“We who work with trend analysis have seen signs of increased interest in ‘blue collar’ jobs, but far more than we expected mentioned it in this year’s report.
“There is also a general movement towards security and hands-on, home-centred hobbies. That’s also interesting,” says Ulrik Hoffman, CEO of Ungbarometern (the youth barometer). He specialises in working life, skills supply and education.
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“I’m not sure it expresses a longing for the past, but rather a longing for less insecurity. And a longing for a simpler existence and future. Manual labour is being idealised, but young people don’t want any old manual job.
“They want the ones that are more concrete and also well-paid, like electrician, plumber, lorry driver and carpenter.”
For the past five years, the private company Ungdomsbarometern has invited young people aged 15 to 24 to carry out a trend forecast for the coming year. This year’s question was:
“What will be the big trend among young people in 2026, and why?” The survey is conducted through questionnaires that are sent to randomly selected candidates and is complemented with in-depth interviews and focus groups.
In the latest “Trends 2026 – According to Youths”, 7,481 young people have carried out their own and unique trend forecasts in free text. In total, the trend report – also known as the generation report – is built on nearly 15,000 interviews.
The aim is to show how young people look at the near future and why. What are their dreams? Which values are important and which events? How do they think about money, their personal development and future working lives?
More young people long for balance
The latest report was presented in December 2025. It indicated an increased alignment between young people’s answers.
Earlier, it was possible to see a clear division between performance and balance. The report now indicates that more and more young people agree that balance is important.
The 2025 trend report showed a clearer polarisation – optimise your time or log off, create an AI version of yourself or become more analogue, present perfect feeds or choose something real.
Now, the space between the opposing positions seems to be narrowing, and opinions appear to be moving in the same direction. A fast-paced, digital life seems to be facing competition from a calmer lifestyle.
“The pursuit of performance, efficiency and continuous improvement has increasingly been replaced with a desire to feel present and whole. Rather than turning up the tempo, it is now about adjusting the balance,” according to the 2026 trend report.
It also says: “Status is no longer about having the busiest programme, but to feel good while doing it.”
The economy and social developments shape young people’s everyday lives and influence their responses. They have learned to watch their spending as prices go up, and unemployment – especially among young people – is growing too.
Consumption has become more considered, and it has also slowed down. Young people shop second-hand, reuse or simply do not shop at all.
This, in turn, has created a new trend which, for many, has become a reaction to stress and excess. But it has also opened opportunities for them to be creative and express themselves more personally.
Cosy at home with no screens
The generation report highlights a range of trends. One is the return of cosiness, which young people themselves call ‘Cosy rebellion’. It involves making everyday life calmer and less driven by the pressure to perform.
They talk about candles in windows, stacks of books and soft, knitted jumpers; of valuable and planned time alone – so-called ‘curated solitude’, where performance is put on hold while they regain strength.
More and more people seem to be tempted away from screens. It can be nice to do something with your hands, such as knitting or sewing, painting or cooking. Many of those surveyed believe 2026 will be the year of traditional crafts.
Authenticity is a keyword. The highly curated, seemingly perfect life and home must yield to what is real and personal expression. Other trends are more in-person meetings and more nature experiences, along with a growing curiosity about the collective.
And technology keeps developing – fast. It seems to be creating unlimited future opportunities, but also stress. “How do I, as a young person, relate to and grasp a future that is constantly changing?”
What is new in this year’s trend survey is a more sober attitude to technology. Yes, technology is there to make life easier, but not at any price. There is also a desire for more balance between connectivity and rest.
Still materialists
Does this mean changing attitudes to careers, and that job prospects, money and status have become less attractive?
“No, that is not the case, but the road leading there is much more uncertain. What has happened in the past few years? Unemployment is up, especially among young people, and then there’s AI.
“And what AI does is create a narrative that many of the jobs which previously led to fairly secure and relatively high-status careers are now quite uncertain – will there still be economists, auditors and lawyers?” says Ulrik Hoffman.
“People used to think ‘I have relatively good grades, so I’ll find a good job’. Now, they question this, which makes alternative career paths more appealing.
“We’re still talking about a fairly materialistic generation, but perhaps they can find other ways of achieving the material standard they desire.
Uncertainty around the future labour market and what AI will actually mean has made traditional manual occupations more interesting to young people.
The value of physical work that produces visible results and cannot be replaced by a machine or robot seems attractive, in contrast to urban, highly educated ideals. This aligns with the other, more traditional values highlighted in the report.
One sign of the growing interest in more traditional manual jobs is the increase in applications to vocational schools.
“The demand for vocational programmes in upper secondary schools has risen after a long period of decline. This is interesting, even though the number of applicants is still far too small to meet the needs of the labour market.
“The new thing is that people are talking about it. What will happen – and has already happened to a certain extent – is that academic programmes that do not lead to jobs will face greater scrutiny,” says Ulrik Hoffman.
It is tricky to give concrete advice or a clear-cut guide to employers for how to recruit young people going forward, notes Ulrik Hoffman.
The young people taking part in the generation report are aged 15 to 24, which means their answers vary according to where they are on that scale.
The older participants view sustainability, equality, and corporate values differently from the younger ones. So the question for companies is which group to target when they recruit.
“Companies recruiting plumbers and lorry drivers will find it easier, but there is still a demand for security and well-paid jobs.
“I think employers will need to be clearer and more concrete about what they offer in terms of pay, development and security.”
How important is security in this context?
“The demand for permanent employment increases, just like expectations for a collective agreement, if they know what that is. Psychosocial issues remain important, and I also include development here, employers giving employees the support to grow.
“One might think that development and security are opposites, but for young people they are not. They want guaranteed opportunities for development in their workplace because the world is changing so quickly,” says Ulrik Hoffman.
Attracting young talent with fair values such as sustainability and equality is becoming less of a priority for the younger age groups, particularly young men.
They are more materialistic, whereas young women are more interested in personal development, enjoying their work and a good workplace atmosphere.
Equality remains one of the most important factors for young women, even though there is less emphasis on it.
Young men’s interest in workplace equality is limited and has also fallen in the latest trend report. On the other hand, money is clearly more important to young people now than it was ten or fifteen years ago.
“The 15-year-olds are more materialistic and seek more security than the 25- and 30-year-olds.
“Attracting young people with ‘we make a difference for the climate’ may be important for a female engineer in her late 20s, but it is quite irrelevant if you want to encourage a 15-year-old girl to pursue a technical education,” says Ulrik Hoffman.
“Perhaps in the future, employers in occupations with labour shortages will need to offer higher salaries than before and concrete plans for the development opportunities they will provide as an employer. This may be easier to communicate, but also unfamiliar.”
