Gen Z and millennial NEETS are on the rise — many say they'd rather do nothing than be unhappy at work

• Economic instability and rising costs have led many young people to rethink their career paths.
• Some have become NEETs by choice — not in employment, education, or training.
• They would rather wait things out and be "idle" until they find the right job.

Youth unemployment around the world is rising to levels not seen in decades.

According to the International Labour Organization, in 2023, around a fifth (21.7%) of people between 15 and 24 years old were considered NEETs worldwide.

The acronym stands for people who are not in education, employment, or training.

Many NEETs are listless, struggling through tough economic times, living off loans, and losing hope of retirement or buying a house.

But not all of them are pessimistic about the future.

Some young people reject the idea that being a NEET is a bad thing and want to reclaim the label by creating a subculture of the voluntarily dormant.

Rather than jump on the first opportunities that come along, voluntary NEETs are holding back and hoping to witness an evolving workplace culture that they'll enter when it suits them better.

Voluntarily idle

Some Gen Zers struggle to find a job or stay in work or education, earning the nickname "disconnected youth."

One Gallup survey found that Gen Zers are increasingly anxious about their education or career paths. Another study by the St. Louis Federal Reserve's Institute for Economic Equity found that a third of young Americans aged between 18 and 24 have no income.

Millennials are in a similar boat, being labeled the "lost generation" and being first in the firing line when companies go through layoffs or axe middle management positions.

But some Zoomer and millennial NEETs are happy to wait out unemployment for the right career path.

Morgan Pitcher, for example, recently shared why he is happy to be "voluntarily idle" on TikTok.

Pitcher, who was born in 1994 and lives in Vancouver, has been unemployed since the start of the COVID pandemic when he got sick.

He believes being a NEET by choice is "breaking one of the most accepted social norms that we have today."

Pitcher told Business Insider his experience being a NEET has been "revealing."

He worked in the automotive industry before the COVID-19 pandemic but then became very ill and was in hospital for weeks. When he recovered, he wasn't able to go back to his previous job, he said.

"It reveals how much shame in guilt is built into our every day lives," Pitcher told BI of being a NEET. "People are not happy for you. They actually despise you, seeing you as lazy and unmotivated. And dependent on the charity of others."

Pitcher was making a good salary when he was employed, but he was "miserable" the whole time, he said in his TikTok.

So, despite the struggles, he'd rather wait it out and find a job that matters to him than pick the first thing that comes along.

Rejecting hustle culture

Several NEETs recently spoke to Vice. Many lived at home or had some inheritance or savings they could live off for the time being.

Some said they basically "do nothing all day" except work on themselves through yoga, hobbies, creative projects, and seeing friends.

Many NEET interviewees told Vice their experiences at work had contributed to their new lifestyle.

"In all these jobs, I wasn't treated well as a person, and they weren't fulfilling either," said 22-year-old Leonie. "I felt like a puppet, always having to do what I was told without being able to make decisions."

Another NEET, Lukas, 21, said he started an apprenticeship in a car manufacturer's warehouse when he graduated high school but quit because "it was so terrible."

"I wasn't treated like a human being there, more like a tool that could be easily replaced," he said.

The benefits

While career experts agree being unemployed for too long can negatively impact someone's trajectory and make them "unmarketable," there are benefits to being more selective and patient in a job search.

James Watts, a career coach and the founder of the community platform Teach.io, told BI that a corporate culture that prioritizes profits over employee wellbeing is a "turn-off" to young people.

He said Gen Zers and young millennials favor organizations with ethical values, a commitment to diversity, and a transparent culture. They have witnessed the burnout that hustle culture can cause and aspire to something different.

"The NEET mindset highlights how young people today are looking for work that truly inspires and fulfills them, not just jobs that pay the bills," Watts said. "It's a wake-up call for workplaces to change."

Laurie Cure, who has a PhD in industrial and organizational psychology and is the CEO of the management consulting firm Innovative Connections, told BI that people who entered the workforce during a period of economic instability — after the Great Recession and COVID lockdown years — "bore witness to many lows and very few highs."

"They are living in a time when wealth is concentrated, home ownership feels out of reach, and rental prices and cost of living are skyrocketing," she said.

For generations that are already contending with mounting debts, side hustles can be more appealing than a traditional career path.

It's not about avoiding work

Darrin Murriner, the CEO and cofounder of the team coaching platform Cloverleaf, told BI that the NEET label is not a retreat from work but "perhaps a call for meaningful and fulfilling employment."

"Perhaps it's only articulating the demand for purposeful work that aligns with individual strengths and passions," he said. "It's not about avoiding work; it's about finding work that lights a person up."

The long-term impact may be that more people are in the right positions.

"When people are engaged in work that truly matters to them, they are more productive, innovative, and committed," Murriner said.

Pitcher's family doesn't understand his decision to be a NEET by choice, but he's found security and support with his friends, who have given him places to stay. This gives him faith that things will be OK, he told BI.

"I just stopped caring about finances and stopped worrying," he said. "It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but also the best thing I've ever done."