Forde Shorts

Millenials at work – Young people born during the early 1980s to the mid-2000s (age 18-34 in 2015), known as the Millenial generation, have become the dominant sector in the nation’s labor force, Richard Chapman said at the July 23 meeting of the East Kern Economic Alliance at the Holiday Inn Express. Chapman, president and CEO of Kern Economic Development Corporation, said a 2015 Pew Research Center study shows that Millenials contribute 53.5 million people to the labor force, squeaking past the Gen Xers (born 1965 to 1981, age 35 to 50 in 2015), with 52.7 million workers. Post-World War II Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964, age 51 to 69 in 2015), the largest segment of the labor force until around 2010, has dropped to 44.6 million in the labor force. The Silent Generation (born 1928 to 1946, age 69 to 87), while aging, still contributes 3.7 million people to the national labor force. Chapman, citing a Bloomberg study, said that Bakersfield had the second-largest national increase in Millenial population from 2010 to 2013. “Millenials rule the workplace,” Chapman said. “More than GenX or Boomers.”

Millenials, according to a Beyond.com survey of job-seekers, describe themselves as people-savvy (65 percent), tech-savvy ((35 percent), loyal to their employers (82 percent), fun-loving (14 percent) and hard-working (86 percent). Human Resources professionals, on the other hand, describe the same respondents differently: people-savvy (14 percent), tech-savvy (86 percent), loyal to their employers (1 percent), fun-loving (39 percent) and hard-working (11 percent). The survey dubbed the chasm in perception as “The Great Divide.”

Kern County unemployment is 9.9 percent, down from 10.2 percent in 2015, according to the California Employment Development Department.

The Greater Tehachapi Economic Development Council hosted a reception following the meeting.