I have been polling, writing, and speaking worldwide about America’s First Globals for over a decade. One question I always get is whether or not there are any significant differences between older Millennials (born 1979-1989) and the younger group within the cohort (1990-1996). The short answer is yes and some of notable differences are substantial.
Zogby Analytics conducted a poll of 18-34 year olds online May 30 through June 6. The 1,019 respondents were those who possessed smart phones. A total of 768 fall into the older group while 251 are in the younger group. While this is not the entire cohort of Millennials, it represents a large percentage of them and the results are revealing. This post will only look at key demographics. In my next three Forbes posts I will examine a wide variety of opinions and behaviors.
For starters, 46% of the total sample have college degrees – but this includes 52% of the older group and only 27% of the younger group. This, of course, is not surprising because the younger respondents include many who are 18-21, not even eligible to graduate from college. Significantly, less than half of the entire sample declare themselves to be White/Caucasian – but here we see a startling statistic pointing to the future makeup of this country: 52% of the older group are White/Caucasian but only 40% of the younger ones identify themselves this way. While 26% of all who completed the survey identify as Hispanic/Latino, this includes 23% of those 25-34 and 35% of those younger than 25. There are more African Americans in the older group (13%) than the younger one (10%), averaging at 12%. Asian Americans are about evenly split (9% of the older, 8% younger) and average 9%. The younger group is twice as likely to self-identify as “Other (at 6%) than the older group (3%), with 4% as the average for the whole cohort.
Exactly half of all Millennials declare they are single/never married, but they are far more likely to be younger (76%) than older (42%). Equally unsurprising is that younger Millennials earn less. Overall, 41% earn less than a $35,000 a year -35% of the 25-34 year olds but 59% of the 18-24 year olds. One in eight (12%) earn over $100,000, 14% of the older group and 6% of the younger. While seven in ten of the older Millennials (69%) report that they are working full or part time, less than half of the younger group (48%) are working. The younger group are far more likely to be students (31% to 5%) and veterans of the armed services (32% to 21%).
I have been asking several “economic victims” questions since 1991. Over one in five Millennials (22%) have “gone without food for 24 hours because of a lack of money or food”, including 20% of the older group, but 28% of the younger group. One in three (32%) are “working at a job that pays less than a previous job” (30% older, 35% younger). Twenty-eight percent are “afraid of losing their job in the next twelve months (26% older, 35% younger). And 23% have “actually lost a job in the past twelve months” (20% older, 33% younger). Almost half of the older group (46%) invest in stocks, while 27% of the younger group do.
Overall, 49% of the full group “consider (their) current job to be a career” – 52% of those 25-34 years old, but only 39% of the 18-24 years olds. More than one in three of the younger group (36%) consider it to “just a gig”, in contrast with 27% of the older group.
As has been widely reported, Millennials are less likely to be a party to organized religion. But the differences within are far more intriguing. While on the strength of the numbers of younger Hispanics, 34% of those polled identify as Roman Catholics, there is a sharp difference between older respondents (36%) and younger ones (27%). And while one in four older Millennials (26%) say they are “Other/Nonaffiliated”, more than one in three of the younger group (35%) are in this category. Nearly half of both groups say they rarely or never attend religious services.
The older group, who are far more likely to be married and have children, are also more likely to be Weekly Wal-Mart Shoppers – 35% to 27%. They are also far less likely to say they have never shopped at Wal-Mart – only 8%, compared to 16% of 18-24 year olds.
In short, younger Millennials are less white, have greater anxiety about the economy, consider their current work to be ephemeral, and are more secular than older Millennials. And they are either more likely to be gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender (24% to 13%) or, at least more likely to declare themselves to be so.