• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem

1

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind

2

Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock

3

Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
LifestyleGen Z
Europe

Is money the secret to getting Gen Z talking? The U.K.’s national data crunchers reveal their latest tricks for finding out what makes them tick

Prarthana Prakash
By
Prarthana Prakash
Prarthana Prakash
Europe Business News Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
Prarthana Prakash
By
Prarthana Prakash
Prarthana Prakash
Europe Business News Reporter
Down Arrow Button Icon
May 8, 2024, 1:00 AM ET
3 people holding their phones
Gen Z are not easy to get hold of these days. Xavier Lorenzo—Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Gen Zers are known for being hard to get hold of. Ever tried calling one on the phone? 

Recommended Video

It’s a problem that’s plagued the U.K.’s official statistics tracker, the Office of National Statistics. The public body is responsible for keeping an eye on several critical data points, including labor market activity, which has become increasingly difficult thanks to phone-shy Gen Z.

So, the ONS decided to change its approach. It raised the money it rewarded participants with and instead conducted face-to-face interviews, hoping that could increase response rates. Et voila—it worked. 

Money talks, and younger age groups have responded to the ONS’s new methods for the Labour Force Survey, which looks at the state of employment within the U.K. and is the country’s largest household study.  

The cash rewards, in addition to reaching out to more young people and doing so repeatedly, have increased responses across all age groups, Liz McKeown, the director of economic statistics at the ONS, told Bloomberg in a report published Tuesday. 

She added that the new plan with a slew of “recovery” measures was helping drive changes. That included prioritizing households with young adults and expanding the sample size.

The statistics body also used paid and unpaid business surveys, for which the monetary incentive is an unconditional £25 ($31.4) per household and an additional £25 for households that finish the survey, an ONS spokesperson told Fortune.

Since the new method took effect, the average number of household interviews has risen to 1,539 between January and March, compared to 1,168 between last October and December. 

That bodes well for the Bank of England, which makes key monetary policy decisions based on these numbers. The central bank has been using average earnings figures and other labor market indicators to understand the U.K.’s economic state of play.  

There’s no overstating the importance of official statistics. They’re crucial to getting a pulse-check on the U.K.’s economy as data on the labor market helps banks when setting interest rates. But lately, employment data has gotten unreliable due to a shrinking pool of respondents, which ultimately forced ONS to abandon the century-old method in favor of these new techniques instead. 

Gen Zers, many of whom are in their early careers or are just entering the job market, have been especially tricky to approach for data.

“If you think about the ones who are the least time rich, they tend to be the younger people,” ONS’s Darren Morgan, director of economic statistics production and analysis, told Bloomberg. 

While the busy, unresponsive Gen Z is a big reason why ONS has had to rethink its data collection, the new measures will also apply to other age groups, a spokesperson told Fortune. The only difference? The “follow-up element” plays a bigger role among younger respondents.

The statistics office has refrained from using online methods for data collection until recently—it’s now trying out a new system that includes a quarterly dataset with 165% more individuals than earlier.

The U.K. isn’t alone in facing troubles reaching its youth population—in the U.S., the problem has been getting worse, especially with young adults who don’t live with their parents. 

It’s clear that Gen Z needs more of a nudge to participate in labor surveys than past generations. While it looks like it’s working for now, Gen Alpha could come along and respond to things differently from its predecessors.  

About the Author
Prarthana Prakash
By Prarthana PrakashEurope Business News Reporter
LinkedIn icon

Prarthana Prakash was a Europe business reporter at Fortune.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Lifestyle

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • TikTok icon
  • YouTube icon

Latest in Lifestyle

Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family’s $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
Big Techphilanthropy
Jensen Huang made his $172 billion fortune on AI chips. His family’s $75 million gift to Vanderbilt argues art decides what technology is for
By Sydney LakeJuly 23, 2026
4 hours ago
Hasbro’s growth strategy isn’t just about kids anymore—it’s about ‘kidults’
Healthchief executive officer (CEO)
Hasbro’s growth strategy isn’t just about kids anymore—it’s about ‘kidults’
By Phil WahbaJuly 23, 2026
4 hours ago
The Top Fitness and Wellness Gifts (2026): For the Busy Gym-Goer in Your Life
HealthFitness
The Top Fitness and Wellness Gifts (2026): For the Busy Gym-Goer in Your Life
By Christina SnyderJuly 22, 2026
14 hours ago
cinerama
Arts & EntertainmentHollywood
Hollywood’s iconic Cinerama Dome to reopen under deal with Sony, Alamo Drafthouse
By The Associated PressJuly 22, 2026
16 hours ago
An Ebola healthcare worker is assisted putting on protective equipment in a treatment center.
HealthEbola
Nearly 1,000 people dead from Ebola outbreak in Congo amid health worker strike
By The Associated Press, Prosper Heri Ngorora and Constant Same BagalwaJuly 22, 2026
18 hours ago
clark
North AmericaMedia
Ryan Clark found out he was fired live, mid-broadcast, on NFL Live as ESPN undergoes first major layoffs in 3 years
By Joe Reedy and The Associated PressJuly 22, 2026
21 hours ago

Most Popular

The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
Real Estate
The millennial generation has split, new Fed research shows: Those over 35 are edging toward boomer-style wealth, while everyone else falls behind
By Nick LichtenbergJuly 22, 2026
18 hours ago
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
Success
Mark Cuban says he has the solution to growing income inequality, and it's to reward every employee—from CEO to janitor—with company stock
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 20, 2026
3 days ago
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
AI
Mathematicians grapple with a ‘very rapid and very unsettling change’ as AI cracks yet another century-old problem
By Eva RoytburgJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
Cybersecurity
OpenAI says its AI models secretly broke out of a secure test environment and hacked into AI company Hugging Face in order to cheat on an evaluation
By Jeremy Kahn and Emily ForliniJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
Success
Despite a $156 million contract, Knicks star Jalen Brunson still calls his parents for financial advice any time he makes a big purchase
By Emma BurleighJuly 21, 2026
2 days ago
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
Economy
Scott Bessent casually says the U.S. has more than $1 trillion in gold—and that it doesn’t matter for the dollar
By Sasha RogelbergJuly 22, 2026
15 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.