Millennials must be doing something right. According to a recent report from Paychex, The Rise of the Millennial Employee, millennial hourly wages have been steadily increasing since 2011. Though their $21.80 per hour has them lagging behind the national average of $27.58, their annual hourly earnings are growing at a rate nearly double the national rate (5.8 percent compared to 3 percent).
Millennials also work less than the national average, putting in 38.6 hours per week, whereas overall, hourly workers clock 38.8 hours per week.
Recommended For You
Millennial women aren't making out as well as their male counterparts, despite talk of progress on pay equality. The average hourly wage for a female millennial is $20.44, but $23.03 for men—not exactly an insignificant difference. Female millennial hourly workers also experience a lower annual growth rate in hourly wages at 5.3 percent, compared to 6.2 percent for men, which means the gap is only going to continue to grow.
When it comes to professions offering higher pay, the gap is just as prevalent, with female professional service employees earning an average of $24.02 per hour, compared with the overall millennial average of $20.44, and male employees averaging $27.93 hourly, compared with the overall average of $23.03.
"Though the millennial gender pay gap is smaller in every industry compared to the all-generation gaps, in no industry do female millennials outpace males in wage growth," Paychex found in its report.
Of course there are pay differences from sector to sector within the business world, with millennials in professional services making out the best on payday. Accounting Today reports that millennials in professional and business services positions, including accounting, currently make an average of $26.05 an hour within the small business sector; that's the highest salary studied and more than $5 higher than the millennial average of $21.08.
While they may be reaping the monetary rewards of their hard work, that doesn't mean millennials are sticking with jobs if other elements of work or benefits dissatisfy them; they're not there just for the money. Instead, the report suggests that to achieve better millennial retention, employers might want to consider "offering flexible work hours, moving quickly in the recruiting process, provid[ing] goal-oriented feedback, provid[ing] meaningful work opportunities and foster[ing] professional connections between employees and mentors and colleagues."
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
