More than 2 billion people — one-third of the world’s population — make up Generation Z. In other words, the individuals that were born between 1997 and 2009. Moreover, it’s believed that by 2025 more than 25% of the workforce will consist of Gen Zers.
What’s more, the pandemic hit Gen Zers the most as their unemployment rate almost doubled. Due to the pandemic, they didn’t have ample time to find jobs and decide on their careers. Instead, they are now graduating college or high school and are already hit with unemployment.
For instance, there are around 25% of young people working in the hospitality and leisure sectors in the US. And between February and May of 2020, more than 40% of them lost their jobs.
Spain is one of the OECD countries that was hit the hardest during the pandemic. The unemployment rate there was 14% for people aged between 25 and 74 and doubled the figure (38%) for people aged 15–24; Italy takes second place with an unemployment rate of 29.1% when it comes to Gen Zers.
On the other hand, Japan takes the last spot with only a 4.5% unemployment rate for young people.
Overall, projections estimate the situation will hit Gen Zers hard. Not only will they lose years of training and experience, but they might also accept less paid jobs to set them on track, which will lead to fewer earnings during their lifetime.
However, not everything is so grim.
Since Gen Z is the first global generation, it is believed that they will come up with new, fresh ideas and create brand-new revenue streams and innovative ways to jumpstart their careers.
