They entered the workforce in a pandemic and are staring down a 40-year inflationary high, with rising prices on everything from groceries to rent. When it comes to today’s unpredictable economy, perhaps no group feels it so viscerally as the youngest generation of workers, Generation Z, who range from tweens to 25-year-olds.
“More than any other generation, they’ve felt the brunt of the pandemic as employees,” said Jason Dorsey, president of the Center for Generational Kinetics, an Austin, Texas-based generational research and consulting firm. “They are going through this transitional period of becoming financially self-reliant young adults in the face of tremendous economic uncertainty and political polarization.”
Interviews with five young Chicago professionals help illustrate the tradeoffs and transformative decisions of the moment. To fully understand the impact of inflation, student debt and other factors, WBEZ also asked the interviewees to share a monthly budget of expenses and talk through their financial decision-making. Due to the disclosure of sensitive financial information and details, WBEZ agreed to withhold the subjects’ last names to protect them from fraud.
Selected from a range of industries and neighborhoods, the young professionals described major changes in the past year: pursuing a livelihood different from their line of study, forgoing travel, working side gigs, and searching for roommates to help pad costs in a region where rents have jumped 4.3% year-over-year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.
One other thing the Gen Z interviewees tended to have in common: They saw a need for more straight talk about money and budgeting.
“It shouldn’t be so stigmatized when talking about money,” said Anna Lee, a 23-year-old part-time social media assistant. “Since we’re all winging it, why don’t we wing it together and talk about what has and hasn’t worked for us? What’s the best way we can get ourselves out of this student debt? And be more aware of our expenses?”
The singer who is going into human resources
Worried about money, Alona, 22, plans to pursue a full-time career in human resources rather than in her university double-major of musical education and vocal performance.
“The economy has me considering more options for the future,” said Alona, a native of Lugansk, Ukraine, near the Russian-Ukrainian border, who moved with her family to northwest suburban Buffalo Grove at age 9.
She hopes to leverage her current part-time job as diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) manager at COVID-testing site Apex Diagnostics in Skokie while she finishes her bachelor’s degree. Alona previously served as the first DE&I chair for DePaul University’s Phi Mu fraternity — a role in which she led training, workshops and other efforts to diversify the chapter and make it more inclusive.
Alona, who is now performing in the Chicago Summer Opera’s performance of “The Magic Flute,” said she will keep music performance and instruction as a side pursuit. Music education jobs seem to be first in line for budget cuts, and singing roles require upfront expenses such as audition fees and pianist payments.
Figuring into her decision, too, to forego music full-time: rising inflation, a potential recession and $67,000 in student debt upon graduation from DePaul in winter 2023 – that’s despite a yearly Pell Grant, a $20,000 yearly music performance award, and a $6,000-per-year community service scholarship.
Between studies and performances, she also delivers food for DoorDash to pay expenses and saves any prize money she wins in…
Read More: Gen Z money diaries amid inflation, recession threats