For years, headlines and coffee-shop grumbles have painted a picture of younger generations as “lazy” and uninterested in working. The stereotype is simple: Gen Z and younger Millennials just don’t want jobs.

But when we cut through the clichés and actually adjust the numbers for reality — school enrollment, retirement, and people who truly aren’t seeking work — the picture changes entirely. In fact, young people’s employment engagement is nearly identical to that of older, “prime-age” workers.

Looking at the Wrong Numbers Creates the Wrong Story

Most workforce stats are based on the employment–population ratio, which is just:

“What percent of all people in a certain age group have a job right now?”

Sounds fair, but it’s deeply misleading for two reasons:

1. It counts full-time students who aren’t even trying to work as if they’re “jobless by choice.”
2. It counts retirees, stay-at-home parents, and caregivers — people who’ve deliberately left the workforce — the same way.

These groups aren’t part of the “potentially available” pool of workers, so their inclusion drags down the employment rate in ways that have nothing to do with motivation or work ethic.

Normalizing for Reality: The NER

To get a fairer view, we used a Normalized Employment Rate (NER):

NER = Employed ÷ (Labor force + People who say they want a job)

This removes:

• Full-time students not seeking work
• Retirees
• Homemakers/caregivers and others not in the labor force by choice

And it keeps:

• Anyone who says they want a job — even if they’re not currently in the labor force

The Real Numbers (July 2025, U.S.)

The gap between prime-age workers (25–54) and older workers (55+) is barely a percentage point. Young workers (16–24) — even with many still transitioning from school — are employed at more than 8 out of every 10 of those who are available and willing to work.

Who Really Isn’t Working — By Choice

The myth says young people are “opting out” of work. The reality? Those who truly don’t want to work are found mostly in three groups:

• Full-time students not seeking jobs — they’re investing in education before entering the workforce.
• Retirees — often decades removed from needing or wanting employment.
• Homemakers and caregivers — providing unpaid labor that’s vital but outside formal employment.

These are legitimate, socially valuable choices — but they’re not evidence of youth laziness.

Why This Matters

If you only look at raw employment–population ratios, you’ll conclude that young people work far less than older generations. But once you control for school, retirement, and voluntary non-work, the supposed “generational work gap” all but disappears.

So next time someone claims “kids these days don’t want to work,” you can point to the numbers: when they’re available, young people are working at almost the same rate as everyone else.