- Gen Zers say they need a salary of almost $125,000 to feel like they've made it, a new study found.
- The study of 1,000 workers showed that 58% of young professionals are unhappy with their current salary.
Gen Z are known for shaking up workplace norms by demanding better salaries, and according to a recently released survey, they need higher salaries to feel like they've "made it" than their millennial counterparts.
Invoice software platform Skynova conducted a short survey of 1,004 respondents in the US between the ages of 21 and 42 from 2020 to December 2022 to find out about their salary expectations. Its study, published in 2023, found that 58% of young professionals surveyed were not pleased with their current salary.
Just over half of Gen Z workers surveyed — those aged between 21 and 26 during the study — said they were dissatisfied with their salary but 59% of millennials who are 27 to 42 years old were unhappy with their income. This difference can be attributed to the fact that millennials are further along in their careers with more experience.
Gen Z workers surveyed said that to feel like they had "made it" they would need a salary of almost $125,000, while their millennial counterparts say they only need an average income of $121,000.
On average, both generations most wanted an annual salary between $71,000 to $80,000.
88% of Gen Z were uninterested in law as a profession despite young lawyers having the highest-paid salaries of almost $150,000 a year, per Skynova.
Gen Z's expectations of a successful salary differ from millennials, because they tend to have greater expectations and put a clearly defined price tag on their skillset.
Chelsea Williams, the co-founder of a talent development company, previously told Insider that these expectations stem from the economic impact of the pandemic and inflation.
Although they're pushing for better salaries, they tend to reject high-pressure industries like law because of the lack of work-life balance — typically a top priority for Gen Z.
Gen Z are comfortable job hopping which means they're likely to leave roles that are unfulfilling and underpaid — a worthwhile rise, as those who job hop can bank an 8.5% pay rise, according to Federal Reserve data from September 2022.