Mind the Gap

Gen Z fashion trends can become viral supernovas and then fade to black faster than many of us can follow. By the time the headlines document fads such as the office siren, “Madam Sandler,” or old money aesthetic, they’ve likely already become passé.

For US education administrators, funding is more top of mind now than it’s been in a while. On September 30, pandemic-era stimulus funding allotted to the country’s K–12 schools has ended.

In the United States, public trust in institutions, businesses, and brands has been low for at least the past decade. So it may come as no surprise that as Gen Zers come of age, they’ve got trust issues of their own.

Are employers showing newly minted college grads the door soon into their first jobs? A recent survey conducted by Intelligent.com, an online researcher that focuses on higher education and young professionals, raises concerns. The survey, which made the rounds in the business press in the United States, found that 75 percent of nearly 1,000 companies surveyed reported that their college grad hires were unsatisfactory.

When we began publishing our Women in the Workplace report in 2015, most Gen Z women were girls who had not yet begun their careers. Today, however, the data is beginning to reflect their experience in the workplace.

We’re not talking about influencer marketing or the partnership that occurs between social media users and brands to promote products or services. Instead, we’re talking about workplace influencers.

What skills do the best CEOs have? Many business leaders have deep experience in finance, technology, corporate strategy, or operations.

This week, we’re talking Gen Z’s latest sustainability moves, the tightening of the global labor force, and how to become famous.

We already know that Gen Zers are interested in health and wellness. Turns out, those interests translate to career aspirations, too.

Gen Zers who are “taking a long-term approach to planning their careers” are now referred to as the “road map generation,” according to a recent Business Insider article. These ambitious budding professionals are weighing whether job offers—and the benefits and development opportunities that come with them—set them up for success in life.

For Gen Z graduates in the class of 2024, spring was a celebratory blur. Some of them accepted new job offers, moved to new places, and may have already started work.

It’s time we checked in on Gen Zers in India. The country recently wrapped up a high-stakes election season, during which various political groups did their part to woo young voters.

Books are in fashion—and we mean that literally. Fashion heavy hitters such as Gen Z model Kaia Gerber and Miu Miu, a Gen Z favorite brand, are sharing their book recommendations far and wide.

To the class of 2024—congratulations! You did it. Now that school is behind you, you’re about to embark on bigger, better, and more lucrative horizons in the corporate world. Er, sort of. The job market for corporate entry-level workers in the United States is feeling the squeeze. As company executives across sectors continue to do what they can to protect their bottom lines, the result has been fewer promotions. That means fewer people are advancing to make room for newbies coming into the fold.

The consumer landscape is shifting—big time—and Gen Z is playing its part in shaping the industry’s future.

The share of Americans identifying as LGBTQ+ has grown to reach 7.6 percent, up from 5.6 percent four years ago, according to Gallup. A closer look at the split between generations reveals an interesting trend: just over 22 percent of Gen Zers in the United States identify as LGBTQ+, higher than millennials (9.8 percent), Gen Xers (4.5 percent), and boomers (2.3 percent) combined.

For Gen Z, the workplace is a critical environment for social interaction. This group may be used to living and working in the same space, and having video meetings instead of coffee chats; that’s all many of them know.

This summer, a new class of Gen Z Olympians will head to Paris to compete for gold. But will their peers watch them vie for a place on the podium?

Idealists sometimes get a bad rap for prioritizing their vision of a utopian world over the practicality of the one we live in. But not Gen Zers, who are known for both their idealism and their pragmatism.

Gen Zers are known for being purpose-driven at work. But finding that purpose in their own lives is more difficult. That feeling may contribute to the cohort’s relatively poor spiritual health, which in turn is correlated with all other kinds of health—mental, physical, and social.

New research from McKinsey partner Brooke Weddle and coauthors finds that the market for skilled laborers in the United States is about to get squeezed: by 2032, there will be roughly 22 times more new hires in critical skilled-trades roles than there are new jobs in those categories (such as carpenters, construction laborers, and electricians).

This week, we’re exploring how HR can better engage Gen Z, the luxury-travel boom, and how to organize your time like a CFO.

Do Gen Zers long for a world where analog devices reign supreme? Some evidence suggests this might be the case: fatigue with modern-day dating apps is growing, while Gen Zers are taking a greater interest in dumbphones and disposable cameras.

