经济学人｜高薪的Z世代

Finance and economics  Earning power Winning the generation game  
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The world economy has been kind to today's youngsters.
世界经济对如今的年轻人很友好。
Generation Z is taking over. In the rich world there are at least 250m people born between 1997 and 2012. About half are now in a job. In the average American workplace, the number of Gen Z-ers (sometimes also known as "Zoomers") working full-time is about to surpass the number of full-time baby-boomers, those born from 1945 to 1964, whose careers are winding down.
Z世代正在接手。在富裕国家，1997至2012年间出生的Z世代至少有2.5亿人。大约一半的人现在参加工作了。在普通的美国职场，全职工作的Z世代(有时也被称为Zoomers)的人数即将超过全职婴儿潮一代（出生于1945年至1964年）的人数，后者的职业生涯正在收尾。
America now has more than 6,000 Zoomer chief executives and 1,000 Zoomer politicians. As the generation becomes more influential, companies, governments and investors need to understand it. Pundits produce a lot of fluff about the cohort. Recent "research" from Frito-Lay, a crisp-maker, finds that Gen Z-ers have a strong preference for "snacks that leave remnants on their fingers", such as cheese dust.
美国现在有6000多名Z世代首席执行官和1000多名Z世代政客。随着这一代人变得更有影响力，公司、政府和投资者需要了解他们。专家对这个群体做了很多娱乐性的研究。薯片制造商菲多利最近的一项“研究”发现，Z世代的人非常喜欢“吃完后手指上有残留物的零食”，比如奶酪丝。
Yet different generations also display deeper differences, in part shaped by the economic context in which they grow up. Germans who reached adulthood during the high-inflation 1920s came to detest rising prices. Americans who lived through the Depression tended to avoid investing in the stockmarket.
然而，不同的世代也表现出更深刻的差异，这在一定程度上是由他们成长的经济背景决定的。在20世纪20年代高通胀时期成年的德国人变得厌恶不断上涨的物价。经历过大萧条的美国人倾向于避免投资股市。
Many argue that Gen Z is defined by its anxiety. Such worriers include Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University, whose new book,"The Anxious Generation", is making waves. In some ways, Gen Z-ers are unusual. In some ways, Gen Z-ers are unusual. Young people today are less likely to form relationships than those of yesteryear. They are more likely to be depressed or say they were assigned the wrong sex at birth. They are less likely to drink, have sex, be in a relationship-indeed to do anything exciting.

Americans aged between 15 and 24 spend just 38 minutes a day socialising in person on average, down from almost an hour in the 2000s, according to official data. Mr Haidt lays the blame on smartphones, and the social media they enable. His book has provoked an enormous reaction. On April 10th Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas, echoed Mr Haidt's arguments as she outlined plans to regulate children's use of smartphones and social media.

Britain's government is considering similar measures. But not everyone agrees with Mr Haidt's thesis. And the pushing and shoving over Gen Z's anxiety has obscured another way in which the cohort is distinct. In financial terms, Gen Z is doing extraordinarily well. This, in turn, is changing its relationship with work.

Consider the group that preceded Gen Z: millennials, many entered the workforce at a time when the world was reeling from the global financial crisis of 2007-09, during which young people suffered disproportionately. In 2012-14 more than half of Spanish youngsters who wanted a job could not find one. Greece's youth-unemployment rate was even higher.

Britney Spears's "Work Bitch", a popular song released in 2013, had an uncompromising message for young millennials: if you want good things, you have to slog. Gen Z-ers who have left education face very different circumstances.

Youth unemployment across the rich world-at about 13%-has not been this low since 1991. Greece's youth-unemployment rate has fallen by half from its peak. Hoteliers in Kalamata, a tourist destination, complain about a labour shortage, something unthinkable just a few years ago.

Popular songs reflect the zeitgeist. In 2022 the protagonist in a Beyonce song boasted,"I just quit my job". Olivia Rodrigo, a 21-year-old singer popular with American Gen Z-ers, complains that a former love interest's "career is really taking off".

Many have chosen to study subjects that help them find work. In Britain and America Gen Z-ers are avoiding the humanities, and are going instead for more obviously useful things like economics and engineering. Vocational qualifications are also increasingly popular. Young people then go on to benefit from tight labour markets. Like Beyonce's protagonist, they can quit their job and find another one if they want more money.

In America hourly pay growth among 16- to 24-year-olds recently hit 13% year on year, compared with 6% for workers aged 25 to 54. This was the highest "young person premium" since reliable data began. In Britain, where youth pay is measured differently, the average hourly pay of people aged 18-21 rose by an astonishing 15% last year, outstripping pay rises among other age groups by an unusually wide margin. In New Zealand the average hourly pay of people aged 20-24 increased by 10%, compared with an average of 6%.

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