Gen Z workers are entering the workforce under very different conditions than millennials did, and new data suggests that is paying off for many of them. Despite lower labor force participation rates, Gen Z adults are earning more and facing lower unemployment than millennials experienced at the same age, according to a new labor market report from resume platform Zety. This, in some ways, flips the narrative of Gen Z as a lazy generation on its head, experts say.
We remember the long hours and the struggle. Somehow we’re a little less good at remembering all the complaining we did at 22,” Michael Ryan, a finance expert and the founder of MichaelRyanMoney.com, told Newsweek. They’re more willing to question whether the old bargain of ‘work hard, keep your head down and eventually you’ll be rewarded’ still makes sense.” The new data challenges a common narrative that younger workers are falling behind previous generations economically.
While Gen Z has frequently been portrayed as struggling with high housing costs, student debt and an uncertain job market, the report suggests that those who are finding work are, on average, securing better wages and encountering fewer barriers to employment than millennials did in the mid-2000s. Zety's Early Career Labor Market Report analyzed U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data covering adults ages 20 to 24 during two comparable periods: millennials from 2005 to 2008 and Gen Z from 2021 to 2024.
The report found that Gen Z workers earned substantially more than millennials did at the same age after adjusting for inflation. Median weekly earnings for full-time Gen Z workers averaged about $756, compared with $674 for Millennials, a difference of roughly 12.3 percent. At the same time, Gen Z experienced a lower unemployment rate.
Among adults ages 20 to 24, unemployment averaged 7.5 percent between 2021 and 2024, compared with 8.9 percent for Millennials from 2005 to 2008, a gap of 1.4 percentage points. Gen Z's advantage comes despite their lower overall workforce participation. The report found that Gen Z's labor force participation rate averaged 71.1 percent, compared with 74.5 percent for millennials at the same age.
Gen Z’s employment-population ratio also trailed millennials, averaging 65.8 percent versus 67.9 percent. This essentially means a smaller share of Gen Z is working or actively seeking work. But among those who do participate in the labor market, their outcomes tend to be better than millennials during their early careers, experts say.
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