Gen Z and shifting workforce preferences

highlighted that some of the skilled service professionals on the platform earn in excess of `40,000 per month, which often exceeds the starting salaries in several IT roles in India.  It is an interesting anomaly to what we’ve studied in economics around sectoral evolution of economies. What does this imply for Gen-Z and Alpha workforces as they enter and adapt to new workforce shifts and dynamics?

As per Morgan Stanley Research report “Asia Faces Rising Youth Unemployment Challenge”- India has ~17 per cent youth unemployment in the age group of 16-24, closely followed by Indonesia and China. Part of this is being attributed to the massive explosion in AI across the world, that has taken away entry-level jobs. The remainder is being shaped by geopolitical turmoil and tensions, leading to cost-cutting and localisation of labour supply as time passes by.

In addition, India also faces a special challenge of underemployment (lower productivity) in primary sector jobs especially agriculture and mining, where more people are employed for a relatively lesser GDP contribution from the sector (high labour factor productivity ratio). 

A case study of China Gen Z workers in China are finding new ways to tackle an absence of jobs (which also, partly includes the problem of absence of meaningful employment). A lot of them are resorting to blue-collared jobs, in the absence of white-collared jobs.

The story of Zhang Weibo, who graduated from NTU (Nanyang Technical University) and decided to take up a blue collared job after leaving a white collared one, is an interesting case in point here. A sense of disillusionment with his white collared job, the feeling of restrictive-ness and a communal sense of discontent shared with others who join him in his cleaning efforts, provide impetus and strength to his decision.

Link Another social movement that has emerged in China is “Tongping” which means to lay flat - do the bare minimum - no work, no family, no home, no kids. A life of minimalism. Choosing what one wishes to do. Originally started as a movement against corporate slavery, the movement has now grown to accommodate (or rather, de-accommodate all forms of work). People who take this philosophy to the extreme, are choosing to go homeless, sleep-in restaurants and cafeterias than work to pay rent.

Link This one’s my favourite now - there’s a concept of “full-time children” where children continue to stay with parents long after they have graduated/post-graduated, and take care of domestic chores (cleaning, cooking, feeding) and earn a salary from their own parents.
Meanwhile, in South Korea, a report by Korean Employment Information Service (KEIS) highlights that, in the 15-29 age group, about 18% were NEETs in 2024 (“Not in employment, education or training”). While partly driven by the need for mandatory military service, especially for male members of society, overall population numbers have been on the higher side, and the category of “non-seeking” population has grown even more in this case - spelling troublesome long-term unemployment trends.

A survey by Intelligent.com, a career advisory platform, highlights that “1 in 6 companies are hesitant to hire recent college graduates” and cite several reasons - including a lack of motivation, professionalism, inability to articulate and communicate well, and a poor work ethic, amidst others. In other words, employers are not particularly excited to hire an “anti-hustle” generation that seeks to work on its own terms, from anywhere, and for whatever amount of time.

Coming back to the problem at hand in India, the global trends point towards economic frictions and geopolitical tensions that cause similar challenges across regions, especially in Asia, a booming demographic. In India however, the challenge is even more layered, as education (and as a consequence, a job) is not entirely an independent choice but driven by societal and family norms. A lot of the so-called manual labour jobs (plumbing, cleaning, delivery) are looked down upon in most families, which believe that doing this would be a waste of a college degree that the society has collectively invested in. People choose to endlessly spend time preparing for exams, sitting idle and doing nothing over finding a money-making job, merely to live upto social standards.

 In India, work is not just a means of survival, to earn bread and butter, but a huge part of social identity. Indian society, historically, was structured around a division based on occupation - an occupational dictionary was written up in the Manusmriti and used to divide society. Centuries later, we still run with archaic occupational dictionary that continues to reward intellectual labour over manual labour.

Except, unfortunately, as times and realities change, circumstances change, is there perhaps a need to update how we view work fundamentally in its myriad shapes and forms?  Another challenge that persists now is, that unlike major economies of the world, India grew on the backbone of soft industries, in other words, tertiary and service sectors which are plateauing (or perhaps reaching the cusp of a new S-curve that’ll be driven by AI). Whether that’ll lead to more jobs or less, and of what kind, remains to be seen. But it clearly means a reconfiguration of job needs, requirements, and job descriptions - one that doesn’t exist. A lot of traditional need for STEM graduates is also going to change.

I will not be winding down this article neatly in clear conclusions, it is a work-in-progress discussion. This is merely an acknowledgement of how layered and systemic the problem of unemployment could be, and how social norms add to, and subtract from the same. What I’d choose to allude to is, much like corporates, a lot of learning (hard and soft-skills) could occur even in manual, so called “blue-collared” jobs. Sincerity, showing up for work every single day, building relationships, getting a pulse of what a client wants, and handling different customers/clients — all of these skills could very well be learnt from these jobs as much as any white-collared job.

One could grow in a different way, through local networks and regional awareness, plug in customer gaps and build businesses, if they enter these jobs with the right intent and mindset. Perhaps a collegiate/institutional academic life isn’t necessary and supposedly right for everyone. And the wage differential above a lot of entry-level jobs, is already showing up in market statistics. Looking down upon these jobs is no longer an option.