By Charlotte Tybjerg Sørensen, AAU Communication and Public Affairs
Photo: Colourbox

According to the analysis, 70 percent of 18-29-year-olds find that high pay is important or very important in a job. This is a higher proportion than, for example, the age group 45-64 years. At the same time, 62 percent of young people respond that the opportunity to have a career is important or very important. This is also more than all other groups in the labour market, i.e., 30-44-year-olds, 45-64-year-olds and 65-67-year-olds.

On the other hand, idealistic considerations are less salient among young people. Only 56 percent of 18-29-year-olds consider it important that work contributes to creating a better society. Here, the figures are 64, 66 and 71 percent, respectively, for the other age groups in the survey. Similarly, young people, to a lesser extent than the other age groups, emphasize work making a concrete difference for other people.

– There is simply no evidence in our data for the notion that Generation Z is less career-oriented or more idealistic than previous generations. On the contrary, young people prioritize salary, career and job security very highly, says Professor Thomas Bredgaard, Aalborg University.

He authored the report along with several research colleagues at AAU's Centre for Labour Market Research.

The study was conducted as a questionnaire survey among 17,000 members of the Danish workforce. This year, it is based on an extra large number of responses from young people between the ages of 18 and 29, so the results for this particular age group are more accurate and statistically robust than usual.

Security important because it is lacking

Tryghedsbarometeret 2025 [Security Survey 2025] also shows that young people prioritize job security higher than older people: 46 percent of 18-29-year-olds state that job security is very important, the highest proportion among all age groups.

According to the researchers, this is related to the fact that young people are more often loosely attached to the labour market. Among 18-24-year-olds, 28 percent are employed in temporary positions, and 32 percent are employed on zero-hour contracts with no guarantee of fixed working hours.

– Young people are no less loyal or more flighty. They are more likely to be in precarious employment, and this explains why security means so much to them, says Thomas Bredgaard.

More stressed, but not more different

At the same time, the analysis confirms that young people are more stressed than older age groups: 32 percent of 18-29-year-olds felt stressed often or all the time in the past two weeks. In comparison, this applies to 22 percent among the 45-64-year-olds.

But according to the researchers, the explanation is not particular generational values.

– When we control for the type of employment and perception of security, we can see that stress is largely linked to insecurity in the labour market, and not to being young as such, says Thomas Bredgaard.

Young people want the same thing as 'the rest of us'

Overall, the analysis shows that across generations, we share the same basic ideas about attractive work: respectful management, good collegial community, interesting tasks and a balance between work and time off.

– In many ways, Generation Z is much more like 'the rest of us' than the myth suggests. They want a good job, a decent salary and a stable attachment to the labour market, says Thomas Bredgaard.

Arbejdsmarkedets Tryghedsbarometer 2025 [Labour Market Security Survey 2025] was published at an event at Christiansborg on 2 March. According to the programme, the participants included Kaare Dybvad Bek, Minister for Employment; Jakob Holbraad, CEO, Confederation of Danish Employers; and Morten Skov Christiansen, Chair, Danish Trade Union Confederation.