As a younger millennial, I know what it feels like to have your generation maligned.
About ten or fifteen years ago, we were dubbed snowflakes for our supposed lack of resilience. Our inability to get on the housing ladder was put down to a love of avocado toast.
Now we’re in our 30s and 40s, there’s a new punching bag in town – Gen Z.
The latest en-vogue moan seems to be that Gen Z don’t make good employees – that they’re entitled, checked out from work, and see their job as a hindrance to their social lives.
One business told The i Paper this week that younger people often looked for “flexibility, high salaries and rapid progression from day one”.
And polling last year by YouGov found that 52 per cent of Britons would say younger workers were much lazier than their elders were – with the over 50s the most likely to agree.
While I don’t agree that any of that is true – doesn’t every generation think that those that come after are worse? – I wouldn’t blame younger people, even if it were.
If Gen Z demand decent salaries and rapid progression, it’s for a reason – they need it.
After many came of age during Covid, which robbed them of vital milestones and memories, they now face their entry into a job market in a flatlining economy where they have suffered the brunt of the damage, with 16-24 year olds facing unemployment rates of 16.1 per cent at the end of last year.
If they do make it into a role, it’s likely barely enough to pay their rent, let alone save to get on to the housing ladder.
According to the Resolution Foundation, annual salaries for recent graduates actually fell over the past 20 years once inflation is factored in.
Coupled with lower pay, private rental costs have soared, reaching 36.1 per cent of average earnings in March 2025, their highest level on record. Many in Gen Z demand higher wages because a basic existence without them isn’t possible. If they want to function while saving for the next stage of life, they need an adequate income.
And what if they do go on to do well? Many lose extortionate portions of their income compared to their older colleagues because of student loan repayments, adding up to 15 per cent to their marginal tax rates.
The threat of AI looms over them, with regular news items telling readers how entry-level jobs are likely to become a thing of the past once it takes hold.
And the generous perks like defined benefit company pensions that many over-60s – who seem so determined that Gen Z are idle youths – enjoyed? They are now so rare that I doubt that many under 30 even know what they are.
Perhaps if generations before Gen Z didn’t seem as entitled, it is because they did not need to display such lofty demands – it was given to them without a need for asking.
If younger people seem checked out of work, it’s because when a system offers someone very little, they are unlikely to buy into it. Why should they?
Are we simply telling ourselves that Gen Z are the lazy ones because it’s easier than accepting that they’ve entered a world and a job market in a bad state and it is they, rather than the older workers, who you could argue allowed it to become so, who will have to face the results?
Ultimately, millennials and those older than us need a wake-up call and to show some solidarity with our younger colleagues.
So next time you hear someone smugly criticising Gen Z and telling you how workers were better in their day, gently remind them of how lucky they had it.
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