This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s spring editorial intern Ian Ferdock. Find him on Instagram at @ianferdock. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Everybody knows the cliché that if you love what you do, you never work a day in your life. But does that mindset really have any relevance in 2025 as young adults are tackling one of the most frustrating job markets in recent memory? How often do people actually obtain their dream job? And more importantly, does it even matter? The way young adults see themselves and their careers is undoubtedly different than previous generations. Gone are the days of working for the same company for 40 years and retiring with a healthy pension. Today, a high priority for Zillennials is maintaining an intricate work-life balance. It’s hard to achieve that if work is your whole life. That’s why many of us have chosen working to live not living to work.
As someone who lives in the DC area, work is the extent of most people’s lives. It entirely defines them. Whenever I meet people at a bar or overhear other people’s interactions, the very first question a stranger will ask you is “what do you do?” And no, no one cares about your hobbies or families, it’s just about work. Furthermore, this comes with a rather elitist mindset. You can see the look on people’s faces when you tell them your occupation as they decide if you are worthy of their time. Personally, it gives me the ick.
Do Dream Jobs Even Exist?
As young adults leave college and enter the workforce, they’re confronted with the need to make career-defining decisions. Granted you can always change careers and many do, but once you enter adulthood, you’re tasked with building a life for yourself, all by yourself. In a perfect world, we would all get to pursue our passions, find a dream job, and be able to support ourselves.
On account of being alive, I can in fact confirm that life isn’t perfect. There is at least some level of compromise between your interests and financially viable career choices. That’s a normal situation to contend with, but as the labor market continues to shift because of increased automation, a high priority placed on corporate profits, and lessening regard for employee satisfaction, fewer Americans see their employer as the focal point of their lives. And I would argue, that’s for good reason.
While yes, dream jobs do exist, they’re a fantasy for most people. If you find yourself in a dream job scenario, then that’s awesome and it’s understandable why you would dedicate your life to it. By all means, go be a girl boss. But, for the rest of us mere mortals, we just want a decent job to get by so we can have the time to live a balanced life and pursue our passions outside of work.
A Career Versus A Means To An End
The way Americans view their job is a bit of a mixed bag. The Pew Research Center claims that about half of Americans view their job as a career, 15% view it as a steppingstone, and 35% see their job as a way to make ends meet. Results were heavily influenced by compensation. Of those who claimed their job was a necessity, 58% were low-income and only 17% had a high income. Those ages 18 to 29 were more likely to see their job as a career or steppingstone than older demographics, likely because their careers are just beginning and their souls have not yet been crushed.
Additional research from Pew indicates that while most US workers are satisfied with their jobs, there is a big chasm with age. Young adults, who are more likely to reject the typical American “hustle culture”, report higher levels of disengagement. US workers were satisfied with their jobs 51% of the time, but when you isolate the data from those ages 18 to 29 that figure drops to 44%. When examining what aspects of their jobs young adults like and dislike, the answers are compelling. Over 60% of respondents stated they were satisfied with their relationships with coworkers and supervisors. However, when day-to-day tasks, training and learning opportunities, and benefits were considered less than half of those surveyed reported feeling satisfied.
The situation becomes even more precarious regarding pay and promotions as only 31% said they were satisfied with those aspects. While young workers are more predisposed to describing their jobs in negative terms, most young adults claim that their job contributes to their sense of self. 37% said their job is vital to their overall identity, 33% said it’s somewhat important, and 31% said their job is not particularly important to their identity.
Living To Work
Once upon a time, there was an America where employers took care of their employees. In return, employees dedicated decades of their lives to a company and were rewarded with financial stability and generous pensions when retirement came. Decades ago, the American Dream was alive and well.
It didn’t really matter what industry you worked in. If you worked hard, you would have enough to support yourself and your family. You could own a home and put your kids through college. All you had to do was find a job you were interested in, put in the work, and the rest would come.
In this archaic scenario, it made sense to exhibit loyalty to a company and live for your work. You probably felt as though you were part of a community and that you made important contributions. And that community provided you with everything you needed to live a relatively comfortable life.