In a sea of endless options, why settle for good enough? No, we’re not talking about Gen Z’s dating woes. Rather, consumer brand loyalty—or should we say disloyalty—is the topic du jour. Zoomers, for their part, are relatively disloyal, willing to try new brands they hea

Some headlines might make you think Gen Zers are a cohort of CEOs and sole proprietors. Some survey data indicate that half of Gen Zers want to be founders.

This week, we’re sizing up Gen Z’s summer travel plans. It’s April, which means we’re just a few months away from the summer travel bonanza. Last year, Gen Zers made headlines for their unapologetic globe-trotting, no matter the hit to their (digital) wallets.

Welcome back! This week, we look at whether a nearly 60-year-old article predicted Gen Z’s role in the workplace.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever gone a whole workday without speaking to another person in person. Two days? What about an entire week?

Among the findings from the latest Women in the Workplace report we published in partnership with LeanIn.Org: young women are incredibly ambitious (lazy girl, who?)—but they still need guidance from their more experienced colleagues.

Ah, spring. A season of renewal—and a time to refresh Gen Z’s beauty shelf, apparently. McKinsey’s latest ConsumerWise research finds that Gen Z consumers in the United States say beauty products are among the categories they intend to splurge on most in the next three months (behind only groceries and tied with apparel).

Consumer goods makers are seeing volume declines (translation: fewer goods sold) that are pretty unusual for the industry. The quick and dirty: consumers are somewhat optimistic about the economy—and spending more—but prices are weighing on them. As a result, they’re cutting back on the number of purchases they’re making across categories, including grocery, health and beauty, and household items.

While it’s true that the oldest Gen Zers have graduated from college and started their careers, the youngest in this group are just entering their teen years. Instead of thinking about their work satisfaction, these Zoomers are faced with a different challenge: many are falling behind when preparing for life after the classroom.

This year, Gen Zers, many of whom are newly entering the workforce, are expected to outnumber baby boomers in the US workplace.

All those fears that generative AI (gen AI) is going to put people out of work may be overblown—at least for the time being.

Last week, we took a look at how Gen Z spends on health and wellness. This time, we’re focusing on women’s health, and the trillion-dollar opportunity that addressing the women’s health gap could offer.

Gen Zers and millennials are now purchasing more wellness products and services than older generations are according to McKinsey’s latest Future of Wellness research, which surveyed more than 5,000 consumers across China, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Last year, we dedicated an edition of this newsletter to Gen Z’s interest in driving, sparked by news that Gen Zers had been getting their driver’s licenses at a much smaller rate than earlier generations.

Welcome to January, a month commonly devoted to intention setting for the year ahead. For world leaders, this happens at Davos, the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting where government leaders and industry titans gather to discuss the world’s most pressing issues. This year’s summit will be held January 15 to 19.

Nobody ever wants to be in the middle. See: airplane seats, birth order, an argument. For Gen Z, the same may be true for middle management in the workplace. The oldest Gen Zers are on the cusp of advancing out of entry-level jobs and into middle management roles—and they’re not happy about it.

The bar to reach Gen Z consumers continues to rise. That’s one of the takeaways from the latest McKinsey and the Business of Fashion State of Fashion report, which examines ten themes that will define the fashion industry in 2024.

If you live on planet Earth, you probably know that COP28, the United Nation’s annual climate conference, is taking place this week in Dubai. Government officials, business executives, and other global leaders are gathering at the event to discuss how to continue to tackle climate change.

Global interest in the term “burnout” peaked in 2021. At the time, millennials and working-age Gen Zers in the US reported the highest levels of burnout among the different age groups.

McKinsey’s latest ConsumerWise survey on holiday shopping asked more than 1,000 US consumers across age groups how they intend to shop for the holidays this year and how much they plan to spend. The results show that winning over Gen Z—whose expectations are high while their brand loyalty is notoriously low—requires retailers to excite shoppers, offer enticing deals, and complete deliveries at the speed of light. Let’s have a closer look

When we talk about skills-based hiring—or the idea that you hire someone according to their skills instead of their educational background—it’s often to convince employers that adopting the practice is the best way to fill in-demand roles in a tight labor market. But when it comes to Gen Zers, skills-based hiring may have even greater significance—regardless of whether they went to college.

As many older people increasingly realize that they may have to put their retirement plans on hold, Gen Z appears to have something else in mind.

Another day, another data point that shows generational stereotypes can be—and are often—wrong! Lazy Gen Z? Not according to our latest Women in the Workplace report, which found that nine in ten women under 30 want to be promoted and three in four aspire to become senior leaders.

For ages, people have bemoaned the vices and preferences of the next generation, insisting their habits would usher in the end of civilized society or some other moral panic. When it comes to Gen Z’s drinking habits, the script has flipped. In fact, some Gen Xers and boomers are downright confused about why young adults are sober.

Earlier this year, there were a bunch of headlines about how working-age Gen Zers now want to pursue a career in finance, a change from two years ago, when those same people said they wanted to pursue careers in education and healthcare.
Turns out, stability and a fat paycheck are sexy to young professionals who face a high cost of living and an uncertain economy.

The key to happiness—and staying healthy—is having warm relationships, as Robert Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, explained in a recent edition of McKinsey Author Talks. That’s a big problem for Gen Zers, who report feeling more lonesome than other generations.

You’ve heard of FOMO, or the fear of missing out, and its counterpart, JOMO, the joy of missing out. There’s a new kid on the block occupying Gen Z’s mindshare: FOBO, or the fear of becoming obsolete.

In December 2021, the US surgeon general warned that the youth mental health crisis had become “devastating.” Two years later, the data still points to trouble.

It’s September, which means we’re transitioning from tomato girl summer to tailgate season, aka back to school! What’s top of mind for college students and faculty this year?

You just got a job offer! Congrats. Time to size it up: Employer-sponsored healthcare? Check. Generous vacation allowance? Nice. No clear environmental goals? Wait a minute . . .

There’s a quote that is in perpetual circulation across the internet—probably misattributed a million times over—about how smart people learn from their mistakes, but wise people learn from other people’s mistakes. Enter the mentor.

Back in March, this newsletter looked at Gen Z’s spending habits. But that was only one small glimpse into Z-babies’ finances.

What we may overlook in this hot-pink celebration of girl culture are the pernicious and persistent problems Gen Z women in the workplace face (for those of you who watched Barbie, the movie tips its ensemble of pink hats at the topic). These challenges include everything from the gender pay gap to conscious (and unconscious) bias, and they can be found globally—in Asia, Canada, Spain, even the metaverse—and across industries, such as sports, government, and healthcare. You get the picture.

Booktok, or the corner of TikTok where users recommend their favorite books, is the best thing to happen to long-form reading in years, delivering the latest literary must-haves directly to Gen Z. Views of the hashtag have grown to more than 90 billion, up from 60 billion last year, which have in turn driven higher sales for authors whose works become popular on the platform.

Thanks for being a valued subscriber to Mind the Gap, our weekly roundup of must-reads for Gen Zers and the Z-curious. As we hit the dog days of summer in our part of the world, we’ll be taking a two-week break from our typical send schedule to rest and recharge

Gen Z’s obsession with time is apparent all over the internet: there are countless “5-to-9” videos with millions of views, along with headlines that claim Gen Zers demand a workday free from the constraints of the eight-hour window that has largely defined office work for the last century, or to make life their full-time job and work their part-time job.

A new day, a new portmanteau—or two—for our working world is here. “Workation” is the concept of working from a vacation locale for an extended period. There’s also “bleisure,” or business plus leisure travel.

For Gen Z, the quarter-life crisis—that existential dread that comes in your 20s as you try to figure out who you really are—can be a debilitating struggle. Later, this kind of early angst can seem trivial: How can a 20-something, with an expanse of possibilities and relatively few responsibilities, feel so much anguish so early in their life?

We spend a lot of time in this newsletter talking about Gen Z’s experience entering the workforce, starting new jobs, and figuring out how to make the most of their early career years. Is it possible that some of the most ambitious within this generation have bypassed those growing pains and leapfrogged all the way to the C-suite?

There are new signs that the Great Resignation—the era in which millions of people quit their jobs during the pandemic—may be coming to an end.

Ask most Gen Zers if they care about the planet and its people—and if they make shopping decisions based on those beliefs—and you’re likely to get a yes.

As Gen Zers find their way back to the office (or begin to navigate it for the first time), mentorship is an oft-overlooked and underestimated tool that helps everyone—not just Gen Z—find their way at work.

There is a familiar cycle of download and delete that Gen Z has come to understand all too well in its relationship with social media.

If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are you’re already familiar with many of the stereotypes about Gen Z at work: they want to work from home, they’re “quiet quitting,” they’re actually quitting, they won’t answer a phone call, they don’t want to work hard.

Gen Z is often thought to be a generation of activists. While that identity might result in picking up a protest poster, so far it hasn’t translated to an interest in civil-service jobs, at least according to current employment numbers.

Even though the technology is sparking a ton of excitement in every industry, the latest evolution in AI has also brought with it a collective anxiety about job displacement and robot overlords. Joking. Kind of.

Consumer brands spend a lot of money to attract and retain customers. In the past, that meant focusing on splashy advertising campaigns and, eventually, digital marketing to convert interested consumers into paying and, crucially, repeat customers.

Luxury ice is a thing now. Not “ice” like jewelry. And not “ice” like Ice Spice (sad). Ice as in ice cubes. Logo-stamped and flower-suspending $14 ice cubes are just the tip of the ice … berg.

For Gen Z, the life hack to end all life hacks is here. It’s called generative AI, and to some, it is the technological embodiment of the adage “work smarter, not harder.”

Anyone who describes themselves as “extremely online” can confirm that time is compressed on the internet. News, fads, and controversies that once dominated our collective consciousness for weeks have just a fraction of the shelf life on social media. The swiftness with which a video goes viral also characterizes the speed with which it fades to black.

There’s plenty of data indicating that Gen Zers are pessimistic about the world. It’s not hard to see why, considering that most of them experienced a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic during their formative years, sparking a loneliness epidemic and making everyday life newly challenging. All this coincided with global unrest and overheating economies, making job prospects in some industries iffy.

When musician Olivia Rodrigo released her debut single “Drivers License” in 2021, the song was an instant hit. At the time, it broke the most single-day streams for a non-holiday song on Spotify, spending multiple weeks at number one and becoming a bona fide Gen Z anthem. But when it comes to their own driver’s licenses, Gen Zers are somewhat less enthusiastic.

Capturing the food preferences of an entire generation of consumers is a tough nut to crack. While avocado toast reflected the zeitgeist in which millennials came of age, Gen Zers’ tastes are a little all over the menu, so to speak. Still, there are some consistent behaviors that these younger consumers have come to exhibit.

Given recent tech sector rumblings, Gen Zers aiming to work in the field may feel like the short-term hiring outlook is relatively bleak. But even before this year, one group was already underrepresented in tech: Black Americans. This group makes up 12 percent of the US workforce but only 8 percent of employees in tech jobs, thanks to structural barriers and holes in the talent pipeline.

Welcome back! This week, we’re looking at what it means to have “fun” with your coworkers.

Welcome back! This week, we’re looking at the pros and cons of hustle culture and the gig economy.

Welcome back—this week, we’re talking about Gen Z’s complicated relationship with privacy.

Even though some of the Northern Hemisphere is seeing chilly temperatures, one thing that keeps getting hotter is the talent market.

Welcome back! After our brief recess, Mind the Gap’s first issue in 2023 is (somewhat fittingly) on the scariest of CV specters.

Do you feel like the protagonist of your own life? If not, perhaps you need to move out of NPC (nonplayer character) status and harness the much-loved trend of “main-character energy” when planning your 2023.

Consider this: you start a brand-new job. Your only introduction to coworkers is an email with your professional bio and that one cringeworthy headshot. The “tour” is a training packet that tells you where the online files live. And the watercooler is your own kitchen sink (dishes included).

This week we’re talking greenwashing—and not the kind that involves sweeping endless pine needles out of your living room.

Gen Z is infamous for having a short attention span. Young people do love an endless stream of content, and short-form video is king—many spend more than six hours a day watching—but it’s not true that Gen Z can only pay attention for eight seconds.

Welcome back—this week, we’re getting festive. The US holiday season is here, and Gen Z is ready to spend some serious cash.

Welcome back! And happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday, happy birthday.

Welcome back! I’m hoping this hits my bosses’ inboxes before they give me my performance review (wink, wink).

Welcome back! In the Northern Hemisphere, the days are getting shorter. Warding off winter blues is my version of doomsday prepping—and maybe a reason Gen Z loves funky fashion?

Did you ever play the game M.A.S.H. in school? It’s an American kids’ game where you write down a list of possible options for your future in a few categories.

