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Large numbers of younger American workers, especially Gen Z’ers, those born between 1997 and 2012, are demonstrating some dangerous attitudes about work and employment. The problem isn’t a lack of jobs. Nearly half of small businesses recently reported having unfilled job openings, nearly twice the half-century historical average. And 41% say they have raised compensation. Overall, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 10 million unfilled jobs at the end of April, followed by 399,000 new jobs in May.
A more likely explanation is changes in mores and attitudes towards work. “Funemployment,” for example, according to Investopedia describes “those who lost their jobs and choose to use their newfound freedom to pursue leisure activities such as traveling, going to the beach, and being physically active until they find a new job.”
Taking one’s time to find a new job while drawing unemployment benefits is nothing new, but usually those who do so are working for cash to increase their income. The “funemployed” are spending money on “leisure activities,” and many live with their parents.
Then there are those who still work but practice “quiet quitting,” basically goldbricking on the job by doing only the bare minimum. Gallup estimates that half of the workforce practices “quiet quitting,” especially Gen Z’ers and younger Millennials. This attitude was facilitated during the Covid years, when the trillions of dollars in federal and state money sloshing through the economy made it affordable to blow off employment or risk one’s job. And don’t forget, during the lockdowns many employees got hooked on working from home, where supervision is lax and goofing off on the company’s dime is easy.
But again, changing attitudes toward work are more pertinent than money when it comes to a lack of respect for honest labor. According to 74% of managers in a Resume Builder survey, Gen Z’ers are “difficult to work with. . . . About half (49%) of [managers] find it difficult to work with Gen Z’ers all (11%) or most of the time (39%). Additionally, 16% say they find it difficult a lot of the time, while 20% say some of the time and 10% say not much of the time. Only 4% said they almost never find it to be difficult.
The reasons managers find Gen Z’ers to be challenging employees are a “lack of technological skills (39%), effort (37%), motivation (37%),” among other behaviors and traits such as “easily distracted,” “easily offended,” and “dishonest.” Moreover, they lack communication skills: “While they are proficient in using digital communication tools,” one manager said, “they may lack some of the interpersonal skills required for face-to-face interactions. Gen Z’ers could benefit from developing their communication skills to build stronger relationships with colleagues and clients.” It’s no surprise that one in eight managers have fired a Gen Z’er within a week of their start date.
What we have produced, then, is a generation disaffected with work, and demanding that their feelings, beliefs, and comfort take priority over the needs of the business that pays them. As the Wall Street Journal’s Andy Kessler points out, Gen Z’ers have unrealistic expectations for their jobs: ‘“I want a career with a purpose,’ which usually means an activist. Or ‘I need a good work-life balance,’ which suggests someone doesn’t want to work very hard.” He quotes a CEO who “recently spent an entire afternoon discussing his company’s pet-bereavement policy.”
In short, Kessler writes, “Work has become a dirty word. Cyber bohemians just want to dream and stream.” Nor does it help that a prestigious media authority like the New York Times runs headlines like “How to Fight Back Against the Inhumanity of Modern Work,” for a story about employees whining over the company’s digital monitoring to measure productivity.
Only a society as rich and comfortable as ours can afford such inflated self-esteem and sense of entitlement to psychic comfort and satisfaction without having to spend their time working rather than gratifying their transient juvenile whims.
But this abandonment of regular work creates a big moral hazard that we will dangerously diminish our once-strong work-ethic and the boons of self-respect, dignity, good character, and virtue that all work provides––a risk no nation can afford if it wants to stay strong and prosperous.
More important, respect for work and its contribution to building people’s characters has a larger political dimension. The rise of constitutional governments that empowered non-elites challenged the traditional aristocratic disdain for physical labor or work directed to making a profit. In both ancient Greece and Rome, non-elite, working citizens, especially small farmers, were foundational to political freedom and equality.
