A Concerning Crusade Among GenZ: The Antiwork Movement

GenZ is leading the charge in the “antiwork” movement as more young adults are getting fed up and quitting their jobs. What has been coined the Great Resignation by economists has been tagged with the antiwork label. Major publications are celebrating the labor shortage and promoting those who want to create a new American Dream: quitting your job and not working. The befuddling “work-free lifestyle” is a social attitude that, since the pandemic, has blossomed.

Burnout, excessive work hours, mental health challenges, and unfair compensation may be understandable reasons to leave your job. But the workforce’s growing rush to the exits demonstrates the vanishing work ethic that infects an entire generation of Americans. What does this mean for the future of America?

Legitimate Burnout

Americans are leaving the workforce for a variety of reasons. Some are lazy radicals who support the abolition of work. Others are overworked, burned out, or underpaid. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the work/life balance of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers as they were forced to toil long and grueling hours.

The United States is facing a nursing shortage due to burnout. Nurses are leaving the healthcare industry and hospitals across the country are short-staffed. Agencies that contract with traveling nurses – that is, ones who are willing to travel to other areas where there are shortages – can offer up to six times more in salary. Hospital leaders say they are headed for an untenable staff shortage situation when they can no longer compete with the rates traveling medical workers get.

The healthcare industry will need to make massive changes to draw in workers and rely less on high-priced travel agency employees. Spikes in COVID-19 cases or rumors of new variants affect the demand for healthcare providers, and until the pandemic fades out, this unsustainable model will continue. Experts say the medical field must adjust, by improving working conditions and pay for employees.

Leaving to Do Nothing

An antiwork Reddit page has become home for more than a million users to rant about their jobs, share their wishes of quitting, and advocate for universal income and a socialist state. It is a support group for those quitting, wanting to, or planning to quit their jobs. Some leave their current position to pursue a different occupation they are more passionate about or have fewer hours or higher pay. However, a concerning number of Americans are quitting and don’t plan on working again. Even worse, they’re pushing others to do the same.

Generation Z is leading the charge in the antiwork movement as they demand “better working conditions.” Some are reasonable, others are not. This generation, growing up in the digital age, has frequently been described as having low work ethics and a lack of grit. A large 68% of Boomers believe “younger people” from GenZ and Y do not have a strong worth ethic.

Despite considering themselves the hardest working generation, according to a new study done by the Workforce Institute, more than a third of GenZ says they demand a say over their work schedule, refuse to work back-to-back shifts, and will not tolerate being forced to work when they don’t want to or being denied days off they request.

A scary number of young Americans want to do what they want to do when it comes to working and are not willing to put their nose down and grind. Of the GenZ demographic, only 3% are interested in working in the construction industry due to its physical demands. The industry provides an array of well-paid careers, many of which do not require muscles, but due to the stereotype associated with construction, young Americans are not interested.

New American Dream?

The publication Insider interviewed members of the antiwork movement and investigated their motivations. One man said, "When you go to this stage in your life where you're not working anymore, and you really don't care about some things, it's freedom. It really is freedom."

The United States has always been the bulwark of freedom, but not for this reason. The American Dream is about equality of opportunity, having high aspirations, and the dedication to reach them. People around the world come to America to pursue entrepreneurship, religious freedom, education, and a career. Quitting your job as a desired life goal is a concerning one for the future of this country.

The right to strike, boycott, and protest for better working conditions and pay are freedoms valued in the United States. But a self-important attitude, a sense of entitlement, and an aversion to hard work are not exactly cherished American values.

~Read more from Keelin Ferris.