Report Reveals Millennials’ Impact on the American Workforce

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As part of its participation in the 2017 HR Technology Conference & Exposition, Paychex and IHS Markit today released a new report highlighting the influence of the largest generational employee group working in the small business sector, millennials. “The Rise of the Millennial Employee: A Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch Special Report” quantifies percentages of full-time Millennial employees in the small business workforce as well as their wages, nationally, regionally, and by industry.

According to the report, since 2016, Millennials have consistently been the largest generational group in the American small business workforce. While they’re still catching up to the national average when it comes to wages, their wages are growing fast. As of September 2017, full-time Millennials make $21.80/hour, $5.78/hour less than the national average, but, as they move up in their roles, their annual wage growth rate is nearly double the national rate (5.8% compared to 3.0%).

Millennials are also making strides in closing the small business workforce gender gap in terms of percentage of the workforce. Female employees make up 45.3% of the Millennial full-time employee population, compared to 54.7% for males. Nationally, the all-generation workforce gender gap is wider as females make up 43.9% of the workforce, compared to 56.1% for males.

From a pay equity standpoint, full-time female Millennial employees earn $20.44/hour compared to male Millennial employees’ $23.03/hour—a $2.59 difference compared to a $6.64 difference among all employees. However, the annual wage growth rate for Millennial males is faster than that of Millennial females (6.2% compared to 5.3%).

“While it’s disappointing that the gender pay gap persists, it’s gratifying to document that the difference is less than half as large for Millennials than the all-generation workforce,” said James Diffley, chief regional economist at IHS Markit.

“As the data shows, the Millennial generation is fundamentally reshaping the American workforce,” said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO. “This report provides HR leaders with the most current data on population and wage trends with an eye toward recruiting, retaining, and developing their Millennial employees.”

In addition to comparisons between Millennial and all-generation employee characteristics, “The Rise of the Millennial Employee: A Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch Special Report” also examines how the Millennial employee population is distributed across U.S. geographic regions and industries and how their earnings and wage growth differ by those categories.

About the Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch

The Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch is released each month by Paychex, Inc., a leading provider of payroll, human resource, insurance, and benefits outsourcing solutions for small-to medium-sized businesses, and IHS Markit, a world leader in critical information, analytics, and expertise. Focused exclusively on small business, the monthly report offers analysis of national employment and wage trends, as well as examines regional, state, metro, and industry sector activity. Drawing from the payroll data of approximately 350,000 Paychex clients, this powerful tool delivers real-time insights into the small business trends driving the U.S. economy.

About Paychex

Paychex, Inc. is a leading provider of integrated human capital management solutions for payroll, HR, retirement, and insurance services. By combining its innovative software-as-a-service technology and mobility platform with dedicated, personal service, Paychex empowers small- and medium-sized business owners to focus on the growth and management of their business. Backed by 45 years of industry expertise, Paychex serves approximately 605,000 payroll clients as of May 31, 2017, across more than 100 locations and pays one out of every 12 American private sector employees.

About IHS Markit

IHS Markit is a world leader in critical information, analytics and expertise for the major industries and markets that drive economies worldwide. The company delivers next-generation information, analytics and solutions to customers in business, finance and government, improving their operational efficiency and providing deep insights that lead to well-informed, confident decisions. IHS Markit has more than 50,000 key business and government customers, including 85 percent of the Fortune Global 500 and the world’s leading financial institutions. Headquartered in London, IHS Markit is committed to sustainable, profitable growth.