You hear it all the time from older generations, especially Baby Boomers, but even from the likes of Kim Kardashian: Gen Z and Millennials just don't want to work nowadays.
And a Gen Z TikToker named Mik is copping to it. She says people are right that her generation and other young people really don't want to work anymore, but it's not because they're lazy.
It's because for the vast majority of us, working no longer even remotely provides a livable wage. Instead, our labor enriches those who are already rich and sitting atop the pyramid.
"I don't wanna work," Mik said in the opening of her TikTok, before going on to elaborate on what exactly she means by that.
Explaining that work "helps give you purpose" and "something to do," she said:
"Luckily for me, I do do something I'm passionate about, so I genuinely like my job. But the problem is, the purpose of a job is supposed to pay for you to be able to afford to live. And that's just not the case anymore."
She went on to repeat a familiar refrain among younger generations nowadays: they did everything they were told, got a college degree, worked hard, but are still finding themselves in a position where they "can't afford to live."
Mik went on to say:
"And we're working 40 to 60 hours a week, like, on average, and we cannot afford to live. Like, we just do not make enough to pay rent, to pay for food."
"Everything is so expensive right now, and wages are not keeping up with the cost of living."
"So we are working full time, giving up a huge portion of our lives to work, and we can't even afford to live."
"That is why my generation is frustrated. That is why we don't wanna work anymore."
She then asked "what's the point" of working hard if they can't afford to save or have a social life. She also pointed out that many young people work more than one job—so-called "side hustles"—to make ends meet and still can't get by.
Which makes older people and billionaires' criticisms all the more galling.
"Then older generations just look at us and they're like, you're not working hard enough. This is your fault..."
"The reason we can't get by is because the cost of living since the 90s has gone up 67% while the wages have only gone up 18%."
She also pointed out the debt required to go to college, the unstable housing market, and the fact that "we don't even know that there'll be a habitable Earth when we're older," as factors making younger generations "pessimistic and nihilistic."
Mik's TikTok certainly hit a nerve, and lots of people on TikTok firmly agreed with her take.
@lolalovezbeauty/TikTok
@richardfrench2005/TikTok
@bethandthefloofs/TikTok
@ktooney/TikTok
@ohnomelons/TikTok
@klnb23/TikTok
@trizzlepuffs/TikTok
@theninjor17/TikTok
@electroniccook/TikTok
Here's hoping things change soon. Until then, it's long past time to lay off the claims that young people aren't working hard enough. Nothing has ever been further from the truth.
@thetnholler/Bluesky
@wensilver/Bluesky