Demographic Transformation in Defining Malaysian Generations: The Seekers (Pencari), The Buiders (Pembina), The Developers (Pemaju), and Generation Z (Generasi Z)

Generational theory states that people born at a similar time frame in history would experience similar political, social and economic realities. The theory looks for significant historical events and identifies the impact these have on existing social order and value systems. Workforce transformation evolves significantly from era-to-era and from nation-to-nation. Presently, there are three major workforce generational cohort groups: Baby boomers, Gen. X, and Gen. Y that were taken directly from the Western generational theory and widely used across the globe. In consideration for a country such as Malaysia, the identifiable generation cohort groups may be misguided as life events vary across country to country. The example of naming of the terms baby boomers referred to the booming of births in the Western world whereas in Malaysia for that same time period it is impossible to observe a similar boom. This conceptual study attempts to shield light of the demographic reality in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to show the formulation of labels reflecting the actual generational gaps based on Malaysian socio-economic and demographic transitions over the past 70 years period (from 1940s to present time). The authors of the study have defined and labelled the generations as the seekers (pencari) , the builders (pembina), the developers (pemaju) and the Generations Z (Generasi Z) arising from the workforce transformation and historical facts.