Is Generation Y Unemployed or Just Lazy?

Is Generation Y Unemployed or Just Lazy? In recent years, Generation Y is particularly underemployed in the United States. Some people consider sluggish economy as an important reason for Generation Y unemployed. Other said the most important reason is Generation Y is extreme laziness – despite the opportunities that await them. I agree with the second point. In my opinion, Generation Y just lazy, they don’t want to spend a lot of time to work. They are making a choice to work at companies that pay less but offer them that more free time. Although they have bachelor’s degree, they prefer to work in retail jobs. This may be due to their attributes, working attitude and government compensation. The first reason that leads to Generation Y lazy can be Generation Y’s attribute. “We can learn Generation Y does assign different levels of importance and partially assigns different levels of happiness to the five motivational factors examined in this study: responsibilities, compensation, work environment, advancement potential, and free time. This study represents the first attempt to explore motivational factors for the Generation Y workforce within the federal government”(Barford). Depend on my research, I learned Generation Y’s responsibility is least, and free time is the most important for Generation Y. They are making a choice to work at companies that pay less but offer them that more free time. Generation Y’s attributes showed us that they have less responsibility for company and they would like get more free time. In other word, they don’t spend a lot of time to work. Second, underemployed due to Generation Y’s working attitude. We can learn the best-paid jobs with companies ranked high among Generation Y are all in science and technology, the survey shows. Google, Intel and Microsoft are all among the top five best companies for Gen Y, ranked based on average pay for Millennial working there, job satisfaction and flexible schedules, among other things. At the same time, it 's most common for Gen Y to work for small companies of 100 employees or less”(Hadley). We can learn Generation Y prefer to flexible schedules and chose small companies. They most likely to hold low-paying jobs in retail, so that degree is not important for them. They don’t want to study in high school or university because they can find a job without degree. On the other hand, Internet is very important for Generation Y. In fact more than half of Gen Y workers “will not accept a job that bans social media.” This report demonstrates that to Gen Y, they “consider the internet to be as important as air, water, food, and shelter and will choose a lower paying job in order to be able use it – especially in lieu of doing any actual work. Because Generation Y is lazy, they are not employed in large numbers inside America’s biggest companies. This is Generation Y’s working attitude that is one of reason of lazy. The government compensation effects on unemployment, which stimulate unemployment people, are lazy to seeking job. The government unemployment compensation is likely to have increased the average rate of unemployment. “Our current system of unemployment compensation has two distinct but related bad incentives. The first one for those who are employed, it reduces and eliminated the cost of increasing the period of unemployment. The second effect for more unsteady work, it raises net wage to the employee relative to the cost to the employer. “(Feldstein & Martin, p 39). According to these two effects of unemployment compensation, it stimulates the people who are lazy to seeking job. The government unemployment entitlement gives guarantee for the people who are lose job or seeking job, however, this overprotected politics cases extreme laziness to underemployment to find job. In conclusion, I agree with this point that Generation Y is just lazy. This may be due to their attributes, working attitude and government compensation. Actually, Generation Y can improve their life quality, if they are not lazy. They have ability to get good degree and find a good job.

Works Cited
Barford, Ian N and Hester, Defense Acquisition Research Journal: A Publication of the Defense Acquisition University; Jan/Feb2011, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p63-80, 18p, 2 Color Photographs, 5 Graphs

Hadley Malcolm, Gen Y most likely to hold low-paying jobs in retail, USA Today, 07347456, AUG 22, 2012.

Feldstein & Martin. Unemployment compensation: its effect on unemployment. Monthly Labor Review; Mar76, Vol. 99 Issue 3, p39, 3p.

Cited: Barford, Ian N and Hester, Defense Acquisition Research Journal: A Publication of the Defense Acquisition University; Jan/Feb2011, Vol. 18 Issue 1, p63-80, 18p, 2 Color Photographs, 5 Graphs Hadley Malcolm, Gen Y most likely to hold low-paying jobs in retail, USA Today, 07347456, AUG 22, 2012. Feldstein & Martin. Unemployment compensation: its effect on unemployment. Monthly Labor Review; Mar76, Vol. 99 Issue 3, p39, 3p.