New Jersey’s Millennial Workforce Prepared By: Brandon Schoonover Labor Market Analyst brandon.schoonover@dol.nj.gov 609-292-7281 New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development Division of Workforce Research and Analytics

Who Are They? Millennials are those who entered young adulthood in the early 21st century. Pew Research Center recently published an article, stating anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 22 to 37 in 2018) will be considered a Millennial. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/03/01/defining- generations-where-millennials-end-and-post-millennials-begin/ A different world, a different worldview. Millennials have grown up in a time of rapid change, giving them a set of priorities and expectations sharply different from previous generations. Millennials have come of age during a time of technological change, globalization and economic disruption. That’s given them a different set of behaviors and experiences than their parents. When we talk age cohorts we are referring to people that were born in a certain timeframe. Researchers, marketers, and demographers look at age cohorts to study the impacts and influences of a generation over time.

New Jersey’s Millennial Population Millennials, for the sake of this article, are those born between approximately 1982 and 1997. New Jersey’s working age population of nearly 7 million has over 1.7 million people ages 20-34 according to the 2016 U.S. Census Estimate. Millennials will surpass the baby boomer generation (those born between 1946 and 1964) by 2024, becoming the largest population group in New Jersey.

Generation Shift In the next few years, the state will experience a major shift as the youngest baby boomers, born in the early 1960’s, are likely to consider retirement and the youngest of the millennials begin to enter the work force. There is projected to be 1.8 million people ages 50-64 who traditionally could consider retirement in 2024. The number of millennials residing in New Jersey is expected to increase to roughly 1.8 million in 2024 which would help fill the vacancies left behind by the retiring workers.

Labor force estimates show the number of people who live in the state and are employed or seeking work. Millennials made up 29.7 percent of New Jersey’s workers in the first quarter of 2017 The unemployment rate for millennials is 5.9 percent, higher than the rate for the labor force as a whole (4.6%)

Workers by industry sector show the number of people who are employed in the state. Almost 30% of jobholders are millennials. The sectors with the highest concentration of millennial workers are retail trade and accommodation and food services.

Four out of the top five counties in the state with the most workers age 19-34 are in the Northern Region: Bergen (132,172), Essex (93,944), Morris (82,372 and Hudson (81,091). Combined, they account for 33.5 percent of New Jersey’s workers age 19-34. These counties all have urban areas with walkable downtowns and public transportation lines with easy access to Manhattan.

Questions ? Prepared By: Brandon Schoonover Labor Market Analyst brandon.schoonover@dol.nj.gov 609-292-7281