Census for young people reveals 79% of Millennials aspire to own their own home one day

Earlier this week, popular ABC radio station triple j released the results of their ‘What’s Up In Your World’ survey – their ‘census for young people’ and one of the largest surveys of young people in Australia. The survey asked 11,000 young Australians aged 18-29 a number of questions around various topics, one of which was work and money. McCrindle Head of Communications Ashley Fell joined host Tom Tilley in the studio to discuss the results of the survey.

You can listen to the full podcast featuring Ashley Fell here.

Despite tough economic conditions, 79% of Millennials still aspire to own their own home one day

The triple j Census showed that the great Australian dream is still alive and well with four in five Millennials (79%) aspiring to own their own home. This insight comes despite the fact that over half of respondents admitted to having less than $5,000 in savings.

The survey also revealed that two in five (42%) Millennials are currently living at home with their parents, maintaining the generational label of KIPPERS – Kids In Parents Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings. 40% of respondents are renting, while 10% said they were already home owners or looking to buy a house.

More than one in four (27%) respondents listed housing affordability as the most pressing issue currently facing young people (second only to mental health). The 2018 HILDA study released this week revealed that the number of young people moving from renting to owning has dropped significantly. Between 2001 and 2004, 13.5% of renters between the ages of 18 to 24 became home owners. From 2013 to 2016, only 7.6% made the same jump.

In addition to the disparity we are seeing between wages and house prices growth, Millennials are increasingly obtaining a higher education (1 in 2 Gen Z’s will obtain a university degree) and are therefore delaying their traditional earning years. All of this plays into the complex world Millennials are navigating, as they decide where to invest their time, energy and money, and as the intergenerational inequality gap widens.

1 in 3 Millennials have a side hustle outside their normal job

Millennials are the most career-mobile generation we have seen to date. Based on the average tenure of 3 years and 4 months, a school leaver today is predicted to have 17 jobs across 5 careers in their lifetime.

The insight from the triple j Census that 1 in 3 Millennials have a side job outside their normal job shows that in an era of flat wages growth and increasing living costs, and at a time when there aren’t as many full time roles as the demand, people are taking a bit of a DIY approach, achieving their earning goals through multiple jobs.

In a McCrindle Research survey commissioned by Find a Carer, 1,007 Australians employed on a casual or contract basis were surveyed. The study found that 57% of contingent workers choose to work in this capacity, while 43% are forced. When it comes to Millennials working on a casual or contract basis, half (50%) are forced to do so and half choose to work in this way.

Mirroring the triple j Census, a generation ago 9 in 10 workers were employed full time, whereas today that has decreased to 7 in 10, meaning 3 in 10 workers are working in non-traditional full-time employment.

As Millennials change careers more frequently, they have the technology enablement to start businesses or to find new roles. As a generation, they are better equipped to plug back into education and upskill or retrain. They have more financial backing at that life stage to give something a go, and they don’t have the same commitments like having children and mortgages that their parents did at the same age. This has enabled them to be more career mobile than their parents were at the same age.

Additionally, Millennials are a very entrepreneurial generation. They are tech savvy and have grown up in an empowered era, with the ability to start a business and run that from home or run it while they study. They are also better equipped to market that business through social media and to create their own website. These are abilities and platforms that their parents’ generation didn’t have. With 2.2 million actively trading businesses, Australia is a small business nation after all.

For more on millennials, read ‘Millennials: keeping time on their side‘ in ANZ bluenotes.

Listen to the full podcast featuring Ashley Fell here.