I think gen X is already being used as one, by way of background I'm generation X.

Generation Y is more informed than any other generation at the same point.

We will be having babies, yes, and more of us will be choosing when to retire as information is prevalent.

We have less to worry about long term, but more to get through now. it is a changing in human social evolution. We used to work until we dropped. Soon, we will be working until we have achieved security then choose to pursue our other endevours. We will have kids later, perhaps more in our 30's, but we will be able to concentrate more on our children, as we recognise the importance of family as many in our generation were forced to suffer.

Gen Y will be fantastic leaders, we are the last of the non digital age, and this is of major benefit in protecting the fundamentals of society.

Dont cry for us Argentina

Yes Australians already work longer and harder than any other O.E.C.D. country, and now, over a period of time our pay rates will be the cheapest, thanks to the Fair Pay Commission, if today's report in The Australian is correct, after the fiasco of the Gerard Affair with the Reserve Bank, the Howard Government has made another confidence building appointment as head of the Fair Pay Commission, a former director of the failed company ADX. The futures exchange company that went into administration just a few months after opening for business. Do you feel comfortable all you employees who voted Howard back, well do ya?

Industrial relations law, I suspect, has little real impact on what happens in the workforce. Similar to the actions of our Federal Treasurer, who - like his counterparts in every developed economy - is totally unable to predict the results of any action he might take.

Let's face it, the economy seems to get along quite well on its own.

And theories of what the future holds abound. For example, I have attended a number of meetings recently in large organizations where the imminent "baby-boomer brain drain" has been the hottest topic.

These organizations believe they are facing a massive erosion of experience over the next five to ten years, as the baby boomers move out of the workforce and into their retirement. Not skill, you will notice, nor "talent", but experience.

Their problem is that they have built over time a structure that "seems to work quite well", and haven't the vision or courage to change it. And if it doesn't change, the disaster will be a self-fulfilling prophecy, because the structures they have built are in their own image, shaped by their own views of what work is necessary and important.

It doesn't really matter whether they are right to be concerned. There could in fact simply be an orderly transition, with outdated ideas disappearing with outdated people - but the fact remains that there is little evidence of the new generations agitating for change.

What is patently missing at the moment is any indication that the incomers have clear ideas of how to translate their skills and talents into the new business efficiencies that will be needed to run companies in the future. It is the effect of this uncertainty that will drive much of the next ten years' industrial relations practices, not the politically-motivated and already-outdated cant that the present government is trying to push through.

Good article, Sebastian

A couple of things, though. You might try to avoid quoting Peter Sheahan. I've had the dubious pleasure of turning his one of self-aggrandising self-sales pitches into readable, bordering on grammatical, English. Most of us tired old boomers wouldn't quote the late, unlamented Big Kev as an authority on all things boomer, and Sheahan, I fear, is the Big Kev de votres jours. A snake-oil, or at best, soap salesman.

The other thing is slightly more serious: it might not be the boomers who are the problem. Most of us tend to have children (and, yes, I admit, this is not necessarily an inevitability, nor even an axiomatically viable option for Gen Y). But a fair-sized proportion of boomers' children tend to be Gen Y. If you think we as a group want to see our much-loved, over-indulged, frankly spoiled and historically very few offspring become our beasts of burden, you underestimate our love for you, and overestimate our greed. Look to Gen X (with a nod of apology to Outcast Indigent etc). They've been voting with their mortgages, interest rates and super funds for a while now, and owe their immediate successors nothing. And our political masters will characteristically and predictably take the comparatively powerless for whatever they're worth, as long as there's a headline tax cut in it. It might not be your parents selling you down the river but your older siblings. And, of course, the power-hungry, whose loyalty is not familial, not generational, but electoral.

Percilus, Phew,what a relief, so Industrial law has very little influece on the economy. I wonder how this country managed to produce so many economists who mistakenly think it has?

Shonga, if you were an economist, what would you do? Take the high ground, and point out that there are too many variables for an accurate prediction, or take the money from people who want your "expertise" to support their political agenda?

My point was the ability to predict results. They can't.

Why is the budget surplus always so wildly different from the forecast? Because no economist can take all the factors into account.

The same applies to industrial legislation. Take ten economists, you will get ten different opinions on the potential impact of any given law. The difference is... who is paying them to come up with the forecast? They've all got families to feed, after all.

Well, the ones who don't live under rocks have.

The vast majority of companies have very simple objectives, and will employ people who make a positive contribution to their business. While industrial laws might have some effect on the number of HR people you hire to handle reporting requirements, it is extremely low on most managers' list of "what do I worry about today".

Certainly, in a small business it is almost entirely invisible.

frankly, gen y is labouring under only one impediment - their grandparents/parents don't want to share. the objective of the new ir laws is to maintain that relationship.

nor are gen y getting treated uniquely. plenty of gen x'ers are and have been excluded or treated badly by the folks too. the barriers to entry only get worse as one get older. it is interesting to read a privileged younger person talk about the exclusion of his peers.

i agree with much of de brennan's argument. i believe it applies beyond the so-called gen y's. i don't think the current economic policies are targetted at them specifically.

the only place in the labour market where employees consistently have any power is amongst the older employees with qualifications and experience. or those with certain trades or qualifications in high demand. the great masses of employees have no real bargaining power. certainly not individually.