Welcome back—this week I commit the cardinal sin of being a joke-explainer.

Welcome back—yesterday was World Mental Health Day, but mental health struggles affect millions worldwide every day.

Have you ever heard someone scoff that Gen Z workers have “no sense of loyalty”?

Welcome back—this week, we’re talking about data trust. Do you trust who’s using yours?

In 2019, a study estimated that a Gen Zer in the United States would spend a whopping $226,000 on rent in their lifetime—and that was before the gut punch of recent rent hikes.

Ads for apparel are part of the ever-growing body of sponsored content that people consume daily alongside regular videos and social-media posts, and they are part of an influencer marketing economy that hit $16.4 billion this year.

Welcome—Sarah is back this week, and we’re talking about the latest work buzzword.

Hello again! Our summer interns are here for the second week of our intern takeover. Today, we’re looking at a social issue that’s top of mind for Gen Z: a sustainable and equitable food system.

Welcome back. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’re in the final stretch of summer—and the summer college break is a time when interns descend on many organizations.

With August in full swing, back-to-school days are just around the corner. This year, make sure you avoid that last-minute scramble for college-ruled composition books (that is, if you still use paper). Internet ubiquity has already set Gen Z’s education apart, but there’s a lot more to the picture.

So while the complicated lines between work and play keep being redrawn, please don’t take it personally if I leave your follow invite in request purgatory.

If you or a loved one has felt like crying at a gas station pump recently, you’re not alone.

This week, in a #throwback—remember when that was a thing?—to yesteryear, we’re talking nostalgia and Gen Z.

Do you follow a sports team? Ever buy some merch? The NFL’s chief marketing officer said that “if you don’t acquire a fan by the time they’re 18, you’re most likely never going to get them.” A few years ago, execs feared that millennials would be the death of sports fandom—they were largely wrong, but now it’s Gen Z’s turn in the hot seat.

Where do you get your news? I get mine from a whirlwind of my favorite digital-newspaper home pages, a couple of podcasts, and the clickbait headlines from my feeds. And of course, push notifications sharing all the news that’s fit to blast.

Welcome back—while some start-ups have seen their growth slow in recent months, the prospect of a billion-dollar idea still has a hold on Gen Z.

Welcome back! Have you seen the memes of employers asking for ten years of experience for an entry-level job? It’s funny because it’s true.

Welcome back—this week, we’re talking about vacations. Bon voyage, everyone.

Welcome back! This week, we’re looking at the buying, digital, and digital buying practices of Gen Z in Asia.

Welcome back—this week, we’re talking Davos.

It’s graduation season! You may be tossing your cap and doing champagne-spray photoshoots on your favorite campus steps, but soon you could be starting your first professional job. That’s why we’ve got The Graduate’s Guide to the World of Work, a first-stop destination for making sense of the world you’re entering—curated by the Gen Z folks here.

This week we’re talking hybrid work—is it the best of both worlds?

Welcome back! This week, we’re talking games and gamification—what’s your favorite?

May the 4th be with you tomorrow for #StarWarsDay! This week, we're looking to the (real) future of the space industry. Sadly, wookies are not on the agenda.

Welcome back—this week, we’re talking productivity hacks. Stick around to the end or you’ll miss how to “bake bread to hire homies.”

Fashion is one of the top three categories for Gen Z splurges. But there’s a real divide: half the fashion posts I see are people modeling gorgeous thrifted finds, and half are massive fast-fashion hauls. We’re split on high-quality, long-lasting “slow fashion” versus the cheap, trendy clothes that are quickly made—and just as quickly discarded.

April is Stress Awareness Month, April 7 was World Health Day, and two weeks ago, the McKinsey Health Institute launched with a mission of adding years to life and life to years.

Same money, more problems. Inflation is at a 40-year high, and the prices of major Gen Z expenses like gas, rent, food, and tuition are rising especially quickly.

One in five Gen Z adults in the US now identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, according to a recent Gallup poll. Our generation has seen amazing strides when it comes to all people living openly and authentically in all parts of their lives.

Do your social values shape where you shop? Mine do, and that makes me what’s called an “inclusive consumer.” Like 45 percent of America (and growing), inclusive consumers think that retailers should support and uplift Black-owned businesses and brands.

Welcome to the very first edition of Mind the Gap, a new newsletter for those of us in Gen Z—and the Z-curious colleagues we work with.