Unemployment, crime and corruption within business and politics tops the list of concerns among SA’s young adults between the ages of 27 and 38, while joblessness, economic growth as well as education, skills and training are of utmost concern for those aged between 18 and 26, a survey by professional services firm Deloitte has found.
Young people were are also found to be anxious about mental health, worsening economic prospects and the financial situation in the year ahead, according to the 10th Deloitte Global Millennials and Gen Z survey released on Tuesday. Millennials are those aged between 27 and 38 while Generation Z refer to those between 18 and 26 years.
The survey was conducted among 14,600 millennials born between January 1983 and December 1994, and 8,200 born between January 1995 and December 2003, in 45 countries to yield a representative sample of just under 23,000 people between the ages of 18 and 38 in 2021. The survey was conducted in January and February using an online interview.
The report represents a broad range of respondents, from those with executive positions in large organisations to others participating in the gig economy, doing unpaid work or the unemployed. Additionally, the Gen Z group includes students.
Forty-five percent of SA’s millennials and 50% of Gen Z say they feel stressed or anxious most of the time and have taken time off work because of it. The leading causes of anxiety are their own long-term financial health, the welfare of their families, their career or job prospects, their day-to-day finances and their physical and mental health.
Young people also have a bleak outlook for the economy and their finances in the year ahead. Sixty-five percent of SA’s millennials believe things will worsen economically over the next 12 months while only 19% think they will improve, while 53% of the Gen Z cohort believe things will get worse. Forty-three percent of global millennials and 41% of global Gen Z believe things will get worse. Fifty-nine percent of SA millennials and 49% of Gen Z believe the sociopolitical situation will worsen.
“SA’s young people are in tune with their global peers, and even ahead of them in some respects. In a country with unemployment and crime levels as SA has experienced, it is understandable that jobs and crime would top the list of concerns, especially for those young adults starting families,” said Tumelo Seaketso, the organisational transformation director at Deloitte Consulting Africa.
Forty-seven percent of SA’s millennials list unemployment as their leading concern, while 32% listed crime and safety as well as corruption within business and politics. For their global peers, health and disease prevention is the leading concern, expressed by 28%, followed by unemployment (27%) and climate change and the environment (26%). This result probably reflects the outbreak of Covid-19 over the past year.
For SA’s Gen Z unemployment is the greatest concern for 46% of respondents, while economic growth concerns about 26% and education, skills and training is a concern for 24%. For their global peers, the top three issues are the environment and climate change (26%), followed by unemployment (25%) and health-care and disease prevention (21%).
The survey found that SA’s youth are acutely aware of inequality, with 82% saying wealth is not equally distributed in society, compared to 69% of their global peers; and 74% of Gen Zs expressed the same view, compared to 66% globally.
Millennials and Gen Zs believe discrimination is widespread, enabled by systemic racism. One in five respondents globally feel personally discriminated against “all the time” or frequently because of an aspect of their backgrounds. Fifty-six percent of millennials and 60% of Gen Z globally said systemic racism is widespread in general society. They believe individuals and activists are doing the most to reduce systemic racism, while the education system, legal system, government and business fall short of their potential to drive change.
In SA 41% of millennials feel discriminated against by the government, 36% feel targeted by social media, 34% feel discriminated against by business and 27% feel discriminated against in their workplace or while going about their daily lives. For SA’s Gen Z, 33% feel discriminated against by the government, 39% by social media, 28% by business, 29% at the workplace and 31% in their daily lives. Forty-one percent of SA’s millennials have taken action to tackle discrimination compared to 29% globally.
Business focus
The survey revealed that business has some work to do winning young people over. The percentage of both millennials and Gen Z who believe business has a positive effect on society has fallen over the past two years, from 67% in 2020 to 50% this year for SA millennials and from 70% in 2020 to 58% for Gen Z. Seventy-five percent of SA millennials believe business focuses on its own agenda rather than the wider society while 59% of millennials and 55% of Gen Z believe it has no wider ambition than making money.
SA’s young adults have been found to be ahead of their global peers in conforming to Covid-19 health protocols. Eighty-three percent of SA’s millennials say they have seriously followed government’s health guidelines, against 74% of their global peers; while 82% of SA’s Gen Z observed protocols, well ahead of 69% for their counterparts around the world.
Eighty-nine percent of SA respondents in both categories believe the pandemic has inspired them to make a positive change to improve their lives, compared to 71% for millennials and 70% for Gen Z globally. South Africans also believe Covid-19 has made them more aware of the needs of others in their community and brought about solidarity — more than their peers in other parts of the globe.
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