FAITH LAPIDUS: Mr. Peck says early in the recession, millennials thought any period of unemployment would be short. There was even a name for this kind of thinking: "funemployment."

DON PECK: “The idea that a few months perhaps of unemployment during the recession, could not only be easily overcome but could be kind of fun. You know, people were getting unemployment checks, they didn’t have many financial commitments.

"Many of them took that opportunity to reassess career, to take vacations, and I think in part millennials were just trying to make the best of a bad situation.”

DOUG JOHNSON: But now, he says, young people are thinking differently.

DON PECK: “That idea that this period is something that can be easily enjoyed and that will not materially affect millennials in the rest of their careers is clearly waning within that generation. I think today you see among millennials much higher job tenure -- they’re clinging to their jobs more tightly, they’ve expressed a desire for a single job, a single employer throughout their career rather than the ability to switch careers. So that notion of funemployment which many millennials began the recession with, I think, is long gone today.”

In today’s economy, says Mr. Peck, any work is better than no work.

DON PECK: “This is a time where young people need to be extremely aggressive and entrepreneurial and have humility. You know, say yes to whatever job offers one gets because it’s certainly better to be working than have the stigma of unemployment all together.”