On a cold winter Monday, old codgers received some warm reassurance of their belief that the slacker generation has a cornucopia of slackers, courtesy of the Federal Reserve.

The Fed reported the number of 18- to 30-year-olds who preferred steady employment over higher pay declined from 2015 to 2013, 62 percent versus 67 percent.

Last year also saw double the young workers rate flexible work schedules as the top job benefit over employer contributions to retirement savings accounts, 14.46 percent to 7.81 percent.

Yet for 2015, as in 2013, workers in the 18- to 30-year-old demographic ranked retirement contributions No. 3 behind health care and paid sick leave when they pooled their three favorite workplace benefits together.

Employer help with retirement savings far outpaced employer assistance with student loan repayments when the young workers top three job benefits were lumped, 41.39 percent to 17.19 percent.

In the two years since the last survey was done, the financial well-being of this age group has brightened.

The number of 18- to 30-year-olds who said they would be able to pay their living expenses if they were out of work for three months soared to 40 percent in 2015 from 24 percent in 2013.

Their optimism about their future job prospects climbed in the period to 61 percent from 45 percent.

At the same time, the number of adults 30 and under with health insurance rose to 82 percent from 70 percent.

The Fed poll of nearly 2,000 young adults was conducted in December 2015.