Scrolling industry news in the morning, I see the words “young people just don’t want to work” time and time again. Later that day, I get coffee with an early-20s friend who has a master’s in economics. He shows me the spreadsheet of 50+ jobs he was rejected for. Jobs that fit his qualifications. How disheartening for him to open LinkedIn in search of another job posting, only to see another article about how he “just doesn’t want to work.”

When you consider the trajectory of a recent generation’s career, it looked something like: graduate, get a job, work there for 40 years (switch jobs if you need to), buy a car and a house, get promoted once in a while, save some money, and retire in your 60s. This was the plan for many a middle-class or upper middle-class American, and it allowed for home ownership, minimal school debt, and (God willing) at least 20 years to enjoy retirement.

Things have changed. Today, the average 20-something hears from family, friends, and the media to avoid taking out loans for college — “You’ll be paying them off until your hair is gray. Save money and go to your state school.” The same people who tell us this wait until we graduate and then let us know that the high-paying dream job only accepts elite, private school grads. A bit of a Catch-22, no?

We look at the numbers and see that homeownership, rent and college tuition have all outpaced inflation, becoming more difficult for us to attain than for any past generation. This means that we need to make significantly more money than our predecessors did to achieve the same quality of life. We are then reminded that our experience and education don’t come close to commanding that kind of pay— we didn’t go into debt for that kind of education, remember?

We are told that we may not be able to retire or will have to retire long after our parents did. We hear that to be able to retire, our parents needed to save $1 million, but we’ll need to save $3 million. How daunting.

So, what is the trajectory for us? Go to Homestate University, get a job that pays enough to cover rent but not enough to make a down payment or upgrade from our mom’s old minivan? Work hard and ask for raises to stash away in a 401(k) in the hopes that we may be one of the lucky ones who can retire? Be told that we’re lazy when we wonder if this is the best option?

So yes, the way young people are thinking and talking about work is different. It should be: work and life are different now. To be lazy would be to follow the same path our grandparents did without looking up, not realizing that it will not take us to the same destination. To be lazy would be to hope for the best and work without budgeting or planning and be shocked when, at 65, we have little more than we started with. The fact that young people are voicing their discontentment is a sign of critical thinking. It’s the first step in change, whether it be cultural, policy or workplace change.

So, let’s reframe how we talk about the bright young people to whom we are handing the world. Let’s change “young people just don’t want to work” to “young people don’t want to work so hard and for so long” or even “young people are concerned about the future of the world.” Because we are.

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