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Gen Z is eager to climb the corporate ladder — but says millennials are standing in their way.
An explosive intergenerational feud is erupting on TikTok, where frustrated Gen Zers are accusing millennials of hogging entry-level jobs and interfering with them starting their careers.
“Y’all need to retire so we can have some jobs open for us,” Gen Z TikToker @yokoagainagain complained in a now-deleted viral video. “How do y’all expect us to live?” she raged. “Y’all come at us for having to get lower-paying jobs at fast-food restaurants… It’s because millennials are taking all the jobs that we went to school for.”
Another Gen Z creator, Kaleb (@ys0ser10us on TikTok), echoed the sentiment in a clip captioned “Pls retire.”
“How is Gen Z supposed to climb the corporate ladder if boomers and millennials won’t retire?” he asked.
The job market panic comes as unemployment for recent college grads hovers at a grim 5.6% — well above the national average — while tech heavyweights warn that AI is rapidly wiping out junior roles.
Unsurprisingly, millennials — who are currently between 30 and 45 and decades away from Social Security — hit back with pure fury.
“If I could retire right now, I guarantee right hand to God, you can have my job,” one millennial TikToker shot back. “If you went to school like I did and got a degree in nursing, you could take it.”
“The oldest millennials are 45 — wtf are we supposed to be retiring on?” one stunned viewer replied. Another asked if Gen Z “legit thinks 33 is retirement age.”
“You think we don’t want to retire? Have you seen a millennial? We’d sell off every worldly possession today just to live out the rest of our days at a swim-up bar neck-deep in margaritas,” mocked popular creator Brian Moller (@brimoller).
“We can barely afford our plants and puppies,” Moller added. “We got 68 people sharing streaming passwords and you think we’re ready to retire?”
Other millennials pointed out that Gen Z seems to be confusing them with Gen X (ages 46 to 61) or older boomers.
“Us millennials can’t even climb the corporate ladder,” one worker summarized. “We still need 30 to 40 years to retire.”
While 8 in 10 millennials say they want to retire early, only 35% have high confidence that it will be possible, according to a recent survey from Parnassus Investments.
“To retire early, you need to invest,” said Joe Sinha, chief marketing officer at Parnassus Investments, which published the findings. “But this generation is somewhat delayed. They’re delayed in getting married, they’re delayed in paying off their college loans, they’re delayed in investing.”
