All year long we’ve been dedicated to bringing you the very best in thought leadership when it comes to millennials and business. Now it’s time to start looking ahead at the expert predictions for what 2015 will bring.
Workforce Majority
We’ve shared in-depth research this year to confirm that millennials will soon make up more than half of the American workforce. The latest from “gig economy” powerhouse Elance-oDesk predicts that 2015 is the year that millennials will finally become the largest generation in the workforce (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics). Yet many interpersonal generational issues still remain. If you personally, or your organization, is interested in inspiring, actionable ways to bridge the gap, we encourage you to take a look back at our in-depth series profiling Companies Where Millennials Thrive for fresh ideas and management practices that really make a difference in recruiting, rewarding and retaining millennials.
Home Ownership
Much coverage has also been dedicated to the financial plight of millennials, including in-depth reviews of Fidelity’s Millennial Money Survey and BNY Mellon’s report on “The Generation Game: Savings for Millennials,” which seem to point to millennials as a generation of Super Savers and skeptical investors eager to enter the market but bogged down by unemployment and student loans. Not for much longer, according to MarketWatch, which predicts that 2015 will be a banner year for millennial employment, with a resulting lift in home sales and a “mini baby boom.”
Retail Spending Power
As we reported in The Business of Millennials, the annual spending power of Gen Y is quickly on pace to reach $200 billion by 2017 — and Forbes predicts that 2015 will be a year of “unrelenting competition” for retailers trying to keep up with the shifting consumer habits led by millennial trends. Online shopping, shopping from mobile devices, and preferences for “new entries to the marketplace” over stalwart brands are all challenges, leading Forbes to coin the term millennial consumer “Cybrids,” or consumers who prefer to use the latest devices to shop and rely primarily on recommendations from friends when making their purchasing choices. Only innovative retailers who embrace millennial preferences for technological integration will survive, again underscoring Gen Y’s power to shape the modern world in which we all live.
Politics
This past year has seen more than its share of political turmoil, and in this piece on the impending federal provision lifting the government’s medical marijuana ban, Rolling Stone dives into the millennial generation’s increasing ability to enact political and social change. Expect equality, diversity, food safety (GMO labeling, etc.), and other progressive socio-political causes to see state and federal action in 2015, led by millennial ambassadorship and activism.
Technology
Appropriating the “Me Generation,” label from baby boomers, millennials will make 2015 the year that wearable technology and the “quantified self” will hit the mainstream, according to Information Age. Expect a new wave of products to take over next year that will change the way we lead our daily lives, especially how we exercise and how we conduct our personal lives — everything from tracking sleep to sex.
What are your predictions for millennials in 2015? We’d love to hear from you!
April Lane is a freelance writer.