Young people are usually more optimistic about their economic future with respect to older groups. Even at this time, in which the economic uncertainty is triggered and there is so much talk of, they are more flexible to changes and accumulate positive expectations about a future that is about to develop. More than half of those born between the late nineties and the first decade of the 2000 baby boomers (between 61 and 79 years) and the silent generation, born between 1928 and 1945. Consumer priorities, in addition, are different. Young people plan to buy clothes and increase their digital subscriptions to a greater extent than previous generations, according to the survey 5D thermometer elaborated by 40db. to Fifodies y The country. Instead, they are more willing to give up other consumption habits, such as buying fresh fish.
The survey has been made from 6,000 interviews throughout the first quarter of the year and addresses Five key dimensions to measure the economic expectations of citizens: consumption, in turn segregated in seven sections – they are asked to what extent they will consume in the future olive oil, fresh fish, new clothes, cars, digital platforms, they will eat outside and travel through leisure -, savings, investment, labor market and housing. The perspectives on the future are stable as a whole, but there is a lot of heterogeneity depending on the population segment that is questioned and the category of consumption analyzed.
The Z generation is not only revealed more optimistic; It also moves more among the extremes, a symptom that it is more prone to change. The youngest are, for example, the most willing to increase at the same time to reduce their subscriptions to digital content (films, series, press, etc.). At the same time, they are the most positive about oil consumption – a 30.5% say that in the next six months it will buy more – but they are the only pessimists in increasing fresh fish spending. On the other hand, they are the most likely to travel more for leisure, buy clothes and eat away from home.
The results correspond to the first quarter of 2025, a course that far from bringing serenity after almost a five years of seizure – which includes the pandemic and invasion of Ukraine – is expected of high voltage for the European and global economy. The bands of the US president in commercial and diplomatic matters are clearing the already fragile international balances and threaten a world recession. Although Spain is fitting the coup well, there is no certainty about tomorrow and there are internal challenges without solving, such as the lack of affordable housing and inflation even above the goal. All components that weigh on the formation of expectations, which nevert themselves to the same measure as intangibles such as fear, uncertainty and past experiences.
The positivity of centennialsIn fact, it is undone in the macroeconomic dimensions related to housing and the labor market, seen with hopelessness for all generations. While it collides with the data, since all groups perceive that there is now more unemployment among the people around their surroundings although the affiliation is at maximum, the warrant of the real estate market is a reality. The purchase of a house has become a chimera for many and is primed especially with the youngest without family support: they have less savings, lower salaries to generate them and more precarious jobs. Even so, the Zs are also the least pessimistic generation in this area.
The expectations of millennials—New between 1981 and 1996 – they move in a similar way, although less vehement. Like the centennialsabout a third declares that it will travel more for pleasure and buy more clothes in the coming months, compared to 15% and 22%, respectively, of generation X (which it currently has between 45 and 60 years). There is also greater optimism about its future savings capacity compared to the older population, but less marked with respect to the youngest.
As age progresses, optimism is cracking and the perspective of stability – and in some cases pessimism – a terrain, an almost inevitable reflection of a longer vital baggage where the economic ups and downs are stored. The baby boomers And the silent generation claim, in almost all the analyzed categories, that they will maintain their habits, especially in terms of food, or reduce their consumption. They have the most gloomy vision of future savings capacity and feel that access to housing has worsened in their surroundings. Some already retired and others close to retirement are the least pessimistic about the situation of employment in their next social circle, since they perceive that unemployment has increased, but with less intensity with respect to subsequent generations.
The generation consumption radiography data does not confirm the story of the alleged clash between two monolithic generational blocks, some older with more resources and some lagging young people. Moreover, if the data is intended by social class, it is evident that economic capacity influences much more than the age about future perspectives: the lower and medium-low classes, which include people of all generations, are the most pessimistic more than in all dimensions. One more proof that expectations, as well as inequality, are mainly structured by class and not by generation.
