What Metro Vancouver Millennials think about jobs and careers

Post Date

2018-06-25

Vancouver B.C. (June 2018)

How millennials are employed

Six-in-ten Metro Vancouver millennials are employed full-time (62%). A further 21 percent have part-time employment. Thirteen percent are engaged in contract, freelance or casual work. A further eight percent are seeking work (unemployed). Sixteen percent of Metro Vancouver millennials are students.

The survey, by Justason Market Intelligence and sponsored by Elevator Strategy, finds millennial men more likely than women to be fully employed (68% to 56%).

Full-time employment increases with education, from 27 percent of high school educated to 80 percent of postgraduates.

Full employment increases with age, from 43 percent of 18-24-year-olds to 73 percent of 35-39-year-olds.

Unemployment, or “seeking work”, is highest in Burnaby and New Westminster (16% to the 8% average) and among the high school-educated (18%).

Are jobs and careers a priority?

Two-thirds (67%) of Metro Vancouver millennials say “a job, any job” is critical need-to-have.

Regionally, Tri-Cities, Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows millennials are more likely than those residing elsewhere in the region to describe a job as a need-to-have (78% to the 67% average).

A “fulfilling career” is a priority for a similar proportion of Metro Vancouver millennials (65%). However, the importance of a fulfilling career declines with age: Three-quarters (75%) of younger millennials (18-24 years) prioritize career fulfillment, while half (52%) of 35-39-year-olds do so.

Millennials of European background are significantly less likely than their counterparts of almost all other ancestral groups to prioritize career fulfillment (55% versus 69-82%).

Values alignment

Three-quarters of millennials (73%) feel the values of their employer align with their own; one-quarter (26%) consider these values to be “completely” aligned.

Values alignment increases with formal education (from 65% of those with high school to 92% among postgraduates). Notably, postgrads are more likely than the less formally educated to have complete values alignment with their employers (38% versus 19-26%).

Values alignment increases with income, from 66 percent of under-$50K earners to 83 percent of $100K-plus earners. This growth is noted primarily in the “completely” aligned category, which increases from 20 percent among the lowest earners (<$50K) to 33 percent of highest earners (>$100K).

Millennials of South Asian background are more likely than those from other backgrounds to say their values align “completely” with their employers’ (42% to the 26% average).

Job and career satisfaction

Seven-in-ten millennials are satisfied with their current job or career (72%).

Satisfaction increases with age, from 62 percent of 18-24-year-olds to 81 percent of 35-39 year olds.

As found for values alignment, job satisfaction is highest among postgraduates (88% to 66-72% of less formally educated).

Similarly, income is a predictor of job satisfaction, which grows from 63 percent among under-$50K earners to 84 percent among over-$100K earners. Notably, 36 percent of top earners are “very” satisfied (compared to 16% and 18% among earners).

Millennials of South Asian background are more likely to express overall job satisfaction (83%), a group also more likely to to say theirs and their employers’ values are “completely” aligned.


For more information contact:

Peter ter Weeme, Elevator Strategy
+1 250 616 9950 / peter@elevatorstrategy.com

Barb Justason, Justason Market Intelligence
+1 604 783 4165 / Barb@JustasonMI.com

About Elevator Strategy
Elevator Strategy is a full-service, Canadian-owned, purpose-driven communications firm at the epicentre of Vancouver’s thriving, digital technology hub. Elevator uses proven communication and training techniques along with emerging technologies to cultivate and propel the higher purpose of clients.

About Justason Market Intelligence Inc.
Justason Market Intelligence Inc. is a Vancouver-based market and social research firm asking the right people the right questions and delivering epiphanies. Justason offers the complete range of survey research and qualitative methodologies, all with personal service only possible with a boutique firm. The firm owns and operates Vancouver Focus®.


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Research Notes

These are selected results of a Justason Market Intelligence online survey of Metro Vancouver millennials, age 18-39 years. The survey, released for public education purposes, was jointly sponsored by Justason Market Intelligence and Elevator Strategy. The survey, conducted in English May 10-14, 2018, relied on random sampling of pre-recruited panelists. The Justason Market Intelligence panel is recruited by random digit dialling (RDD) of landlines and mobile phones and secondarily by river sampling. The research design oversampled some groups to permit independent analysis.

This unweighted non-probability sample of 648 was weighted to 500 and normalized to the actual gender, age, and regional distributions of the current census (2016). A probability sample of 500 carries a margin of error of +/-4.4 percentage points 95 percent of the time.

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