Time use of millennials v. non-millennials

By Chang Se-moon

Let me first introduce popular classifications of generations.

The Lost Generation has two meanings. One refers to those who fought in World War I. Members of this generation were typically born between 1883 and 1900.

The other refers to Japanese workers in their 40s now who struggled to find jobs and advance, if employed, for about 20 years from around 1990 to 2010. This period is also known in Japan as the Employment Ice Age.

Financial difficulties experienced by the Lost Generation of Japan are still slowing the current growth of the Japanese economy.

Many observers of the Korean economy are concerned about the possible creation of a lost generation of Koreans in their teens and 20s. Mismanagement of the Korean economy, if continued, will likely lead to future years of difficulties in finding jobs and advancing, if employed, by those who are now in their teens and 20s.

The Greatest Generation relates mainly to American veterans who fought in World War II to save humanity from the brutal dictatorship of the Nazis, while the Silent Generation relates to American veterans who fought during the Korean War and the Vietnam War whose contributions to preservation of free society have not been fully appreciated.

Baby boomers are those who were born from 1946 to 1964. They enjoyed a relatively peaceful and booming economy, resulting in booming birthrates.

Generation X is the generation following the baby boomers. They were born from mid-1960s to the early 1980s. Gen X is also called the baby bust generation because of their collective decrease in birthrate following the increase by baby boomers.

Millennials, also known as Generation Y because they follow Gen X, are typically born from 1981 to 1996. If you look at dictionaries for millennial, they all direct you to millennium which means 1,000 years.

Generation Y is called millennials, likely because they came of age around 2000, the dawn of a new 1,000 years. By the way, people born after millennials are called Generation Z, or zoomers in comparison to boomers.

Millennials are characterized as being more open-minded, liberal and receptive to new ideas and ways of living, favoring flexible working hours as an example. Millennials are also known to be narcissistic, having an inflated idea of their own importance.

On Oct. 16, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released a study that was based on a large number of 2017 samples from the American Time Use Survey. The study compares time use of millennials versus non-millennials.

In the study, millennials are defined as individuals born between 1981 and 1996, or those aged 21 to 36 in 2017, while non-millennials are defined as individuals aged 37 and over in 2017. Non-millennials include members of Generation X, baby boomers, the Silent Generation and the Greatest Generation.

Counting only those for ages 25 and over, millennials have a higher educational attainment at the postsecondary levels. Forty-five percent of millennials ages 25 to 36 were found to have a bachelor's or advanced degree in 2017 in comparison to 35 percent for non-millennials.

As to household work, millennials spent "1.5 hours per day on household activities, less than the 2.1 hours spent by non-millennials." Further, millennials were less likely (72 percent) than non-millennials (81 percent) to perform household activities on any given day.

Interestingly, millennials "averaged about half as much time per day on organizational, civic and religious activities (12 minutes) as did non-millennials (23 minutes)," while "roughly 28 percent of millennials engaged in volunteer activities in 2017, compared with 36 percent of Generation Xers and 31 percent of baby boomers."

Millennials spent half as much time per day relaxing and thinking (13 minutes) in comparison to non-millennials (26 minutes). I find this interesting, but do not know exactly what this finding means.

Finally, other studies indicate that millennials appear to be having less sex than any other generation before it. "In a survey of more than 26,000 American adults, about 15 percent of millennials between 20 and 24 reported having no sexual partners since the age of 18. Only 6 percent of Gen-Xers could claim the same."

Further, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 found that "teen millennials were less sexually active than previous generations."

There is a likely opposing view, however. Assuming that the rate of cohabitation without marriage is greater among millennials than among non-millennials, it may be noted that married couples enjoy greater overall happiness in their relationships than unmarried couples "with one notable exception: their sex lives."

Chang Se-moon (changsemoon@yahoo.com) is the director of the Gulf Coast Center for Impact Studies.

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