Raw LLM Responses

I don’t think this is a Gen Z job crisis. It’s a structural problem in the U.S. economy that’s been building for decades, and Gen Z is simply the first generation fully exposed to it. The U.S. has become an extremely expensive place to live. Wages are high relative to global labor markets, but not relative to U.S. living costs. As that gap widened, companies did what capitalism incentivizes them to do: focus on “efficiency.” That means layoffs, automation, and outsourcing work to cheaper countries. This isn’t about Gen Z being lazy or entitled: it’s about the U.S. becoming the most expensive part of many companies’ business models. Immigration often gets blamed for job pressure and rising costs, but focusing on it misses the bigger picture. If companies weren’t outsourcing, immigration wouldn’t even be part of this conversation. Labor costs, not people, are what companies optimize around. The real policy failure is that we keep subsidizing companies instead of reducing the cost of living. If healthcare, education, housing, and transportation were cheaper, hiring locally would make more sense. Instead, tax breaks make outsourcing easier while profits stay lightly taxed at home. This isn’t a Gen Z problem. It’s the long-delayed result of an economic system built around efficiency and outsourcing that is finally showing up in the U.S.