75% of Gen Z equate desk jobs with burnout and instability—and 1 in 4 are picking up a toolbelt instead |
75% of Gen Z equate desk jobs with burnout and instability—and 1 in 4 are picking up a toolbelt instead
Desk jobs were once the golden ticket to steady pay, job security, and a career you could build a life around. But Gen Z isn’t so sure anymore. They’ve watched millennials do everything right, and still end up ground down, in debt, or laid off. And to top it off, they’re consistently being warned that AI is coming for all office jobs in the next decade anyway.
Now, three-quarters of Gen Zers actually associate desk jobs with burnout and instability—and new research from SupplyHouse, shared exclusively with Fortune, shows they’re done pretending otherwise.
Nearly 1 in 4 have already seriously considered, or are actively pursuing, a career in the trades instead.
In what may be the biggest generational career pivot in decades, powered by economic anxiety, student debt, and TikTok, Gen Z are trading laptops for toolbelts—and they’re not looking back.
TikTok is the new career counselor—and it’s sending Gen Z down the trades
Half of Gen Z say their interest in becoming welders, electricians, plumbers, and so on, started on social media. TikTok is the number one platform where Gen Z are discovering trade careers, with 1 in 3 watching trade content there—and getting allured.........