I’d suspected as much, and then I read it in the Economist.  Sometime between the beginning of the economic downturn and now, Gen Y has become unentitled.  Says the article that confirmed my thoughts:

Jessica Buchsbaum first noticed that something had changed in May 2008.  The head of recruitment for a law firm in Florida, Ms Buchsbaum was used to interviewing young candidates for summer internships who seemed to think that the world owed them a living. Many applicants expected the firm to promote itself to them rather than the other way around.  However, last May’s crop were far more humble.  “The tone had changed from ‘What can you do for me?’ to ‘Here’s what I can do for you’,” she says.

The global downturn has been a brutal awakening for the youngest members of the workforce - variously dubbed “the Millennials”, “Generation Y” or “the Net Generation” by social researchers.  They got used to a world in which jobs were plentiful and firms fell over one another to recruit them.  Now, their prospects are grimmer.  According to America’s Bureau of Labour Statistics, the unemployment rate among people in their 20s increased significantly in the two most recent recessions in the United States.  It is likely to do so again as industries such as finance and technology, which employ lots of young people, axe thousands of jobs.  Net Geners are also finding it harder to hop to new jobs, while their dissatisfaction grows as crisis-hit firms adopt more of a command-and-control approach to management - the antithesis of the open, collaborative style that young workers prefer.

To me, this last sentence says a great deal.  I don’t think the generational clashes are going to stop just because Gen Y is less cocky.  Today’s young professionals still need a supportive work environment, and given that they’re the future of most organizations, companies that are unable or refuse to provide it will have troubles that extend beyond their current economic woes.