Gen Z are increasingly becoming NEETs by choice – not in employment, education or training

Instead, they are choosing to become NEETs – not in employment, education or training – and creating record levels of youth unemployment around the world.

According to the International Labor Organization, around one fifth of people between the ages of 15 and 24 worldwide in 2023 are currently NEET.

In Spain alone, over half a million 15 to 24-year-olds neither study nor work. Meanwhile in the UK, nearly three million Gen Zers are now classed as economically inactive – with 384,000 young people joining the «unemployed» class since the Covid pandemic.

Studies do not highlight what inspires young people to give up the rat race and choose a life under their parents’ roof or on public subsidies, but separate research points out that even if they started to climb the corporate ladder , buying a house of their own. itself still feels like an impossible task.

The milestones of adulthood are still out of reach

A body of research shows that those in their early 20s are earning less, carrying more debt and seeing higher delinquency rates than millennials their age.

Credit reporting agency TransUnion found that 20-somethings today are taking home about $45,500, while millennials their age earned $51,852 when adjusted for inflation.

Despite earning less, young people today are being forced to dig deep for basic necessities like food, groceries and gas, thanks to inflation. Meanwhile, housing prices have risen more than twice as fast as incomes since the turn of the millennium.

This divergence goes a long way to explaining why young people may feel like saving – or even working – towards the future is futile.

As one General Zer pointed out in Wealth: «I’m just focusing on the present because the future is depressing.»

Hustling is like this last season

Hustle, girls leading or «work hard, play harder» just don’t have the same hold on Gen Z as they did on the millennials who started out.

Many young people today would rather protect their own welfare than compete in the corporate ladder only to be unable to afford the McMansion their parents bought for a fraction of the price.

Even those who want to work, do not want a career. Instead, many Gen Zers are looking for easy jobs that don’t require regular overtime, anti-social hours, or significant responsibilities like managing a large team.

Others are shunning office jobs: The hottest roles among Gen Z grads right now are in teaching, where low pay is balanced with weeks off. Meanwhile, non-graduate Gen Zers are picking up the tools and taking trade jobs in record numbers.

The fight for mental health

At the same time as youth unemployment is rising, their mental health is declining.

Gen Z are nearly twice as stressed as millennials were their age; More than a third of 18-24 year olds suffer from a «common mental disorder» (CMD) such as stress, anxiety or depression; And Gen Zers who are working are taking far more sick leave than Gen Xers 20 years their senior.

«Youth unemployment due to ill health is a real and growing trend; it is worrying that young people in their early 20s, just starting their adult lives, are more likely to be out of work due to ill health than those in their early 40s,» they previously said researchers at the Resolution Foundation (RF) think tank. wealth.

Really, is it any wonder that the mentally challenged would avoid joining the world of work when more than half of CEOs even admit that their company culture is toxic?

Have you chosen a life of unemployment over climbing the corporate ladder? We would love to hear your story. Email orianna.royle@fortune.com