Many of us face a more common ethical¹ dilemma² – would you turn down an attractive salary because you couldn’t bring yourself to agree with a company’s position on, say, the environment, animal testing or simply the way it treated customers?

许多人都面临着一个更普遍的道德难题-你会因为与公司立场不同而拒绝一份有吸引力的薪水吗？比如说对环境、动物试验等问题的看法，或者只是对待客户的方式。

If you answered yes, data suggest it is likely that you are a millennial³. Study after study claim this cohort, more than previous generations, are motivated by ‘making a difference’ through their work. Many of those who leave jobs seek a better ethical or cultural fit, it is claimed, even when doing this involves taking a salary hit.

如果回答是肯定的，那么根据数据你很可能是千禧一代。许多研究表明，这一代人比前几代人更希望自己的工作能让世界变得更好。据说，许多人辞职是为了寻求更高的道德或文化认同感，即使这样做会减少收入也在所不辞。

But is this true? In reality who can afford to make that choice?

但这是真的吗？实际生活中，谁有资本做出这样的选择呢？

Millennials are often described as “the job-hopping generation”: several studies flag our unwillingness⁴ to stick with steady work or follow a predictable ladder climb. Some traditional industries are having a hard time retaining their youngest recruits: a 2017 study of the Institute of Student Employers shows that 46% of graduates in the UK leave their first employer after just five years.

千禧一代总是被叫做“跳槽一代”。研究表明，我们千禧一代不喜欢一成不变的工作，也不愿按部就班地往上爬。一些传统行业难以留住最年轻的一批员工。2017年，英国学生雇主协会（Institute of Student Employers）的一项研究显示，46%的英国毕业生工作仅五年后就跳槽。

The widely held perception is that many leave to ‘pursue their dreams’ or go backpacking around the world. But rejecting the corporate⁵ career path to go off travelling or kick-start your own business is a fairly drastic and costly⁶ decision. Only a few can really afford to make it.

人们经常认为，许多人离职后会去追逐梦想，或者背包环游世界。但是，放弃职业生涯去旅行或创业是一个相当激进且代价高昂的决定，只有少数人能真正负担得起。

Research shows consistently that having ‘employment gaps’ lowers the average salary - for some, by thousands of dollars per year - and can decrease future job quality and satisfaction.

研究显示，“就业缺口”（指就业者数月或数年处于非就业状态）不仅会拉低平均工资，有的人每年会损失几千美元，还有可能降低未来的工作质量和满意度。

Most of us still have to think about our wallets when we make job decisions. For all the lip service we pay to ‘making a difference’, evidence shows the primary driver for selecting a job is still the payslip. The most recent Deloitte survey on millennials underlines that 63% of millennials consider the financial reward a very important factor in weighing up a job offer – the highest ranking one. Research by Triplebyte, a start-up which recruits technical talent for technology companies, found 70% of those who get two job offers choose the highest paying one – exactly as our parents’ generation would have done.

但是大多数人在做工作决定时仍然要考虑钱包。尽管嘴上说要有所作为，但证据表明，工资仍然是我们千禧族选择工作的主要驱动力。国际会计师事务所德勤（Deloitte）最近针对千禧一代进行的调查表明，63%的千禧一代认为工资是衡量一份工作最重要的因素。Triplebyte是一家为科技公司招聘技术人才的初创公司。该公司的研究发现，面临两份工作的选择时，有70%的千禧一代会跟我们的父辈一样选择薪酬较高的那份。

The financial downsides of making this kind of change do not make a lot of sense for most of us. “It is not true that millennials do not want stability,” says Lee Caraher, author of the book Millennials & Management. In fact, we need financial stability more than our parents did. In many countries, we carry the burden of increasing student debt. The fallout from the economic crisis further delayed our economic progress and our big financial decisions.

对大多数人来说，这种改变致收入下降并没有多大意义。《千禧一代与管理》一书的作者卡拉赫（Lee Caraher）说：“认为千禧一代不喜欢安稳，这不是真的。”事实上，我们比父母更需要稳定的收入。在许多国家，千禧一代所承担的学生贷款不断增加。十年前的经济危机至今余波未了，使得我们改善自身经济状况的步伐拖慢，并影响我们做出重大财务的决定。

In general, some recent research questions whether millennials are actually ditching secure jobs at a higher rate than our predecessors⁷ did. In the US, Pew Research’s latest statistics show that we are just as likely to remain in work than Generation X members were at our age – a study among many others that also signals high turnover⁸ is not really a millennial novelty at all.

最近有研究开始质疑千禧一代放弃稳定工作的可能性是否真的比父辈们高。在美国，皮尤研究中心（Pew Research）的最新统计数据显示，与X世代（1966-1988年出生的一代）当年的同年龄者相比，我们千禧一代不跳槽的可能性还要高一些。研究也表明，职业高流动率根本不是只发生在千禧一代身上的新鲜事。