic, one that has not been seen since 1972 when youth stayed out of the workforce in order to avoid the draft.

What are youth doing rather than working?  A great number of them are participating in an academic career, prolonging their academic career or planning their academic career.  Currently, the higher education system is the refuge of the Millennial generation.

One would think that this generation would become embittered and start blaming those that preceded them for making decisions that have disrupted their progression toward their life goals.  As is customary with this generation, they remain optimistic about their futures, focusing on entrepreneurial pursuits, improving their knowledge base and camping out with Mom & Dad a little longer.  They’re also getting an early start on raising a family, sometimes even prior to marriage.  By time-shifting their desire for kids with their desire for a career, they are creating an extended-family reality that hasn’t existed in American society since the depression.

Those who are interested in more insight into how the nature of family is changing in light of the rise of the Millennial Generation can check out http://pewsocialtrends.org/ for a number of stats that underscore these societal shifts.

Stay tuned for posts tomorrow and on Friday on the second panel discussion: Millennials, Media and Information and the third panel discussion: Millennials, the Midterm Elections and Beyond.

About Dan

Dan brings two decades of experience in technology and survey research to the Ypulse team. Based in New York, Dan is a veteran within the online research space. Prior to joining the Ypulse team, Dan was co-founder of SurveyU, drove exceptional growth as Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Polimetrix (acquired in December 2006 by YouGov PLC), served as Vice President of Surveys and Samples at SPSS and was a co-founder of PlanetFeedback.com, an ASP-based consumer affairs portal that rewrote the rules of consumer to business interaction. (PlanetFeedback was merged with Intelliseek and subsequently acquired in January 2006 by Nielsen Buzzmetrics). Dan spent the first decade of his career developing cutting edge research practices and methods on behalf of Burke Marketing, Millward Brown Interactive and the Angus Reid Group, enabling companies to develop online marketing insight.

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Categorized under: Ypulse Research

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