Cashed-up Gen Y breaks the rules

3Jul08

Source: Nina Lees, Adnews

MELBOURNE: The somewhat predictable behaviour of Generation Y is being affected by a whole host of modern-day challenges, a new report has revealed.

Youth media and communications agency Lifelounge has found 16 to 30-year-olds are changing their behaviours in line with a range of changes in society.

The 2008 Urban Market Research report measures the self concept of Australian youth and how certain influences such as communication, finance, sex, health and wellbeing are driving choice in their lives.

The research also found that in the past 12 months there’s been an alarming trend of fewer people venturing out to nightclubs, pubs and local gigs, believed to be because of the smoking ban, the increase sales tax on alcopops and the venue lockouts occurring around the country.

But the youth of today are cashed up according to the report, which
found that 53% are still living with their parents, and those in
full-time work are now earning an average of $50,000 a year.

And they’re turning to the internet to spend their cash, with 80%
purchasing something online in the past 12 months, with fashion and
music among their biggest purchases.

But it’s not all good news. Keen to stand out from the crowd, young
people are bored of marketers telling them what they should like, do,
wear and consume, with the biggest brand today being "individual style".

Travel, traditionally a rite of passage for the young Australia, isn’t proving quite as vital for Australian youth today.

The number of young people travelling overseas in the past year has
plummeted (down from 41% to 33%), particularly to Europe – the
traditional playground for the young Aussie traveller.

The number of 16 to 30-year-olds still living at home in the past 12
months has increased from 51% to 53%, which hasn’t been helped by the
growing difficulty to find affordable accommodation in desirable urban
locations. The number of people living in a share house has decreased
from 21% to 16% over the last 12 months, while the number to become
first home buyers has slightly increased from 11% to 13%.

Dion Appel, CEO, Lifelounge, said the results were obtained from a
quantitative analysis of data collected from 3,291 young adults aged
between 16 and 30, and is supported by in-depth qualitative interviews.

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