Just as previous generations of Americans are feeling the effect of the Millennials taking the leadership reigns of mainstream culture, Generation Z has entered the workforce. New Gen Z college gradsare entering a U.S. job market that is hitting historic unemployment lows. This generation, born between 1996 and 2010, will account for 40%of all U.S. consumers by 2020. Eighty-eight percent of the approximately 65 million members of Gen Z in the country are optimistic about their futures, but most expect to have to work harder than previous generations did.
Gen Z, the most technically advanced generation of our time, will job hunt in new ways that were almost unimaginable a few decades ago. The information they base their life decisions on comes at them with blinding speed and volume. They only spend eight seconds determining whether something new is worth their attention, but end up spending between six and nine hours daily consuming their chosen information thanks to an average five screens each: laptop, desktop, tablet, smartphone, and old-fashioned TV. According to Comparably’s recent reporton Gen Z workplace trends, a third of them feel that gender has held them back in their careers, and the number one thing they would do if they were the boss is increase pay. If they were to leave their jobs tomorrow, chances are it would be over salary. Persistence has been the soft skill that has helped them the most, and just 65% are satisfied with their current work-life balance.
Purpose of the study
Comparably sought to produce a ranking of the best jobs for new graduates from Generation Z in order to offer some idea as to what careers in tech may be most appealing based on salary and popularity of the role among that age group. Comparably pored through thousands of anonymous salary records for workers aged 18-24. From there, we analyzed the difference in average salary between genders and by ethnicities to find out whether there continues to be a salary imbalance that favors males or any particular ethnicity, and then examined a few of the major tech hub cities and their cost of living, to see where Gen Z job seekers have the chance at the biggest salary compared to how much they’ll have to set aside for rent and living expenses.
The results
Compensation by gender
Compensation by ethnicity
Compensation by location
We’ve included average 2019 one-bedroom apartment rental figures (sourced from RENTcafe) to illustrate the cost of living for each of the cities included. The national average for one-bedroom apartment rentals is $1,430/month.
Methodology
About Comparably