The Greek poet Hesiod, for example, wrote around 700 B.C., when the constitutional city-states, including democracies that empowered middling non-elites who were neither serfs nor nobles, were forming. “The immortals decreed,” Hesiod writes in his Works and Days, “that man must sweat/to obtain virtue,” since “for mortals order is best, disorder is worst.” The unforgiving harshness of the natural world, and the destructive passions and impulses of humans require virtue, particularly the power of self-control over our passions and impulses in order to do what we must for the future, rather than what we desire at the moment. “Do not postpone for tomorrow or the day after tomorrow,” Hesiod advises, nor “waste time in aimlessness.”
The Roman poet Vergil, who wrote during first-century B.C. when the Roman Republic was degenerating into an autocratic empire, explicitly linked farming and work to the greatness of the Roman Republican, and the decay of both to its demise. The citizen-farmer and citizen-soldier, both functions requiring virtues like self-control, duty, courage, reliability, and hard work, were disappearing. Elite Senators and other plutocrats had amassed vast estates worked by slaves, displacing the small citizen-farmers and sending them to join the urban masses sustained by “bread and circuses,” as Juvenal later would call the subsidies of grain and oil, and the gladiatorial spectacles that distracted the dispossessed.
This link between farming and civic virtue is central to Vergil’s Georgics (38-32 B.C.), forgotten today but once one of the most-read and admired of ancient works. In it he links the declined of farming and what we would call the “work ethic” to the Roman Republic’s corruption and decline: “So many wars, so many shapes of crime/Confront us; no due honor attend the plough,/The fields, bereft of tillers, are all unkempt,/ and in the forge the curving prunin-hook/Is made a straight hard sword.”
In Vergil’s poem, the hard-working small farmer is the exemplar of the virtues and principles necessary for a consensual government whose citizens participate in running the state. For farming––even today when machines and technology have lessened the grueling labor agriculture demands––embodies the principles and virtues also necessary for being a good citizen: frugality, duty to family, the gods, and the political community, a strong work-ethic, self-control over selfish desires and passions, and self-sufficiency and independence.
Most of our Founding Fathers were familiar with this georgic tradition that joined representative government to the work ethic and virtues most obvious found in farming. Thomas Jefferson is the most famous of the champions of agrarianism, the political expression of the codependence of farming and civic virtue. In 1785 he wrote to John Jay, “Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country, and wedded to its liberty and interests, by the most lasting bonds.”
Of course, today there is no possibility of renewing the culture of small farmers. Even Jefferson accepted that manufacturing, commerce, sea-borne trade, and urbanization were inevitable. In another letter from 1785, he said agrarianism was “theory only,” for “our people have a decided taste for navigation & commerce.” He was also familiar with the failed attempts by those like the Gracchi brothers in the late 2nd century B.C. to resettle Roman citizens on the “public lands” taken from Rome’s enemies, where they could restore the dying traditions of the citizen-farmer.
But the virtues, ethics, and character fostered by honest work can also be found in a modern economy’s jobs. And those virtues and ethics are similarly vital to the functioning of our Constitutional order. That’s why the decay of the work ethic among our youngest generation is dangerous.
A weak work ethic also reinforces other troubling signs, such as the unpopularity of marriage and bearing children; an indifference to service in the armed forces; and the disdain for the free-market economy, and the preference for socialism, “wokeism,” and the progressive Leviathan state ruled by regulatory agencies staffed by unaccountable bureaucrats who fancy themselves “experts” smarter than everybody else, when in fact they execute policies and rules that an illiterate farmer in 1776 would have known are preposterous and dangerous.
America’s greatness was in great part a product of the American work ethic. The contempt for that virtue by a significant number of our younger generations is a troubling sign that our greatness may not endure.
It’s truly alarming how our society has developed a dangerous contempt for work. Instead of embracing the value and importance of diligent effort, we often find ourselves seeking shortcuts or trying to escape the responsibilities that come with it. This mindset not only undermines our personal growth and development but also hampers the progress of our communities and the world at large.
