Man Says Boomers Don't Know What It's Like To Work 40+ Hours A Week And Still Not Afford Housing Or Food
“Millennials and Gen Z are working harder than any other generation ever has.”
LaylaBird / Canva Pro Younger generations are begging to be heard as they work more than 40 hours a week and still can’t make ends meet.
While it’s easy for boomers to say Gen Y and Z are lazy and unmotivated, the reality is that younger generations who have entered the workforce are dealing with an inflated economy, and no matter how hard they work, it barely pays off.
One man argued that millennials and Gen Zers are currently struggling more than any other generation.
Robbie Scott, who is a millennial, reacted to a TikTok of a baby boomer man stressing how younger generations are quick to complain about 40-hour work weeks, a system that has been in place for over 80 years.
Scott, however, shared strong opinions about how older generations could afford a home and support their families working a 40-hour week, but this is no longer the case for young workers.
“We're holding up our end of the deal,” Scott expressed. “We’re staying in school, we’re going to college. We’ve been working since we were 15, 16 years old. We’ve built a huge line of credible references doing everything you all told us to do so that we can what? Still be living at our parents’ in our early 20s?”
Nowadays, achieving a bachelor’s, and even a master’s, degree won’t guarantee immediate employment following graduation. In fact, the unemployment rate for recent graduates is higher than for the general population, and many entry-level positions require multiple years of experience.
Scott expressed how millennials and Gen Zer are making less money than any other generation has.
What some boomers and Gen Xers don’t understand is that there is a vast wealth gap between their generations and the generations after them.
Even when younger generations and recent graduates do manage to find employment, they are still struggling to make a feasible income. While the costs of housing and education continue to rise every year, wages remain stagnant.
And because these generations grew up with the notion that they needed to earn degrees to succeed, they are additionally drowning in tens of thousands of dollars in debt, while working 9-to-5 jobs that can barely support them.
“I know people in their mid-30s who have been working for 20 years,” Scott shared. “That’s like 70% of their waking life they have been working, and they still cannot afford to purchase their first home.”
The cost of living is only getting higher, and millennials and Gen Zers are losing hope.
Younger generations are working as hard as they can to make ends meet, finding side jobs and hustles for additional sources of income to support themselves. They are overworking themselves beyond measure, contributing 40-80 hours a week just so they can make a living, with little time to dedicate to their personal care.
“We spend more time with co-workers than friends and family,” one TikTok user commented on Scott’s video. “I work 80 hours a week bringing in around 75k a year. I make twice what my father made at my age, and I still cannot afford a ‘starter’ house,” another person shared.
Millennials and Gen Zers are experiencing burnout early in their lives, and they are struggling to remain motivated and fulfilled by not only a lack of rewards for their efforts but a lack of support and understanding, too. It has gotten to the point where they aren’t even sure if they will ever be able to afford a home.
“I’m a registered nurse with a bachelor’s and am still broke. I never do anything extra and still haven’t been on vacation,” one person commented. “I'm 38 making $115k living in San Diego with two kids, and I can't even pay my … bills every month,” another person commented.
Millennials and Gen Zers were born into a system that has faced drastic economic inflation, but they are the ones suffering.
“If boomers and Gen X had experienced what it's like to work as much as they did and get nothing in return, they would be able to sit across from us and go, ‘Oh, my god, I feel you,’” Scott expressed.
The point of the matter is, that millennials and Gen Zers are struggling financially in a way boomers and Gen X never did, and they are desperate for a change in the system.
Francesca Duarte is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team based in Orlando, FL. She covers lifestyle, human-interest, and spirituality topics.