Batches of Destiny

 

There is a placement ad circulating on social media that says 2021 Graduates are not eligible for a particular Job. I am not sure about the authenticity if it’s happening actually. There was an overall doubt on the quality of online education especially in STEM which needs access to equipment and labs. Some sectors will be more affected than others. But these graduates have their task cut out to minimize disruption caused by the pandemic on their career due to the socio-economic impact apart from online learning challenges.

Destiny plays important role in our lives but it is interesting to note how historic and economic events define the collective destiny of a group of people born in a certain decade (generation) or a certain year (batch). It is observed that people graduating during economic depression have a large economic impact on their lives as compared to others. During the coronavirus pandemic, students were sent home to do remote schooling, internships were canceled and for those graduating into the pandemic, getting a job felt impossible.  Your first job isn’t usually your best job, but it’s the way you make connections and learn what it means to be in the labor force. It’s the thing that provides the springboard to your future success. The class of 2020 entered one of the most hostile labor markets in recent history. Now as the class of 2021 graduates, conditions are difficult for young workers.  According to a study, 2020 graduates saw a bigger decrease in labor force participation than those who graduated during the Great Recession in 2008-10 and added debts.

The study states:  Graduating in a recession leads to large initial earnings losses. These losses, which amount to about 9 percent of annual earnings in the initial stage, eventually, recede, but slowly -- halving within five years but not disappearing until about ten years after graduation. Graduating in a recession leads workers to start at smaller and lower-paying firms, and they catch up by switching jobs more frequently than those who graduate in better times. Some workers are more affected by luck than others. For example, those with few years of experience suffer less than those entering labor markets, bottom people in class suffer more than toppers.

Another research shows impacts on outcomes and mortality when recession graduates reach midlife. Their first finding is that high school graduates and dropouts suffered even stronger income losses than college graduates when entering the labor market during a recession. Second, they found that negative impacts on socioeconomic outcomes persist in the long run. In midlife, recession graduates earned less, while working more. And they were less likely to be married and more likely to be childless. The third finding is that recession graduates had higher death rates when they reached middle age. These mortality increases stemmed mainly from diseases linked to unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drinking, and eating poorly.  

Thus it is advised to the batches to accept this as a part of human history and don’t take hard on yourself helping you stay away from mental depression, and work on three aspects to increase employability: acquiring advanced and rare skills, improve soft skills and network extensively to help bridge the gap. Finally, be proud of yourself for facing challenges that many people will never experience.  

Looking from a decade perspective each generation has a certain destiny.  Here I will stick to the global terminology of generations. The generation born from 1900 to the great depression is called Greatest Generation. This generation survived pandemic, wars, and depression.   The generation born during 30 till the end of the war is called Silent Generation as this set of people were few in numbers and felt unwise to speak out to legendary fathers and boomers to follow. Baby boomer refers to a member of the demographically large generation born between the end of WWII and the mid-1960s.  In the Indian context, this generation was the first batch born in Independent India. They saw visions of modern India but were deterred by economic deprivation. Jobs were hard to come by and entrepreneurs were not trusted by society.

GenX followed Boomers. The generation was born between the mid-60s and mid-80s. This is the batch that saw the transformation of India from depravity to the consumer market thanks to liberalization. They rode on IT wave and moved toward higher economic strata and enjoyed the benefits of Globalization. Gen Xers are self-sufficient, resourceful, and individualistic since they have been accustomed to caring for themselves at young age.   Because they lived through difficult economic times in the 1980s, they are less committed to employers than their baby boomer parents. They tend to have a strong entrepreneurial spirit. This generation also saw new world order.

Millennials — those born from the mid-1980s to early 2000s — were more flexible and want control of their lives. They also seek work-life balance. This generation is generally marked by elevated usage of and familiarity with the Internet, mobile devices, and social media. And thus are called digital natives. They are highly educated, a factor that boosted economic growth for them. Millennials across the world have suffered significant economic disruption since starting their working lives in the wake of the Great Recession and COVID-19.

Gen Z is the generation born in the new millennium till 2010. They are the first social generation to have grown up with access to the Internet and portable digital technology from a young age. This access has impacted their attention span, their vocabulary, and thus their school grades, as well as their future in the modern economy.  The generation born after 2010 is called Generation alpha. In between these generations there lies something dreaded as the Generation Gap.

We are a part of human history. Each one of us represents a Generation or a batch and has to suffer or benefit from being a part of that time continuum.  If we accept this, it is easier to accept and contextualize the situation we are in now.