\n<\/p>\n
F<\/span>or gen Z Americans, it\u2019s hard to remember a version of the economy not defined by crisis. We finished our education online as Covid devastated the world, only to graduate into high costs of living, stagnant wages and now AI\u2019s threat to entry-level jobs. We\u2019ve come of age in a system that no longer feels fit for purpose.<\/p>\n The result is a generation that\u2019s lost faith in the traditional markers of stability. What once defined a secure life \u2013 home, family and comfortable retirement \u2013 feels out of reach. \u201cA pension is out of the question,\u201d one friend told me. \u201cSo staying in the same job no longer makes sense.\u201d She\u2019s not alone: jobseekers\u2019 confidence in keeping or finding work dropped sharply this spring, with a survey in June suggesting nearly 60% of graduates were still looking for their first jobs.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just these markers of stability, but the economic web that once bound us to them. The financial commitments that tied previous generations to long-term careerism \u2013 having children, affordable mortgages, college debt \u2013 are largely unattainable. College, long considered a reliable pathway to success, has rapidly diminished in importance for Americans. Childcare costs are so prohibitive that a growing share of adults say they\u2019re unlikely to have children. And with housing prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation since 1960, one in three gen Z-ers believe they\u2019ll never own a home. Locked out of these futures \u2013 for better or worse \u2013 we\u2019re no longer tethered to economic paths that once rooted people to jobs, and more importantly, to communities.<\/p>\n Enter disillusionomics: the economics of a generation raised on promises that never materialized. It\u2019s a reaction to a system where traditional benchmarks of success have become largely unattainable, and even if attained, don\u2019t deliver the same security they once did. Functioning well, the economy is supposed to provide security and opportunity. But when hard work no longer guarantees mobility, and outcomes are increasingly defined by where you grow up, gen Z is asking: why play by the rules of a game that no longer works?<\/p>\n Every time a new gen Z trend surfaces, I bookmark it: the Gen Z stare, salary dysmorphia, fast-yield dividend investments, treat culture. But taking each in isolation doesn\u2019t quite touch on the why<\/em>. Connecting the threads, we see a generation that is not entitled, not indulgent, but reacting to a political and economic climate we\u2019re disillusioned by. These are survival strategies in an affordability crisis.<\/p>\n Some are retreating into predictability, with the resurgence of traditional masculine \u2013 and feminine \u2013 norms. Linear careers that promise predictability are hotly desired, with half of Harvard graduates in 2024 going into consulting, tech or finance. Others are leaning into risk-taking, citing pressures to stay afloat. Many closely watch the markets: over half of 18-25 year olds now invest, and more than a third are considering cryptocurrency investments. With growing debt burdens, gen Z see these choices as responses to more challenging economic circumstances than prior generations experienced.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s the rise in earning passive income. Knowing that wages won\u2019t build wealth, gen Z pursues creative income streams: from the demure (subleasing parts of their apartments) to the extreme (OnlyFans). Everything can become commodifiable if it means buying the stability we need. This also explains gen Z\u2019s rush into AI startups, as young people refuse to let shrinking entry-level roles dictate their future. \u201cEntrepreneur\u201d has become the most admired profession among young men, wanting to work for a shared purpose outside a traditional 9 to 5 that no longer delivers on its promises.<\/p>\n So, contrary to how gen Z is perceived, we are a generation deeply engaged in the economy. We\u2019ve had to become hyper-aware of economic realities just to live securely. But we\u2019re still hoping the system will change. Across partisan divides, economic outcomes are the most important driver of our voting choices, explaining the appeal of figures offering alternative models, from Mamdani to Maga. We\u2019re searching for any solution that might change the current system.<\/p>\n It\u2019s no coincidence, then, that we\u2019re increasingly polarized across politics and gender. Much of it stems from divergent responses to the same problem. Years of economic crises have left younger people with downturn fatigue. We\u2019ve become more likely to think in zero-sum terms, seeing limited resources and feeling the need to beat others to them. Gen Z is taking economic innovation into its own hands, angry at a system that doesn\u2019t work. Our anger is then directed at diverging sources, amplified by algorithmic outrage, ultimately making it harder to relate to each other. And with division sown across the generations, the social contracts we have with work, government and each other will fray.<\/p>\n So if the economy just isn\u2019t serving (excuse the gen Z pun), what should Americans do? It starts with taking gen Z\u2019s behavior seriously. Dismissing our concerns as quirky reactions to a system that worked for older generations risks polarizing us further. Zero-sum thinking like this makes collective solutions harder, as we refuse to see or understand each other\u2019s different generational challenges.<\/p>\n Young people offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to ask: what is our labour really for<\/em>? And as digital natives, gen Zers see AI \u2013 used thoughtfully \u2013 as a chance to redefine the value of work itself. This generation no longer wants to be bound to extractive contracts or roles that feel unnecessary. Now it\u2019s time to collectively, and apolitically, ask: what would it take to redesign the economy so it serves its citizens again?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For gen Z Americans, it\u2019s hard to remember a version of the economy not defined by crisis. We finished our education online as Covid devastated the world, only to graduate into high costs of living, stagnant wages and now AI\u2019s threat to entry-level jobs. We\u2019ve come of age in a system that no longer feels<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[3144,15537,1404,86,257,15538,5465],"class_list":{"0":"post-25766","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alice","9":"tag-disillusionomics","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-gen","12":"tag-isnt","13":"tag-lassman","14":"tag-serving"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}