Work is not merely a means to an end or a necessary evil. It is a fundamental part of our lives that allows us to contribute, innovate, and make a positive impact. It is through work that we shape our identities, build skills, and foster a sense of purpose. Yet, somewhere along the way, we have lost sight of this fundamental truth.
So, let us shed our dangerous contempt for work and embrace it as a cornerstone of personal and societal growth. Together, we can foster a culture of diligence, passion, and excellence, shaping a brighter future for ourselves and generations to come.
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I think you’re oversimplifying things here. Yes, there are the perpetual children who cause trouble in the workplace, but many others are fighting for work-life balance because they’re parents who are trying to get by financially and still take care of their kids. And if some troll is going to jump in here and say something along the lines of “if you can’t afford them, don’t have them,” then i guess that speaks to the concerns raised in your concluding remarks about the unpopularity of bearing children. If you want a healthy society with healthy families, you need to let workers return home with enough time and energy to create them. And no, in today’s economy most families can’t make it on one income. Welcome to reality.
The last paragraph summarizes it all. Indeed, America’s greatness was in great part a product of the American work ethic and character. That is why the ideologues whose goal is to destroy the Judeo-Christian foundation of America, propagate the drugs and toxic ideologies which infect the minds and souls of Americans transforming them into their opposite. It is because of such mind infections that so many prefer idleness, become moochers, and finally homeless.
In so doing, the ideologues destroyed the most valuable asset of the nation – its people, transforming the morally healthy population into a massively sick one. And all that – just a part of a multi-parametric perfect storm – the defeat of our civilization – see judeochristianamerica dot org/OnEcclesiastes
Do you really see Jesus of Nazareth coming back to Earth and celebrating, championing, defending, promoting, the personal, individualistic, self-interested, pursuit of happiness and wealth on Earth that is Laissez-Faire Capitalism?
Do you see him pursuing happiness and wealth on Earth himself? Do you see him working to afford a Ferrari and Lamborghini, designer clothes, a mansion and a superyacht? Do you see him living like Jeff Bezos and proudly enjoying it? I don’t and no one who carefully reads his words and Gospel would either.
If Jesus of Nazareth came back to Earth he would condemn capitalism and Bezos for being greedy and selfish and not dedicating himself to selfless, Christian self-sacrifice, and altruism. He would condemn Bezos for being a greedy rich man unwilling to give up his wealth for the poor and the needy.
Jesus would tell Bezos the love of money is the root of all evil, therefore give it all away and seek salvation from this world, prepare your eternal soul for my kingdom by repenting for Original Sin by sacrificing yourself and wealth for God and neighbor, you are your brother’s keeper.
He would also condemn Christians like Joel Osteen and the other televangelists as fake Christians seeking wealth and power preening around like peacocks in fancy suits, jet airplanes, mega-churches, and mega-mansions.
You’re being overly simplistic, and inaccurate.
“Do you really see Jesus of Nazareth coming back to Earth and celebrating, championing, defending, promoting, the personal, individualistic, self-interested, pursuit of happiness and wealth on Earth that is Laissez-Faire Capitalism?”
If the money is not used for evil endeavors, and/or if the money is used to improve the lives of others, of course he would.
“Jesus would tell Bezos the love of money is the root of all evil.”
Jesus never said the love of money is the root of all evil. It’s one thing to covet thy neighbor’s goods. It’s altogether something else to work hard for rewards.
“He would also condemn Christians like Joel Osteen and the other televangelists as fake Christians seeking wealth and power preening around like peacocks in fancy suits, jet airplanes, mega-churches, and mega-mansions”
I don’t actually know what these guys preach, but if they’re snake-oil salesmen, yes, Jesus would condemn them.
Psalm 112:3 “”Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.””
