Kit Roberts
Joy Behar has caused controversy after ranting that if Gen Z are struggling to move out of their parents' homes they should simply 'get a job'.
The co-host of The View didn't pull her punches, despite protestations from fellow host Alyssa Farah Griffin.
Things kicked off when the panel began discussing the anxieties facing younger people who are approaching their 30th birthday.
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Whoopi Goldberg read out the explanation, barely containing a laugh as she did so, before Griffin tried to take a more serious tone.
She said: “This generation — in defence of Gen Z — they’re not hitting the milestones the way every generation before them did.
“They’re owning homes at a lower rate. This is wild.
"Forty-five percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 still live with their parents. They feel left behind by the economy.”
It was at this point Behar offered Gen Z some advice as to how they might change their circumstances.
She said: “Oh, please! Get a job! There are a million job openings in this country. Get a job.”
You might be thinking that of course Millennials and Gen Z have jobs. In fact, according to Business Insider, some 46 percent of Gen Z and 37 percent of Millennials actually have two jobs.
Griffin pointed this out, responding: “They have jobs. They have to work multiple jobs.”
Co-host Sunny Hostin also weighed in, pointing out that we've scarcely been able to get through a month without witnessing an 'unprecedented' historical event.
She said: “They’ve lived through a pandemic. They’ve lived through the worst of times. I’m raising two Gen Zers so I want to just defend them a little bit.
“I think it’s a little less that they’re afraid of getting older, I think they’re unsure of the future.”
For Behar however, tough love was clearly the order of the day, as she responded: “Boo-hoo.”
Goldberg also chimed in, adding: "None of us were sure of the future."
It seems that no matter how many times Millennials and Gen Z point out the enormous economic disparities between now and the 1980s, the arguments fall on deaf ears.
Whether it's stagnating wages, rising house prices, the cost of living, and job insecurity, there are numerous factors at play.
Perhaps Millennials and Gen Z should simply pull themselves up by their bootstraps, a saying which ironically originated as a way of describing an impossible feat.