Gen Z lacks confidence in achieving economic security and often doubts the value of traditional career advancement. Expectations of upward mobility and homeownership have been undermined by housing prices outpacing salary gains, rising cost of living, scarce promotions, heavy student-loan burdens, and a widening wealth gap. Automation and AI threaten high-paying career paths, further eroding job prospects. Anxiety about long-term environmental collapse adds existential pessimism that reduces incentive to invest effort in long-term goals. As a result, many young adults prioritize different work-life choices and feel disillusioned with the conventional 'American Dream' trajectory.
"Gen Z [has] no reason to believe that they're ever going to have economic security," Suzy Welch, professor of management practice at New York University, said on a recent podcast when asked about the generation's lazy label. "I don't know about you but I'm old enough that when I was in college, I thought 'For sure, I'm going to have more money than my parents.' And that 'If I work very very hard I'm going to buy a house someday,' and this was the assumption."
The newest class of workers were raised by their Gen X and baby boomer parents with a clear career plan: attend a prestigious college, land a high-paying job, and climb the corporate ladder to C-suite success. But the "American Dream" set-up that's propelled older generations to six-figure salaries may have crumbled; housing prices have far outpaced salary gains, cost of living is skyrocketing, promotions are scarce, and AI continues to upend high-paying career paths.
Plus, there's general unease about the state of the economy and environment-and Gen Z are skeptical if they'll even be around to enjoy the fruits of their labor. "A lot of Gen Z [are] just saying 'I'm not even sure we're going to be alive in 20 years because of global warming.' And 'The world is probably going to end anyway because of the stupidity of decisions your generations made,'" Welch continued.
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