Millennials and GenZ: The Key to Future-Proofing Your Supply Chain Workforce
When the U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics: Version 2.0 was published at this time last year, it included an entire chapter of revelations about the evolution of the supply chain workforce through the year 2030.
Among the topics covered was an exploration of changing U.S. demographics. By 2030, Baby Boomers—who are currently retiring at a pace of every nine seconds—will be scarce in the workforce. There simply aren’t enough members of Generation X to replace them.
As of 2015, Millennials surpassed the number of Generation Xers in the workforce. Today, many of them are ascending into managerial roles. By 2030, Millennials will be middle-aged, and the majority of Generation Z (born between 2000 and the present) will be in the early phases of their careers.
Despite the millions of entrants to the workforce by 2030, the continuous supply of new workers won’t be enough to replace those retiring, notes Roadmap 2.0 co-author Steve Hopper, founder and principal of Inviscid Consulting.
“There’s been a decline in U.S. labor force participation, which has recently been hovering near its lowest levels since the 1970s—around 63 percent according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—and strong job growth in all supply chain related professions, even as overall U.S. job growth has slowed,” he says. “That means there’s a growing vacuum of qualified workers in all functional material handling, logistics and supply chain roles.”
