Gen Z was born too late.
By the 2020s, the boomers had already bought up all the houses, while the millennials had commandeered the good careers. Zoomers have, therefore, been condemned to hovels in irradiated outlying districts and dead-end internships where they train the AI that will replace them.
If you’ve ever logged onto TikTok, then you’re probably acquainted with most of this story. Zoomers have been lamenting their generation’s plight for almost as long as millennials have been whining about our own.
Relative to their predecessors, zoomers consistently express a more negative impression of their economy, labor market, jobs, and financial opportunities. And Americans of all ages seem to agree that young people are getting a raw deal. In a 2022 Pew Research survey, 72 percent said that children today would end up being “worse off financially” than their parents.
These attitudes are understandable and partly reflect genuine economic problems. But they're also a bit detached from Gen Z’s actual economic experience. By most metrics, zoomers are doing better materially than past generations were at the same age.
Take annual income. According to an analysis from the US Federal Reserve, the median 25-year-old zoomer made over $40,000 a year in 2022, after inflation, taxes, and transfers are taken into account. That is 50 percent more than the typical boomer earned at the same age.
Wealth data tells a similar story. As of 2023, Americans born between 1990 and 1999 — in other words, young millennials and older zoomers — had a median net worth that was 39 percent higher (in inflation-adjusted terms) than previous generations boasted at the same age.
Likewise, the median wealth of Americans under 35 in 2022 was the highest on record.
Zoomers have also enjoyed an unusually favorable job market. As of this June, the unemployment rate among Americans 16 to 27 was the lowest in at least half a century.
This is not to deny that Gen Z has encountered some serious economic challenges. America is mired in a severe housing shortage. As a result, it is much harder for a 25-year-old zoomer to afford a home than it was for boomers at the same age — at least, if the former lacks family money. Nationwide, 58.6 percent of Gen Z adults were rent-burdened in 2022. Zoomers trying to get a foothold in cities rich with economic opportunity — such as New York or San Francisco — face especially onerous housing costs.
Further, zoomers who attended college have had to pay more than twice as much tuition as boomers did, in inflation-adjusted terms. This has forced much of Gen Z to amass large student loan debts.
This is not inevitable. Public policy can and should reduce the cost of housing and higher education.
Nevertheless, Gen Z as a whole is still in better economic shape than its predecessors, as its high incomes offset its peculiar burdens. According to an analysis from the Economist, Americans under 25 spent 43 percent of their post-tax income on housing and education in 2022 — which was slightly below the average for that age group between 1989 and 2019.
AI could still prove Gen Z doomers right
All this raises the question: If zoomers are doing unusually well economically, why do so many believe the opposite?
One answer is that they are young. Zoomers who lack a fetish for Federal Reserve data aren’t comparing their lot to that of millennials in 2012 or boomers in 1980. They’re looking at how their generation is doing compared to others today. And while some 23-year-olds have trust funds or tech startups, most are much poorer than the typical older American.
Meanwhile, some of Gen Z’s angst is likely rooted in rational fears about its economic future. Artificial intelligence gives Gen Z some cause for doubting its prospects. AI is already adept at many of the tasks typically entrusted to junior staffers at white-collar businesses; it can summarize case files for law firms, assemble spreadsheets for banks, prepare meeting briefs for consultancies, etc.
And companies have started to realize this. In fields heavily exposed to AI, hiring for entry-level roles appears to be slowing. AI’s long-term impact on the labor market is far from certain. But it does seem likely to saw off the bottom of career ladders before it comes for the top. And if robots do replace America’s interns, then Gen Z’s present sense of its singular deprivation could end up looking prescient.
You can read Eric's full story, including more on the social side of Gen Z doomerism, on the Vox site here.
