Employed millennials see their future job prospects and salaries in a far more positive light than do older generations. Are they setting themselves up for disappointment?

According to a survey released Friday by job site Glassdoor.com, employees are feeling more confident about the job market than they have in nearly six years — and millennials are leading the pack in terms of confidence. Nearly two in three millennial employees say they are confident they could find a job matched to their experience and current compensation levels within the next six months, compared with less than half of 35-54 year olds and less than one in four seniors.

Millennials optimistic about job prospects, seniors not so much

Age group % of employed workers who are confident they could find a new, suitable job within six months 18-34 62% 35-44 46% 45-54 39% 55-64 38% 65 and up 23%

Millennials’ extreme confidence is interesting because it comes even as this generation faces higher unemployment than older generations. As of August 2014, the unemployment rate for the 25-34 set was 6.9%, compared with 4.8% for 34-44 year olds, 4.3% for 45-54 year olds and 4.6% for those 55 and up, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But Glassdoor’s career and workplace expert Rusty Rueff says that some of this optimism may be warranted, as many millennials have the skills — like tech know-how (many have been using computers their entire lives and/or studied tech-related topics in school) — that many employers are demanding. Plus, he adds, millennials tend to be more willing to take on different jobs and lower salaries than older workers might accept — both of which give them more job options than many older workers might have. “It has been cloudy and especially cold for them for the past five years,” he says — as many took years to land that first job. “This is like the beginning of warm spring days for them.”

Read: Older workers clog the employment pipeline

Furthermore, more millennials (48%) than any older generation expect to get some kind of pay raise in the next year from their employer. That’s compared with just 39% of those 45-54 and 43% of those 55-64. While many companies do, in fact, say they plan to give pay raises (a Towers Watson survey this year found that large companies say they will average about a 3% raise in base pay), they certainly won’t dole them out to all employees and many companies won’t be giving raises at all. Indeed, Rueff points out that companies often take a while, even amidst economic recovery, to dole out pay raises — no matter your age.

So why are millennials more optimistic about pay raises than older groups? Rueff says it’s because many haven’t been through an entire up/down business cycle yet, “in some cases, they don’t know better,” says Rueff.

MarketWatch Retirement Adviser: From Savings to Income

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