International Outlooks: Gen Y and Geography

Where are they going, the movers and shakers of the future?

Mimi was 22 when she opted out of her studies at Stockholm University to take a job offer she felt she couldn’t refuse. That was two years ago. She now works as a literary agent at a small agency in Stockholm. Since her work involves representing Swedish authors abroad, Mimi goes on a lot of business trips— which she loves. Already in university, Mimi traveled a great deal. Her favorite part of being a student was, “the joy of discovering the world. Studying overseas twice…it was very meaningful to go abroad and learn in a new environment.” When we ask about her ten-year plan, it also involves exploring a world beyond her own Northern tip, with the committed husband that she hopes to have at that point: “I hope we will be living in New York City or London or Paris. One of the big cities.”

The desire to fly from the national nest is very strong among the Gen Yers we’ve encountered. The urge was particularly strong in Sweden, followed by France, Spain and Russia. Least keen on the abroad perspective were our American interviewees. In fact, very few American Gen Yers we interviewed expressed an explicit desire to live and work abroad. Sites seemed set on the home front, often not far from the places where they had either been raised or educated.

Perhaps the great European abroad-interest ties back to what I wrote in my previous blog , where I mentioned the creation of a European Frontier. After all, with national borders within the European Union practically erased for the purpose of travel and employment, these youngsters are not only dreaming when they voice exotic aspirations; they are simply stepping up to the EU smorgasbord, ready to fill their plates. But that doesn’t necessarily mean European Gen Yers feel restricted to stay in Europe, either. They seem bursting with options. Éric, 22, is a new graduate of Paris Dauphin, where he studied finance. He hopes that, in the future, he “won’t be in France, because I like to travel. I would like to spend some time abroad…London, or Los Angeles, Miami, New York. Maybe in Australia, or Spain. I really, really don’t know.” He seems to feel he has a lot of choices. Like Éric, Elena, 25, who was raised in Málaga but now works in Madrid, says, “I don't have any limits on going anywhere.” Katrin, a stylish 24 year-old working in PR in Stockholm, predicts that in ten years, she will, “probably be in-between geographical places.”

Importantly, however, the Swedes— who were most set on the need for abroad experience by far— do not seem to see their move as permanent. After a couple of years’ foray into the larger world, the majority of them intend to return to their homeland. When asked where she hopes to be in ten years, Tina, a 24 year-old PhD candidate in biology who grew up in a Stockholm suburb, said: “I think I’m back in Stockholm. I hope I will travel a lot with my work in the beginning.” Martina, who is a 25 year-old first-year associate at a prestigious Stockholm law firm, is clear on her intention to both live in Sweden and make partner in ten years. But she doesn’t let her ambitions deter her from a stint away from her home: “I hope that I will have lived abroad for a couple of years, at least,” she says. Similarly, Johan, 25, who just graduated from the Stockholm School of Economics and has a job lined up in management consulting, says that in ten years, “I am back in Sweden after a couple years abroad.”

Among our Russian interviewees, however, the travel bug seems to have a more permanent end-goal, especially among the women. Sasha, a 20 year-old studying logistics in Moscow, is actively looking to move abroad, preferably to Austria. She is also clear on the fact that she is planning to marry a non-Russian, and that her new life abroad will be more than a few years’ change of scenery. One major motivation for her is the fact that she wants to be a working mother, something she thinks is less accepted in Russia: “I think the working conditions are better abroad and, besides, the attitude toward the person that works and doesn’t stay at home is much better.” Similarly, Maria, an astonishingly driven and accomplished 19 year-old Muscovite, who already works as a writer for two popular magazines while studying Philosophy and Culture at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, plans on living abroad for the long haul, with geographical prospects including Montenegro and England. She is careful to add that though she wants to live outside of Russia, she won’t be willing to relocate for a man; the decision will be her own.

What does that leave us with? Americans who want to stay in America, Swedes who want to play on the international arena only to settle down at home in Sweden, Frenchmen and Spaniards who are less clear about whether their travel will be for the long-term or not, and Russians, especially women, who want to move out and stay out. I am certainly no expert, but if I were to make a crude guess from the interviews and my own limited experience in each of these countries, I would say that there is a faint red line to follow:

Americans don’t dream of exploring the world as much as their European counterparts because their country is a kind of world of its own; it is a continent, after all. (And while Russia is equally huge in landmass, most Russian interviewees responded that the only place they would consider living is Moscow, or perhaps St. Petersburg, while America boasts multiple vibrant urban options.) Furthermore, international travel is more expensive and less easily accessible to American youths when compared to their European peers with inter-rail cards and cheap-jet tickets in hand. The America Road Trip is the equivalent youth dream to the European Back-Packing Trip; one stays national, the other goes international.

Swedes are an educated and well to do bunch in general, but their country is small and relatively homogenous, and so the desire to see and experience more than their home country can offer is strong. Their language skills also tend to be exceptional, which means they have a pretty easy time working abroad. Then again, Sweden has one of the most generous welfare systems around, especially when it comes to helping working parents. No wonder, then, that home starts looking attractive again come those childbearing years.

Russia is a remarkably interesting place right now, and it can also be a remarkably lucrative one if you get in right on the business side. On the other hand, though there is a burgeoning middle class, the average quality of life is not yet as high as in other industrial nations. Furthermore, from the interviews we conducted, we gathered that expectations based on traditional gender roles are still strong, which may well influence independent women to test their luck elsewhere. The stereotype of Russians trying to leave the country may be on its way out, but it’s not gone quite yet.

As for Spaniards and Frenchmen, your guess is as good as mine…or theirs; they didn’t seem too certain themselves whether their abroad experience would be permanent or not. The one thing they were certain about is the basic desire to travel.

What does it matter, how these Gen Yers plan to map out their travels, or their moves, abroad? Returning once again to the wisdom of urban thinker and economist Richard Florida, the movement of college-educated Gen Yers is significant as it indicates how the so-called “creative class” will live and work in the future, and, in turn, where new “creative capitals” will develop. In other words, these movers and shakers will determine where on the map it moves and shakes. Sweden seems to be doing something right if it is able to lure its knowledge workers back home. Similarly, America— despite fears to the contrary expressed by Florida— may to be doing something right by keeping them at home in the first place.

- Astri

Photo of airlplane by Shane H on Flickr under Creative Commons License.
Photo of train by kevindooley on Flickr under Creative Commons Licsense.