I recently read the Nancy Gibbs column in Time magazine entitled ‘The Happiness Paradox” and it sort of got me thinking. From a quick look online, there are literally hundreds of books on the uplifting subject of happiness and hardly a day goes by without the results of another study being launched on the topic.
But the basic question posed by the Time article remains – namely, why is it that Americans appear to be happier in this recession than they have been in previous ones? And while I totally agree with Nancy Gibbs’s focus on what she calls the end of “expectation inflation”, I suspect that there could be another factor at play here.
Since the recession began in December 2007, unemployment levels have doubled and the redundancy hammer has been especially hard-felt on Gen Y’ers, which brings me to my point. I have been intrigued by how well young people generally take the “loss of job” news. And the reason for this appears quite consistent – finally they are out of the business rat race, which incidentally many of them disliked, and instead they have an opportunity to pursue their passions, whether it be travel, music, painting or more schooling. And, as we all know, pursuing ones passions will always lead to increased levels of happiness. On a practical level, the opportunity for many of these young ‘out-of-workers’ to follow their dreams is also being helped by the financial support that continues to be made available in many cases by their parents.
But this begs the fundamental question for Gen Y’ers whether it is better to be employed or to be unemployed? And there is some emerging evidence that unemployment might be the preferred choice for many. At the same time, I clearly recognize that unemployment has a much broader impact than just Generation Y and I am well aware that many families across the country are suffering big-time as a result of a loss of job and a loss of income.
But I want to return to the Gen Y situation as the recession would appear to have unearthed a number of really interesting questions for this group about both the future of happiness and the future of work in America:
- will a big chunk of Gen Y’ers permanently turn their backs on building a traditional career and instead pursue their personal happiness?
- what are the social implications of such a shift?
- how will their happiness be funded long-term? Will it be through a generation of serial entrepreneurs? Or will there be a permanent change in consumption patterns?
- what impact might this have on the future life-paths of this generation?
- what ripple effect on happiness will it have on their children?
The situation is made more complex by the fact that there are two different groups involved. There continue to be many Gen Y’ers who buy into and who are successful (and happy) in the more traditional work structure and look no further than the current MBA classes if you need proof. But my own personal experience over the past 24 months tells me that there are an equal number of this generation who have never been convinced about this career thing and all that’s happened is that the recession has smoked them out and you know what…they are really, really happy pursuing their passions and in this regard, who can blame them?
The interesting question is which, if either, of these two groups will win out in the end. Like so many others questions raised by this recession, what I am struggling with is identifying whether this is a short-term response to layoffs or whether there is a deeper, more permanent mind-shift taking place. In the meantime, the joy of many of these Gen Y unemployed has caught our attention and in the process has got us asking some really valuable questions.
Simon Williams
Sterling Brands
Tweet this | Tags: Americans, career, consumption, employed, future, Gen Y, happiness, income, job, layoff, parents, recession, Sterling Brands, study, Time, unemployment