Working To Live
However, over time the relationship between employers and employees shifted. Providing a good life for workers was simply no longer a priority, high share prices were. Since the 1970s, American workers have felt increasingly squeezed by a rising cost of living. Some periods have been more tolerable than others, but especially after the drastic economic shifts of a global pandemic Americans find themselves priced out of a comfortable lifestyle.
Why would employees prioritize their work over their passions when they don’t always get what they need in return? Corporate culture has grown toxic and young adults don’t display much interest in buying into an old system that quite frankly is broken.
Instead, there has been an increased focus on working to live. Jobs don’t define people’s identity, at least if you don’t want them to. More Zillennials would rather go to work, get a decent wage, and come home to focus on what really matters.
Should This Shift Come As A Surprise?
I think there are two big factors that have influenced the belief that working to live not living to work is the right path forward. That would be income inequality and a souring relationship with corporate America. Which to be fair, go hand in hand.
Wealth Inequality
Data from the Pew Research Center confirms that the rich are getting richer and the middle class is slowly evaporating. Companies and their highest-paid employees have done exceptionally well, while us average folk are falling behind. The share of aggregate income attained by the middle class fell from 62% to 43% from 1970 to 2018. Conversely, during that same timeframe, the income share of high-earning households increased from 29% to 48%. Oh, and don’t worry, it gets worse. The higher your income was to begin with, the more drastic your increase in income. The top 5% has routinely outperformed the rest of the top 20%.
The picture becomes even more dreary when you evaluate wealth, or net worth, instead of just income. From 2001 to 2016, upper-income families were the only demographic that saw an increase in wealth. Meanwhile, the middle class saw their wealth decrease by 20%. Low-income families’ wealth declined by a shocking 45%. Now it’s really time to clutch your proverbial pearls. Since 1989, the gap between the wealthiest and poorest Americans has more than doubled. Just wow.
Corporate America
Recent surveys conducted by Gallup demonstrate how the relationship between workers and companies has been deteriorating. Employee well-being has been on the decline, the level of employee engagement is dropping, and employee trust in employers has also weakened. The result is employees feeling increasingly detached from their work and burned out. A rather unsurprising force behind this trend is young adults. As we have entered the workforce our inclination towards work-life balance has been a determining factor in our occupational choices.
Many workers today are burned out, and young adults are the most affected demographic. Those ages 18 to 34 who work 40 hours a week report feeling burnt out 39% of the time, while the share of those 35 and older is only 27%. Burnout only increases when over 40 hours are clocked each week. Aside from hours, the other driving force behind burnout is management which has caused employees to disengage from their work.
Gallup’s annual State of the Global Workforce results prove that this negative relationship between employers and employees has far-reaching negative consequences. In 2023, a shocking $8.9 trillion was lost in global GDP due to low levels of employee engagement. A mere 23% of survey participants reported feeling engaged with their work. Meanwhile, 62% and 15% reported feeling not engaged or actively disengaged respectively. An even more depressing statistic is that a mere 34% of participants claimed they “are thriving in their overall well-being.” This report is a global study, but it still underlines what is happening in the American workplace.
Working To Live Not Living To Work
Young people simply have no interest in buying into a system that has only bred wealth inequality and placed corporations on an ever-escalating pedestal.
When recessions come, we all get screwed while corporations get bailed out. It happened in 2008, and again during Covid. Does anyone think the measly stimulus checks held a candle to the funds businesses received?
There’s just no incentive to prioritize work when you get the short straw either way. You work hard and leave yourself with minimal free time and the result is the same if you’re just coasting.
Levels of optimism are also an important factor in this conversation. According to Gallup, optimism regarding the odds of young Americans having greater success in life than their parents has fallen markedly. Only 42% of adults think this is a likely outcome which represents an 18% drop from June 2019.
Another interesting anecdote from Gallup illuminates how Americans feel about their jobs. Only four in ten workers felt like other Americans respect the work they do. So, if people aren’t feeling respected for their jobs and careers why would they live to work?That’s why most of us are working to live not living to work.
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below if you work to live or live to work!
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