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Millennial sisters are doin' it for themselves

In school it was, and frankly it still is, hard to sit still all day at a desk. Although not always, it seems that little girls are more inclined to be good at school than boys today.
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In school it was, and frankly it still is, hard to sit still all day at a desk. Although not always, it seems that little girls are more inclined to be good at school than boys today.

In fact, the gender gap in university has been flipped on its head in my lifetime:

According to the 1971 Canadian Census, 68 per cent of 25 to 29 year-old university graduates were male. This was the year 1 BP (Before Pong).

Ten years later, women had more or less caught up to men, as only 54 per cent of graduates were male.

By the early '90s when I was graduating university, women had become the slight majority, comprising 51 per cent of graduates.

In the 2001 Census, universities had clearly become the domain of women, as they made up 58 per cent of all graduates.

According to the 2006 Census, women accounted for roughly 60 per cent of university graduates between the ages of 25 and 29.

Time is money. There is one piece of business where a young man can sit still and fidget at the same time, and he scores points while doing so: video gaming.

The first video game, Pong was introduced by Atari in 1972.

It was incredibly slow and predictable... and extremely intoxicating.

My friend got one that year and I distinctly recall turning off the NHL Stanley Cup final, and skipping dinner, so I could play it a little longer. I don't know if there is a causal relationship between this and other trends since then, but the slight smell of hot wiring suggests there might be.

According to a 2008 Pew Research Center study, almost all girls and boys play video games, but boys typically play games with greater frequency and duration than girls.

Roughly 39 per cent of boys report daily video game play compared to 22 per cent of girls.

Similarly, boys are twice as likely to report playing for two hours or more each day, with 34 per cent of boys playing for two hours or more per day, compared to 18 per cent of girls.

Another interesting statistic: according to Business Insider, in 2013 18 per cent of American men aged 18-34 are still living with their parents, compared to just 12 per cent of women that age.

That's 50 per cent more men (and I use that term loosely) than women gaming - and leaving their empty chip bags and pop cans on your basement coffee table.

Cancel your internet and stop buying cheese. These hosers need incentive!

The foregoing trends are now finally beginning to show up in the workforce data as well.

Wage gap is narrowing for millennial women

With women attaining higher levels of education and entering new fields, the wage gap between males and females has narrowed since the 1970s. Still, Canadian women earned just 87 cents for every dollar men earned in 2015.

Females aged 15 to 24 face the smallest differential in earnings, but that's likely because this age group tends to earn minimum wage.

Also, women's contribution to household incomes has steadily risen.

One quarter of women in millennial-aged couples bring in more than 50 per cent of a households' employment income, compared with less than 40 per cent only a decade ago.

A greater share of highly-educated women participating in the workforce also signals a larger talent pool for senior positions in the future.

Millennials' family dynamics have changed, but they are still buying homes

In 2015, 31 per cent of millennials were married or living common-law, down from 44 per cent of baby boomers in 1979. And half of the couples in the 25-to-34 age range didn't have children in 2012.

The average age of a woman giving birth to her first child has increased by two years over the past three decades.

This has contributed to shrinking family sizes (average size of 3.0 people in 2006 compared to 3.3 people in 1981).

These changes will have broad ramifications for society. In fact, there are now more household pets than children, and the population under age 18 shrunk in 95 per cent of U.S. counties since the year 2000, according to the 2010 U.S. census.

But interestingly, millennials are still buying homes.

Though policy makers fret about the impact that rising home prices are having on affordability, especially for first-time buyers, rates of home ownership in this cohort are elevated. That's due to ultra-low borrowing rates. Relative to baby boomers back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when borrowing rates were much higher, homeownership rates of those 20 to 34 years old are modestly higher today (47 per cent in 2011 vs. 45 per cent in 1981).

Millennials' added advantage: diversity

Millennials are the most ethnically diverse generation Canada has ever seen.

Canada's immigration policy (around 250,000 newcomers annually for the past quarter-century) has encouraged a mix of immigrants from a range of regions, with the greatest share of these individuals amongst millennials.

The differing perspectives of individuals from diverse backgrounds - race, nationality, gender or other demographic strands - can increase the capacity for innovative thinking by encouraging intellectual debate, enhancing creativity and providing access to broader networks of relationships.

Simply put, Canada's diverse millennial cohort could help boost innovation and productivity.

A 2015 Statistics Canada study also found that university educated women under 35 years of age have the same level of financial competency as their male counterparts.

Look out boys, the ladies are kicking your butts.

Mark Ryan is an investment advisor with RBC Dominion Securities Inc.