Last week I received a call from a reporter who wanted to know the following:  If the economy truly does drift into a downturn, how will the T-Ball Generation respond?  The reporter noted her own T-Ball Generation children know little about economic adversity and concepts like “tightening one’s belt.”  Even though they witnessed the slump that followed 9/11, they have never experienced the combination of tightening credit and increasing unemployment that we see today.

 

I sense today’s newest workers will respond to a potential downturn using a couple of key strategies.  First, they will lean hard on their parents.  In their youths, the T-Ball Generation developed a close bond with their parents, giving rise to the phenomena of “helicopter parents.”  As the T-Ball Generation has entered adulthood, that bond has not weakened.  Should the employment market become more tenuous, lots of young workers will forego establishing their independence, opting instead to return home to crash with Mom and Dad for awhile.  (By the way, recently I came across one statistic that indicates more young men between the ages of 19 and 29 now live at home with Mom and Dad than at any time in history since the Great Depression.)

 

Second, I would not be surprised to find many members of the T-Ball Generation view an economic downturn as an opportunity to explore other career options.  Don’t forget, this generation entered the workplace with the expectation that they will likely tip-toe through multiple careers throughout their lives.  If the job at Citicorp doesn’t pan out, they may try something completely different—teaching elementary school, fundraising for a non-profit, even working on a political campaign.

 

 I am fairly certain that the T-Ball Generation’s enthusiasm will not be tempered, especially if the downturn is limited to the historically typical six months.  If a recession upends their careers, many T-Ball Generation members will use any period of unemployment to further build their résumés, making them that much more marketable when the economic up-tick begins.