From https://answersingenesis.org/contradictions-in-the-bible/root-of-all-evil/:
“Many of the biblical patriarchs were men of great physical wealth, such as Abraham, who “”was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold”” (Genesis 13:2), and Job, “”the greatest of all the people of the East”” (Job 1:3). Likewise, Solomon did not ask God for riches, yet the Lord blessed Him with incredible wealth. “”So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom”” (1 Kings 10:23). Clearly, God does not despise money, as He often gives it to believers who desire Him instead of physical riches.”
Psalm 112:3 describes the man who fears the Lord: “”Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.””
I’m changing my sentence:
“If the money is not used for evil endeavors, and/or if the money is used to improve the lives of others, of course he would. ”
To, simply:
“If the money is not used to harm others or one’s self, of course he would. “
Jesus would tell all of us to seek the kingdom of God. He did say love of money is the root of all evil, and He admonished the young rich man to dispense of the wealth he loved. But Jesus did not say the mere possession of money (, property, …) is evil. Were that the case, there could be no wealth for anyone to give up for the benefit of others. Joseph of Arimathea could not have offered the family crypt for Jesus’ body.
People who make your argument generally posit one or the other of two things.
First, they hold that wealth is a fixed quantity that simply exists — like land — and that one increases one’s share only via nefarious means by seizing wealth from others. They reject that wealth can be added to through honest effort, thereby increasing the total wealth available in a society. If this were true, it would be necessary to declare cathedrals, houses, factories, etc. as no more valuable than their equivalent stone piles of rubble. Coventry and the East End comprised stone before and stone after aerial bombing by the Luftwaffe, therefore no wealth was lost.
Second, they hold (simultaneously with the first, although mutually contradictory) that wealth added as the result of work will naturally accumulate even if the people who work for it aren’t permitted to keep it or direct how it is used.
If this were true, it would be necessary to declare it immoral to feed one’s children ahead of paying taxes to feed other people’s children. All effort to benefit others according to one’s own choices would be selfish by definition. But Christianity teaches, “if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” In this world, there would be no Bezos class of billionaires, but also no lesser rich nor any middle class either. All existence would be hand-to-mouth. So your argument is intrinsically contemptuous of honest work.
I am as scornful as you of the phenomenon of “prosperity gospel” frauds — but that is itself an inverse manifestation of the same contempt for honest work. It depends on the false premise that God’s rewards are material: “if you’re so holy why aren’t you rich?”
Paul said “love of money is the root of all evil”, not Jesus.
1 Timothy 6:9. Not merely a technicality.
“ a strong work-ethic, self-control over selfish desires and passions, and self-sufficiency and independence.”
Tell that to most university professors and watch them shake their heads in despair.
“ Then there are those who still work but practice “quiet quitting,” basically goldbricking on the job by doing only the bare minimum.”
That’s what I am personally doing in my job. I’m a straight white old man partially retired and therefore I’m just the problematic patriarchy that has traditionally dominated and oppressed women and coloured people.
I do most of my work on zoom, it’s easy and money for old rope.
A strong work ethic has strong roots in the Judaic tradition and has been a critical reason why America is prosperous
No it isn’t the Judeo-Christian serfs worked their fingers to the bone and died an early death for it. If medieval Judeo-Christianity resulted in anything it was a strong, literally back breaking, work ethic of working yourself to death and an early grave. Anybody can be forced to work themselves to death, the Nazis knew that work would set you free, free from life they meant. Ask the slaves in the ante-bellum South if they didn’t have a strong work ethic farming the soil.
Work for the sake of work has no value. It is intelligence applied to work, purposeful-productive- work, that produces innovation, prosperity, and happiness. But that requires freedom and liberty, the freedom to think, act, and keep the product of your work.
“The [Judeo-Christian] supernatural doctrines of the Middle Ages, . . . kept men huddling on the mud floors of their hovels, in terror that the devil might steal the soup they had worked eighteen hours to earn.” – Ayn Rand
An empty stomach will cure all of the above listed ails..
