Finance and economics Earning power Winning the generation game The world economy has been kind to today's youngsters.

Generation Z is taking over.

In the rich world there are at least 250m people born between 1997 and 2012.

About half are now in a job.

In the average American workplace, the number of Gen Z-ers (sometimes also known as "Zoomers") working full-time is about to surpass the number of full-time baby-boomers, those born from 1945 to 1964, whose careers are winding down.

America now has more than 6,000 Zoomer chief executives and 1,000 Zoomer politicians.

As the generation becomes more influential, companies, governments and investors need to understand it.

Pundits produce a lot of fluff about the cohort.

Recent "research" from Frito-Lay, a crisp-maker, finds that Gen Z-ers have a strong preference for "snacks that leave remnants on their fingers", such as cheese dust.

Yet different generations also display deeper differences, in part shaped by the economic context in which they grow up.