Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Gen Z does not dream of labor

vox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 510 posts

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#221

Post by s5300 »

ozzythecat wrote: post #113

> American workers across various ages, industries, and income brackets have experienced heightened levels of fatigue, burnout, and general dissatisfaction toward their jobs since the pandemic’s start. The difference is, more young people are airing these indignations and jaded attitudes on the internet, often to viral acclaim. I left Amazon after a 10+ year career. I was encouraged to hire foreign nationals from spe…

> My former Amazon bosses are ready to replace Americans with workers on the global market. They have no empathy, and they openly view it as a weakness. It is LITERALLY a rat race.

>> have no empathy, and they openly view it as a weakness.

You should hire a 3rd world troll farm to stalk these people everywhere they go urging them to kill themselves.

Only way to repent for your sins.

Edit:

>> On the issue of empathy, I think this quote from Captain G. M. Gilbert at the Nuremberg trials sums it up;

"In my work with the defendants (at the Nuremberg Trails 1945-1949) I was searching for the nature of evil and I now think I have come close to defining it. A lack of empathy. It’s the one characteristic that connects all the defendants, a genuine incapacity to feel with their fellow men. Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” So yes, the world is likely better off with them dead :)

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#222

Post by Forgeties79 »

immigrantheart wrote: post #209
Forgeties79 wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think before I elaborate too much I have to ask you a question: do you genuinely believe that most of Gen Z is actually refusing to work/is against the entire concept of working for pay?

No, I don't believe that.

Ok good to know that sort of makes this easier to respond to.

So they’re not “rebelling against work” and the article as a whole is just so reductionist. What most are doing is questioning 1) what we find acceptable in a work environment and 2) what we find acceptable to pay people for a day of their labor.

If you’re Gen Z, unlike middle to older millennials, chances are you weren’t raised with the “bootstraps” narrative quite as baked into things because their parents weren’t all able to pay for college with summer jobs or a house with an entry level job. They also are part of the first generation that is questioning if college is worth it. Left and right, up and down, all they see are closing doors and lack of financial mobility.

So what’s the logical response to seeing a system that doesn’t seem like they can work within it? A call for change. “No, I won’t work for $7.25. No, I don’t want six figure debt to get a degree and maybe have a job. No, I can’t do what I love for pay because no one respects it since it isn’t STEM.”

The list goes on.

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#223

Post by bombcar »

paulpauper wrote: post #158
frontman1988 wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

American boomers grew up in lot of privilege after winning world war 2. Now is a different time where the world is more competitive. A lot of jobs in manufacturing have gone to China, in the services sector to India. Dancing off on Tiktok and working at Starbucks won't give you a comfortable life like your parents had. So better start grinding those leetcode questions like the rest of the world does. American hegemon…

some people on Tiktok making good money with product placement, same for YouTube. Starbucks however is dead-end.

I wonder how many people spend significant amount of their early working life doing low-wage jobs whilst trying to "make it big" as an influencer.

And I wonder what percentage of Starbucks managers started out as Starbucks wage-slaves.

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#224

Post by watwut »

noasaservice wrote: post #201
bombcar wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people would consider a suggestion to live in the Midwest as about the same as a suggestion that they spend the rest of their life living in a decrepit sewer system.

And you'll get the politics and the religosity of the bible belt to boot. There's a few islands of sanity here in the midwest, primarily around college towns. But... prices have doubled since 2016, at least in my area. We're closing on a house. $375k. I'm one of the lucky ones. Like, super lucky. But it sold back in 2016 for $170k.

I am willing to bet that if those places had well paid jobs easily available, people would start to move in.

For all the cultural likes and dislikes, mass of people is generally moving when they have pragmatic reason to do so.

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#225

Post by sha256sum »

zdragnar wrote: post #199
skulk wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you should try to understand why certain kinds of people (of, perhaps the non-white kind) would not want to move into an insular community?

Maybe if they visited, they'd find their assumptions to be unwarranted racism. It isn't as diverse as some other parts of the country, but there's groups of people from all over the world. Within a 2 hour drive from me, you'll find enclaves from Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Mexico and others.

I went into an experience living in Wisconsin with exactly this viewpoint and was sorely disappointed at the shear amount of selfish, entitled, prejudiced behavior that exists only in these lands of strip malls and spoiled nature. I’m saying this so the next person reading your post isn’t swayed. And to those people: many of these towns are dead. They died long ago with the small farms and factories. The Houses are priced to sell.

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#226

Post by boplicity »

stolenmerch wrote: post #147
skulk wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> He could've been a plumber/electrician/welder who would do really well in the current market. False. A plumber making $80k (US median seems to be around $60k) isn't going to be able to save up for a down payment if they're paying a typical mid-sized city's rent (~$1.2k a month). Not to mention housing costs going up during this period of saving up.

I honestly don't understand. When I bought a home I was literally making the US median income and bought an average priced house. My rent at the time was about a thousand a month. I had normal student loans and regular bills too. It wasn't easy but it didn't feel like a miracle either. Not saying someone making minimum can do this by any means, but there's a huge demand for labor in decent paying areas right now. I g…

The cost of a house has spiked to over 7x median income in the US, in a very short time. That's put buying a house out of reach for many people. Hopefully the bubble will burst -- but who knows? It could drag on for a very long time.

Historically, the cost of a house has hovered around 4.5 to 5.5x annual median income. It's currently at the highest level it's ever been, at least according to this graph:

https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-inco....

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#228

Post by throwawayboise »

Jerred wrote: post #38

As a Gen Z it's not that our entire generation is lazy it's that we've seen our parents give their entire lives to a company or industry just counting down the years to retirement. That personally is my worst case scenario for my career. Sure some people my age just want to be famous and not do any hard work, but I'd say the majority just don't want to be a "good employee" for 40 years just increasing the number ever…

> he majority just don't want to be a "good employee" for 40 years just increasing the number every quarter for shareholders.

The way to feel better about this is to also be one of the shareholders.

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#229

Post by bombcar »

falcolas wrote: post #18

Um, stupid question… Who TF “dreams” of being some billionare’s “labor”? Folks “labor” out of a lack of choice; so they might survive in this world. They labor for the chance to dream.

There was a time in this very country where factory jobs were quite aspirational, that people would move across the country to Detroit for a chance to make Mr Ford a bit richer.

Because it promised a good life for their family; and they'd end up having pride in the work they did.

Re: Gen Z does not dream of labor

#230

Post by watwut »

zdragnar wrote: post #163
droobles wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the more reason to adopt the bohemian philosophy and pursue other pleasures if one finds working these modern jobs unfulfilling, only so much time on this earth.

Quoted post unavailable.

Why do you assume the poster ever cared about git, naming or racism? Even among Americans, these are minority. Moreover, HN is more of actively hostile tonideas like that. You don't even know whether OP is American. You are doing literally what you complain about why you complain about it.

Moreover, bohemian literally means "a socially unconventional person, especially one who is involved in the arts". I am guessing you probably misread it as "gypsy" or "roma" where such stereotype might exist (tho negative stereotypes about them are much different nowdays afaik, but were be like that in past)

Post reply on HN