A university professor recently made headlines, by saying something like ‘We have to get over this fetish, of the idea, we need blue collar factory jobs.’ A month or so later I read, with great amusement, that “Washington War Pigs” (I just invented a replacement name for the Redskins), are in a panic, because we have an insufficient industrial base, to manufacture enough bombs, for Ukraine.
A university professor recently made headlines, by saying something like ‘We have to get over this fetish, of the idea, we need blue collar factory jobs.’ A month or so later I read, with great amusement, that the “Washington War Pigs” (I just invented a replacement name for the Redskins), are in a panic, because we have an insufficient industrial base, to manufacture enough bombs, for Ukraine.
This article might have been better if the writer had spoken to some of these work adverse young people. I found it extremely difficult to transition from being in college engrossed in learning things that I felt were vital and energizing to being in crappy, prosaic jobs surrounded by office politics and people who behaved like children. I have litigator friends who look back on their years spent “fighting” until they drain the clients coffers realizing that all of theie work was basically for nothing but the financial enrichment of the firm.
Most good people want meaning in their lives. We don’t live forever, so the idea of spending neay every waking hour doing something basically pointless and often times abusive demoralized people. Some people only care about money, but those usually aren’t the people fun to know.
I remember a friend once saying she just wanted a job with a boss who wasn’t actively abusive. Good luck in New York in the arts! Thankfully, she soon married and her husband has supported her ever since.
As it stands, we have built a society that demands full employment from everyone at all times. We are all supposed to work hard 50-75 hours a week plus multiple hours a day commuting, have large happy families and be ilengaged in civic life. What a crock! This template was doomed to fail. Gen Z has seen it fail and they’ve already felt the misery.
Actually I remember listening to an Objectivism lecture course where an Objectivist economist was asked what would it be like if America were truly a completely Laissez-Faire Capitalism country?
He laughed and said that productivity and capital savings and investment would be so high, they would go through the roof, and the average, blue-collar American, could work 20 hours a week and on those wages live like a king, owning two or three houses, and three or four cars.
America and the American taxpayer are being bled to death, crushed, and destroyed by altruism-collectivism-socialism-globalism. America is funding the whole world including Palestinian terrorists and Ukrainian pensioners.
Work has for the vast majority of people throughout the vast majority of history is not about meaning or purpose. Those are found through the ability to support a family and contribute to a community.
The secret to happy employment is to get paid to do what you love enough that you’d do it anyway, for free. Translated, that means screw college, learn a trade.
Creative work, which is what many trades offer, is really the best for a person’s sanity.
>> Thankfully, she soon married and her husband has supported her ever since.
Your friend is lazy and venal. You sound like a spoiled millennial who wants to have her cake and eat it, too. You and your attitude are precisely what’s meant by fat and happy and you represent a society at the end of the wealth phase of its life cycle…just before it collapses, as so many societies have done before.
You have no idea who the author spoke with or not.
Ignorant, lazy, selfish and hateful.
Makes you wonder where did this generation get their anti-civilization attitude.
I think the entitlement of diversity has much to do with it. A good number of the “work” force are not able to comprehend what they need to do.
Our catastrophic downfall will occur when most of our jobs (critical or menial…doesn’t matter) are filled with “equity hires” and others who have no concept of the requirements and demands of a job, but have all the Woke physical atributes on their dance card. Ten years from now the idea of having surgery, boarding a flight, or going to a dentist will be tantamount to a death dance with the devil. God, I’m so glad I’m old and will be gone soon.
And in 50 years, one will be drowned or burnt at the stake as a witch for saying that men once flew in those hulking aluminum carcasses.
Or walked on the moon!
Success stories of three generations of the public school system.
As the great philosopher Maynard G. Krebs often said, “Work? Work!”
Q. How do you make a liberal nervous? A. Hide their welfare check in their work boots
Under the CCP rule of life, work is not a dirty word; you will learn to embrace it and yes, come to love it.
You will also own nothing……and be happy.