Instead of even trying to chase jobs that seem out of reach, Gen Z is embracing living like a rat—not showering or leaving the house for days at a time.
The millennial era of “work hard, play harder” and “girl bossing” has given way to a new trend. In China, at least, Gen Zers are proudly calling themselves “rat people”—they’re spending entire days procrastinating in bed, scrolling on their phones, snoozing and ordering take out.
I think it has something to do with “giving up” on the economy: if you have very low chances of landing a job anyways, why even try?
The article does not directly tell us how many people participate in this movement consciously. It does hint, however:
Today, over 4 million American Gen Zers remain jobless. In China, the government has said that as of February, 1 in 6 young people are unemployed.
China has social services. Even in the USA there is Social Security, food stamps, unemployment benefits. China has those too (though under different laws), plus healthcare (plus others probably). I know in the USA we’ve been conditioned by propaganda to see ourselves as undeserving of even the most basic necessities, and so we presume that dictatorships like China would never give anything to its people. Just because the CCP doesn’t allow citizens to criticize the government and Disappears people with no accountability, doesn’t mean they Must let their future workers starve because they don’t have money.