Let us retreat briefly to, by comparison, Generation X’s halcyon days of latchkey, Prozac, grunge and a general, somewhat melodramatic, malaise. Compared to their prime working years, the ages of 25 to 54, Gen X’s childhood and young adulthood seem rather romantic in retrospect.
Their parents sucked up to corporate management, with big hair to match big heads, eager to ascend the corporate ladder and stroke their egos along the way. Their children, now in broken homes, had to fend for themselves. Television became their best friends, maybe Mario Brothers, and there were the occasional bike rides with friends to the local candy store. Summers were spent outdoors, avoiding dysfunctional adults as much as possible.
Cutoffs for Gen X and Gen Y
The cutoffs for generations are not hard and fast, but for this purpose, Generation X were people born between the years of 1965 and 1980, and Millennials were born between 1981 and 1995. Placing the financial crisis in the year 2008, the oldest Gen Xers have or will turn 55-years-old this year, which means they turned 25 in 1990 and 43 in 2008. The youngest Gen Xers have or will turn 40-years-old, which means they turned 25 in 2005 and 28 in 2008. By comparison, the oldest Millennials have or will turn 39-years-old, which means they turned 25 in 2006 and 27 in 2008. The youngest Millennials have or will turn 25-years-old this year, the start of their prime working years.
Younger Gen X and Older Gen Y Hit Hard
As one can see by the breakdown, the generation that was the most affected in terms of prime working years by both the financial crisis and the present coronavirus crisis is Generation X. In fact, it is the most negatively impacted generation in other respects also. Both Gen Xers’ and Millennials’ parents are typically Boomers.
However, as the Boomers’ wealth increased over time, Millennials generally had more resources available to them than their Gen X siblings or counterparts. This gave Millennials a financial advantage as well as a social advantage, as the divorce rate stabilized, and their single mothers who had entered the workforce were better able to manage both work and family.
The resentment that these two generations, Generation X and Millennials, feel toward the Boomers is not just about the fact that the Boomers have effectively directed available resources for their benefit as described here, it is also that crises are, obviously, intensely destabilizing and damaging, particularly for those for whom it overlaps with their prime working years. Generation X and Millennials are the only two generations that have had their prime working years impacted by two crises. These crises also occurred in relatively short succession, a little over a decade apart.
It is quite different to try to weather a crisis after establishing a career than while entering the workforce or while still in the early part of one’s career. The younger Gen Xers and the older Millennials were still relatively young when the financial crisis hit, and they bore the brunt of the damage in terms of their careers. In fact, many younger Millennials might not have been nearly as impacted as older Millennials since many of them were still in school. The youngest Millennials were 13-years-old at the time of the financial crisis.
Gen X and Y – Resentment and Request
Although the Boomer generation has been a catastrophic failure, there is something rather simple that they could do that would help their children, if they care at all about them. They could retire. (We understand that there are some Boomers who sincerely cannot afford to retire at the standard age.) Many Boomers, however, remain in the workforce out of greed, power, and ego. Perhaps some Boomers think the world cannot manage without their genius and expertise, but we assure you, it can. We can quite reasonably argue that it might actually thrive again.
More generally, the Boomers’ “leadership” is entirely unwelcomed by younger generations at this point. Their generation’s management of the country has been an abysmal failure. Under their watch, there has been a deterioration in every aspect of American life: family, faith, work, the economy, societal bonds, political stability and on and on. And there have been two catastrophic crises.
The Boomers need to retire and allow other generations to lead and to fill their often coveted positions. We will do a better job than they did because there is nowhere to go but up. Our society is guaranteed to improve. So, Boomers, you have damaged our country and our careers enough. If your egos can possibly manage it, please retire. Trust us – we got this.