In a 2015 survey, 59 percent of Singaporeans said they believed in job loyalty and intended to stay in their jobs for more than five years. That finding sat awkwardly beside the image of young workers as quick to quit, which is the image the “strawberry generation” label carries.
A later survey of Singaporean millennials added to the picture. Half of those surveyed said they planned to stay with their current employer for the next few years or longer. Most did not set out to be job hoppers, but they would move on if unhappy.
Where the label comes from
The term is a Chinese-language coinage, 草莓族 (cǎoméizú), used in Taiwan. It describes people who “bruise easily” like strawberries. The idea is that they cannot take pressure or work as hard as their parents’ generation did. It is also tied to the notion of a generation raised in stable, protected conditions, much as strawberries are grown in greenhouses.
The label spread to Singapore. In 2013, The Straits Times noted that the country’s young workers had been called the strawberry generation, “easily bruised by work and life”. In 2015, one of its writers observed that Singaporeans were dubbed the same as their peers in Taiwan, for bruising easily under pressure.
Young people in Taiwan have not embraced it. In a 2012 survey there, it was the label youth disliked most. In 2008, a student-led movement in Taiwan took the name Wild Strawberries Movement, a deliberately ironic nod to the term.
Two attitudes the survey challenged
A career as a marathon. The stereotype says young workers want a long holiday more than a career. The survey found otherwise: many expected to be working 30 or 40 years on, and saw a career as a marathon rather than a sprint. Rest was part of that plan. 87 percent of Singaporean millennials expected to take breaks of more than four weeks during their careers, and 48 percent planned breaks simply to relax or travel.
Loyal, but not unconditionally. Singaporean millennials have taken a lot of criticism as job hoppers, and the survey suggested a tight labour market partly explained the reputation. Staying power was there. Leaving tended to follow a reason, such as a poor work-life balance or a lack of career progression.
The same finding carried a message for managers. A high turnover rate can be read as a prompt to rethink HR policies and working conditions. It need not be read as a character flaw in the staff.
How the conversation looks now
The label is still in use, though increasingly to question it. Gallup’s Singapore Workplace Report 2026 says discussion of generations in Singapore often produces unhelpful generalisations. It notes that younger employees are frequently described as entitled, fragile or insufficiently committed, and that “the reality is more complex”.
The report also quotes a view that younger employees are more ready to talk about mental wellness and burnout, while older colleagues come from a “suck it up and move on” background. Gallup’s takeaway for leaders is to encourage feedback from younger staff and adapt organisational culture to it. HR trade coverage has also reported findings that employees under 35 in Singapore work in conditions linked to lower engagement and wellbeing and higher stress.
Commentary on Gen Z at work has made a similar point. It argues that the stereotype of young workers as spoilt or ready to quit when things get hard does not hold up against the data.
FAQ
What does “strawberry generation” mean?
It is a label from Taiwan for young people seen as bruising easily under pressure. In Singapore it has been applied to millennials and, more recently, to Gen Z workers.
Are young Singaporeans really job hoppers?
The surveys cited here suggest not by intention: half of the millennials surveyed planned to stay with their employer for years. Working conditions and career progression were the reasons given for leaving.