Millennial, Gen Z Entry-Level Job Market Shows Economic Shifts

The kids just don’t work like they used to — and it might tell us a lot about how the economy is changing.

Over the last 15 years, the job market for younger workers has changed dramatically in some aspects — and, in others, remained remarkably static. But the changing roles younger workers have taken mirror some of the biggest shifts in the economy — and, as the entry-level job market faces its own contractions, might show what could come next.

To analyze how entry-level hiring and roles have changed, Business Insider looked at occupational data from 2010, 2019, and 2023 for Americans ages 18 to 27 who are employed, not in school, and have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

For 2023, that age range encompasses Gen Zers in the workforce, while in 2019 it captured both younger Gen Z and millennials and showed what young grads in their 20s were doing during the last labor market peak before the COVID-19 pandemic. Data from 2010 reflects millennials at around the same life stage as Gen Z in 2023.

This chart shows how the top ten jobs held by college grads in our target age range have changed over those three time periods.

The data shows how larger-scale economic trends shaped the occupations that college-educated younger workers were landing in. For millennials, it was all about retail job and waitressing in the wake of the Great Recession; pre-pandemic Gen Z and millennials gravitated toward tech.

Today’s Gen Z is still holding onto tech but also opening the door toward the growing fields of the future, like healthcare. This shows how the first few roles that college graduates hold can predict some of the underlying economic trends of different eras.

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In 2010, for instance, retail salesperson was the fourth most popular occupation among younger workers; around 2.6% of all younger workers were retail salespeople. But that share and rank faltered over the coming years, likely due to the rise of online retailers like Amazon and the in-person retail apocalypse that’s left malls desolate and the industry shedding over a million jobs from 2009 to 2019. Another occupation that saw a fall-off was accountants and auditors — right now, the US is dealing with a looming accountant shortage.

The data also reflects the fast ascendancy of the Big Tech era. Software developers skyrocketed from being the ninth most popular occupation to the third most by 2019, and maintained that rank in 2023. About 3.8% of young grads were software developers in 2019, rising to 4.1% in 2023. It’s no secret that Big Tech, and especially software development roles, have become increasingly attractive to college-educated young workers. That’s borne out in the data, which shows the hiring to back up that interest.

The allure of Big Tech may be fading more recently, however. The most recent 2023 data comes from the end of the zero-interest rate policy era. During the great post-2020 hiring swing, it was essentially free for companies to borrow and spend on lavish perks and high salaries, especially in tech. Over the last few years, that’s crumbled and then some. The entry-level job market has been on its own twisting journey this year, as junior hiring has pulled back and advances in technology — especially AI — have made some tech starter roles redundant or nonexistent. Indeed, the next round of Gen Z workers is already souring on tech.

Looking to the future of work, an aging population needs more nurses, and Gen Z is answering the call. In 2010, just around 3.4% of millennial workers were registered nurses; comparatively, the share of Gen Zers who were registered nurses in 2023 was around 4.8%. Healthcare roles are already increasingly appealing to Gen Z, and it’s a sector that’s only growing — and bringing lucrative opportunities with it.

Are you a younger worker who’s experienced some of these job trends? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@businessinsider.com.