Gen Z and work: why it’s not laziness but the rejection of an unlivable system

They call us lazy, disengaged, unreliable. It’s a simple narrative — convenient, repeated often enough to sound true.

When it comes to Gen Z and work, the issue is framed as a lack of motivation.But this interpretation misses the core point: it’s not work that is being rejected, it’s the system governing it that has become unlivable.

We grew up believing effort was a guarantee. Study harder, accept compromises, endure precarity as a temporary step toward stability. Unpaid internships, “training” disguised as labor, gratitude expected as a prerequisite.

That pact has broken.

We followed the rules while the framework narrowed. Work for Gen Z didn’t expand — it fragmented. Opportunities became intermittent, opaque, and disproportionate to what was demanded in return.

Today, job searching means decoding listings with no salaries, junior roles carrying senior responsibilities, unstable contracts sold as flexibility. Passion is invoked not as a value, but as a justification for the absence of protection.

In this context, talking about a “lack of willingness to work” is misleading.The issue isn’t effort — it’s sustainability.

Fatigue isn’t rejected.What’s rejected is the idea that fatigue should be permanent, unacknowledged, and futureless.

The tension between Gen Z and work originates here:in a system that demands adaptability without stability, commitment without continuity, enthusiasm without perspective. A system that normalizes anxiety and labels burnout resistance as maturity.

This generation witnessed too early what that resistance produces.Economic crises, a global pandemic, and fragile labor markets exposed what was once hidden: adapting to a broken system isn’t responsibility — it’s erosion.

That’s why many choose to stop, change direction, and refuse conditions that allow survival but deny life.This isn’t withdrawal. It’s a position.

Work should be a space for growth, not a test of endurance. And if this system interprets requests for balance, respect, and future as threats, then the issue isn’t generational.