Mind the Gap: What will it take to get activist-minded Gen Z to take government jobs?

CURATED READS FOR GEN Z—AND THEIR Z-CURIOUS COLLEAGUES

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Brought to you by Liz Hilton Segel, chief client officer and managing partner, global industry practices, & Homayoun Hatami, managing partner, global client capabilities

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Welcome back! This week, we’re talking about the jobs that keep society running.

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.

In the US, these roles include everything from federal-agency staffers and teachers to National Park Service employees and diplomats. We’re not talking about elected officials here, although some Gen Zers now occupy political office.

Only 8 percent of federal-government employees are under the age of 30, compared with about a third who are 55 or older, according to the US Office of Personnel Management. The lack of interest in these jobs is adding to a widespread talent shortage that extends beyond the federal level, affecting government operations at the state level, according to McKinsey senior partner Tim Ward and his coauthors.

What might keep Gen Z from getting on the federal government’s payroll? Maybe it has to do with a general mistrust of government officials, or maybe they want their work to have an impact on the world but think either a private-sector or not-for-profit job helps them do that better than a government job wrapped in bureaucratic red tape. Maybe they just lack awareness that government jobs exist: “the clock app” (aka, TikTok) is banned on most government devices, making it hard for any single government agency to use it to recruit Gen Zers in the same way some private companies have done. Or maybe it just comes down to the salary. Government budgets are limited, making it difficult to increase public-sector wages so that they are competitive with the private sector.

Why does it matter if Gen Z takes government jobs? If roles remain unfilled, keeping public services running smoothly and continuing to innovate for the future could get even more precarious. Staffing shortages could squeeze operations in departments that handle things like clean-energy infrastructure, aviation standards, labor protections, and more.

It’ll take a real push to transform how Gen Zers perceive government. By the way, this isn’t a phenomenon limited to North America: 35 percent of Australian public-sector employees said they were at least somewhat likely to quit their jobs in the next three to six months, citing that they find a lack of meaning in their work, their roles lack potential for career development, and their leadership fails to inspire them. Ouch.

Even though Gen Z cares about money, it isn’t the single most important factor in attracting them to or keeping them in a job. This is good news for government agencies that may have limited budgets and can’t simply raise wages to stay competitive with the private market. (There are ways that those groups can stretch their budget further, though. Here’s a McKinsey guide to that—if federal financial management is your thing.)

There are two other big levers government groups can pull to help beef up their recruiting arm and appeal to Gen Zers and other potential hires alike: focusing on what makes government work meaningful and offering workplace flexibility beyond hybrid work arrangements.

For now, we’ll wait to see if the public sector can convince Gen Zers to swap a Hype House for the White House.

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