GENERATION Y ON LABOUR MARKET – PERCEPTION OF WORK VALUES AND QUALITY OF JOB

Abstract

The purposes of the study were to characterize Generation Y as participants in the labour market, to identify the economic conditions of labour markets, and to describe the social and individual factors of job values and working conditions relevant to this cohort. The article presents the results of the conducted research and its main conclusions. The following hypothesis was formulated: countries that met the conditions for joining the European Union at the same time differ in their respective paths of labour market development and also differ from countries that joined the Union in other periods. Additional hypotheses regarding the perception of the workplace were also tested. For this purpose, subjective variables were defined to assess working and private life conditions. Eurostat data (due to the comparability of labour market variables) as well as data from the European Social Survey (due to their representativeness and the subjective nature of respondents’ assessments) were used. In terms of analytical techniques, ordering methods were applied, namely Hellwig’s method and TOPSIS, along with two-step cluster analysis. The selected dataset and methods enabled a comprehensive characterization of the phenomenon and allowed comparison of results obtained from both ordering methods. The results indicate that a higher level of GDP per capita does not necessarily lead to an increase in the employment rate or a reduction in Generation Y unemployment. The ordering methods made it possible to identify countries that, in the period from 2005 to 2017, achieved the most favorable labour market characteristics. The two-step cluster analysis showed that dividing Generation Y into younger and older subgroups is not essential, as their assessments of job quality and working conditions do not differ significantly. The analysis conducted over three years also revealed how attitudes toward work–life balance, working conditions, and the ability to influence organizational issues at work have evolved in selected countries. The obtained results cannot be directly compared with findings from other studies, as no comparable research using similar methods, population, time frame, and age cohort exists.

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Received: 9 Mar 2020
Revised: 2 May 2020
Accepted: 6 Jun 2020
Published: 20 Jun 2020