Millennials are not the job-hopping generation everyone thought: report
The stereotype of millennials as the job-hopping generation unhappy with the idea of staying put or buying property might need to be reexamined, a new report has found.
According to CBRE’s Asia Pacific Millennials Survey, 61 per cent of Australian millennials – aged 22 to 29 – want to work for the same company, or for “a small number of companies”, throughout their career.
This is echoed across the Asia-Pacific region – in India, China, Hong Kong and Japan – where two-thirds of millennials want to stay put in their jobs, and less than one in 10 want to work for a large number of companies.
But the survey found that less than half of them did not intend to stay in their current job for long, suggesting that job security is an aspiration for many.
The survey also found that millennials – who currently comprise 35 per cent of the Australian workforce, set to reach 40 per cent by 2030 – place a high value on their work environment, with salary just one aspect of the decision to remain with a company.
Amongst Australian millennials “wellness and relaxation facilities” as well as green space were the biggest considerations aside from salary, the report says.
They were also happier than most other countries in the Asia-Pacific with the design and layout of the offices they work in. About one in five said they would consider moving to a similar but less well-known company if its offices were better.
Dr Henry Chin, Head of Research, CBRE Asia Pacific, said employers needed to take note of the results.
“Millennials represent the fastest source of spending power regionally and serve as the most influential demographic framing future trends in real estate through their lifestyle behaviour, requirements and priorities of living, working and play,” he said.
Along with work patterns and preferences, the survey also addresses millennials’ perspectives on residential property markets. It found a majority of them wanted to buy property but most of those felt they were unable to because of escalating prices, CBRE’s Head of Research Australia, Stephen McNabb, said.
“The findings show that 76 per cent of Australian millennials want to buy a property but 66 per cent believe they won’t ever be able to afford it, and 74 per cent believe wages are not keeping up with property prices,” Mr McNabb said.
Despite rising house prices and poor job prospects often being linked to a rise in young Australians choosing to remain at home longer, Australian millennials are far more likely than their peers in Asia to move out of home during their 20s.
In Australia 35 per cent of millennials live at home with their parents, or in the family home, compared with 70 per cent in Asian countries.
The survey also found that 54 per cent of Australian millennials are married or live with a partner, compared with 37 per cent in Asia.
Across the countries surveyed two-thirds of those living out of home choose to rent rather than buy.
Almost one-third of Australian millennials receive financial support from their parents, compared with 63 per cent in Asia, with rising real estate prices in Australia’s capital cities not lost on survey respondents.
The results are based on a global survey of 13,000 young adults aged between 22 and 29 conducted by CBRE Research. The Asia Pacific Millennials Survey includes 1000 respondents each from Australia, China, Hong Kong, India and Japan.
