My Generation Avoids Work: Here’s How That’s Impacting Mental Health – The American

Although graduation season is coming to a close for the class of 2023, it seems few Gen Z graduates see employment as the next step. According to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, workforce participation rates have declined since 2000, and since the unemployment boom of COVID, even fewer young Americans are entering the workplace.

But for Gen Z, this move is largely deliberate. From buzzy internet trends like “quiet quitting” to university and company-sponsored wellness days, Gen Zers has made it clear that they see working culture as a threat to their mental health. But in their efforts to prioritize mental health, Gen Z overlooks one of the most time-proven, evidence-based measures for personal well-being: steady employment. An increasingly anti-work culture threatens to worsen, not improve, Gen Z’s mental health.

Throughout American history, work has been hailed as the cornerstone of our economy and meritocracy. In addition to propelling a healthy economy, hard work was seen as a quintessentially American value and a core element of the American Dream. But changing cultural beliefs have gradually reduced the importance of work in the eyes of young Americans. In a recent Wall Street Journal survey, roughly 60 percent of Americans ages 18–29 viewed hard work as “very important,” compared to roughly 75 percent of Americans 65 and up.

But work is far more than a social good or a necessary spoke in a spinning economic wheel. Steady employment provides individuals with a slew of personal, social, and psychological benefits proven to support mental health in the short and long run. For Gen Z, exposure to the benefits of work is crucial to mental health and satisfaction with life.

The boost of income that employment gives young Americans is much more than just a deposit in their bank accounts. Such income gives young people a much-needed sense of fiscal independence. Hopping off a parent’s savings account or insurance coverage can feel daunting, but taking on personal responsibilities and regular financial obligations breeds self-sufficiency and independence. Science shows that regular incurrence of personal responsibilities supports character growth and emotional stability, as well as the development of key life skills, like conflict management, punctuality, and goal-setting.

The regular obligations of employment also provide a sense of purpose and accomplishment that is foundational for self-worth. Gen Z has been called the most depressed generation, driven by the rising dominance of social media and its negative effects on mood, body image, and self-esteem. This distress was worsened by the pandemic, with 68 percent of Gen Zers saying that the pandemic negatively impacted their mental health. Work, with its many avenues for accomplishment and completion of goals, is the catalyst for self-worth that Gen Z desperately needs.

The feeling of achievement that comes with employment is one of life’s most powerful motivators. This is the case even when the work isn’t particularly exciting or meaningful. Regular employment has even been shown to improve the mental health of patients with serious mental illnesses like bipolar disorder, as the regular completion of tasks and goals leads to improved emotional states and self-esteem.

The robust social benefits that come from working have also been shown to have a positive impact on mental well-being. While unemployment is tied to a host of mental health problems, including feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression, regular employment builds social interconnectedness and camaraderie with others. The day-to-day interactions of work not only satisfy short-term needs for social interaction with others but foster deeper feelings of community and a sense of place in the long run. (READ MORE: The Biden Administration’s Title IX Revisions Provoke Backlash From Left and Right)

Most importantly, work’s power lies in its ability to build personal autonomy. “Unlike most mental health treatments, employment engenders self-reliance,” Robert Drake and Michael Wallach wrote in Epidemiology and Psychiatric Science, a journal from Cambridge University. “It is not only an effective short-term treatment but also one of the only interventions that lessen dependence on the mental health system over time.” Fostering a steady, positive culture of work is one of society’s greatest tools for personal empowerment. Work can also serve as a strong ecosystem for personal growth, capable of weaning individuals off more serious treatment over time.

Amid a mental health crisis, ridden with long wait times and rising prices, a focus on steady employment is a feasible — and effective — treatment. Efforts to raise youth employment rates and promote positive work environments are perhaps society’s best strategy to improve generational mental health. The genius is in its simplicity — as Drake and Wallach put it, “Employment is a humble, unglamorous, but achievable goal.”

Gen Z is right to fight toxic corporate cultures that try to place work before all else — including relationships, family, and the indispensable human need for rest. But fostering an anti-work culture can have damaging effects on generational mental health and stability. Young Americans who are passionate about improving mental health outcomes should lean into the power of work, ushering their peers into the world of employment and responsibility. The jump from backpack to briefcase can be daunting, but graduates shouldn’t hesitate.

Kate Farmer is a junior at Washington University in St. Louis and a contributor at Young Voices.