Sep 18, 2019

Gen Zers and millennials are ghosting their new jobs for better offers

Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios

The labor market is so strong that not only are millennial and Gen Z employees ghosting their employers as they leave jobs, but they're also ghosting new jobs because they've gotten a better offer, CNN reports.

What's happening: "People are getting multiple offers in a market like today, and they are not showing up on their first day of work," Paul McDonald, senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half, tells CNN's Kathryn Vasel.

By the numbers: Research from recruitment firm Randstad US found that 66% of U.S. managers have had an experience with candidates who accepted a job offer and then backed out or simply disappear before their start date. The practice was dubbed “ghosting” after gaining notoriety in online dating, CNBC notes.

"According to Randstad’s study of 1,202 U.S. managers and employees, more than a third (43 percent) of Gen Z employees — those aged 22 and under — say they’ve accepted a job but then not taken the job."
"That figure dips to 26 percent for millennials (those aged 23-38) and Gen X-ers (those aged 39-54). For baby boomers — or those between the age of 55 and 74, it falls to 13 percent," per CNBC.

Go deeper: Meet Generation Alpha, the 9-year-olds shaping our future

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Dion Rabouin

U.S. job openings and hiring both slowed in August

Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Axios Visuals

The U.S. job market remains strong, with more job openings than unemployed people seeking a job, but companies are starting to put some hiring plans on hold.

The big picture: The U.S. had 7.05 million job openings at the end of August, the Labor Department reported on Wednesday, but after torrid increases over the past 2 years, the number of jobs businesses have to offer is beginning to turn lower, but not because firms are filling the positions.

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Fadel Allassan

College-student voting rate doubled in 2018, analysis says

Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

A study of 10 million college students on 1,000 campuses illustrated a nationwide increase in voting, with rates doubling in the 2018 midterm election as compared to 2014, according to a report out Thursday from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education at Tufts University.

Why it matters: While older voters historically turned out at significantly higher rates, the new data could signal a change going into the 2020 presidential election, a year in which millennials and Generation Z are expected to make up 37% of the U.S. electorate.

Go deeperSep 19, 2019

Ben Geman

How the U.S. oil boom echoes through the economy

A BP oil refinery in California. Photo: David McNew/Getty Images

A new Dallas Fed note explores a metric of what the shale-driven U.S. production surge has meant for the wider economy.

What they found: "The share of the upstream oil and gas sector in the level of U.S. nonresidential fixed investment doubled from 3.4 percent in the decade before the shale oil boom to an average of 6.4 percent since 2008."

Go deeperSep 25, 2019