Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton got it half right when she told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that the instant-gratification generation thinks “work is a four-letter word,” the chamber’s expert on young employees told The Post.
The work guru, Rick Corcoran, said Clinton hit the nail on the head when she insisted Generation Y has an sense of entitlement – but missed the boat when she accused them of not pulling their weight in the American economy.
“These young people come out of college, and they have watched their parents lose their jobs, and they have watched the notion of loyalty go down the toilet,” said Corcoran, who was in the crowd when Clinton ripped into the iPod brats.
“If you look at them in terms of the world of work today, they bring a different value system. They bring loyalty to themselves. They’re not going to pay the price of 90 hours a week because they saw Dad lose his job after 30 years of busting his butt.
“They’re going to find, in their 20s, the work-life balance that their parents have sought their whole lives.”
But it’s the Gen Y’ers in their 20s and tail end of Generation X’ers who’ve been driving the economy by dominating the high-tech field – the scientific sector that Clinton and President Bush agree America needs to dominate in order to succeed in the future.
“They’ve educated themselves and they’re the most technically capable generation our country has ever seen,” he said.
“And look where the entrepreneurs are: It’s the 21-, 22-, 23-year-olds who are creating wealth,” Corcoran said.
Corcoran said the “social contract is different today, and they embrace that difference” – the problem is with the baby boomers.
“Baby boomers are selfish. It’s always about us. If it doesn’t fit our paradigm, it’s wrong. But the Chinese and Indians don’t care,” he quipped.
Clinton touched off the generation war Thursday, saying Gen Y’ers “don’t know what work is. They think work is a four-letter word.”
She added: “America didn’t happen by accident. A lot of people worked really hard. They’ve got to do their part, too.”
Clinton grumbled that today’s youths “think they’re entitled to go right to the top with $50,000 or $75,000 jobs when they have not done anything to earn their way up.”
She made no mention of her daughter, Chelsea, 26, who snagged a six-figure consulting spot in the New York office of London-based McKinsey & Company after receiving her master’s degree from Oxford in 2003.
The comments by the Democrats’ 2008 White House front-runner is surprising considering how she’s rolled out a massive marketing blitz to court them into her camp – and so far it has worked. Polls show 18- to 35-year-olds are her biggest base of support.
To woo them, she’s Podcasting her speeches. And she famously hired, then fired, teen-marketing guru Gia Medeiros, who got the boot after The Post revealed Medeiros charged that 9/11 victims “weren’t all good people.”
At the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, where Clinton will deliver the commencement speech tomorrow, her blast at lazy youngsters got a decidedly mixed reception.
“I don’t know where she came up with that idea,” said freshman Natasha Miro. “We’re not just out for ourselves or, worse, out for nothing. We’re involved in extracurricular activities, volunteer work and our classes. It’s tough.”
But there was also support for Clinton’s claims.
“In the old days, you had to work long hours to get by. These days, it’s different,” said Oscar Martinez, a sophomore studying marketing. “Now there’s the opportunity to excel quickly and make a quick buck. It’s seductive.”
“People don’t work because they like it. They do what they have to do,” said Martinez, 20. “If money grew on trees, nobody would work hard.”
QUOTES – TOIL AND TROUBLE
‘A lot of kids don’t know what work is. They think work is a four-letter word.’
– Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce convention
‘They’ve educated themselves and they’re the most technically capable generation our country has ever seen.’
– Rick Corcoran, expert on young employees for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce