Simon Schnetzer has been researching the living and working environments of 14-39 year olds in Germany since 2010. His recent study ‘Young Germans 2021’ has recently been published. The study not only provides answers to the questions of what makes young people tick and why, but also offers specific assistance on how to get young people excited about employers, brands or commitment and in shaping intergenerational cooperation. For the current study, we surveyed 1,602 people aged 14-39 from our access panel in Germany, in a representative survey, between 15 October and 2 November 2020.

The results show, among other things, the satisfaction of young people remains high. 70% are satisfied or even very satisfied with their lives. However, since the beginning of the Corona pandemic, this satisfaction has declined considerably and both psychological and financial worries are on the rise. The most important values of the young generation are health (65%), trust (64%) and family (63%). In contrast, ecological sustainability, faith and religion, as well as performance and career bring up the rear in the value ranking. When asked how they would define a good job, a good working atmosphere (62%), job security (54%), a good work-life balance (53%), a possibility to combine family and profession (49%) and good leaders (48%) come out on top.

The entire results of the study on different areas of life can be found here (German) and the counterpart for Austria – ‘Young Austrians 2021’, for which we surveyed our Austrian panel, here (German).