Where’d they go? Living in mom’s basement making Tik Tok videos or playing video games. Sorry to say but this generation does not want to work. Recent studies have shown Gen Z values their time more than financial remuneration. Which, to me, translates into lazy lack of interest in working.
Have a young relative who is a manager with a large national firm and he is ready to change jobs because no one wants to work! Those they can hire are emotionally, psychologically, and physically fragile. It’s like a working daycare.
They value their entertainment. If they valued their time they would not watch Tik Tok videos or play video games.
My son was a GM in a national restaurant chain. He said what he saw was shocking. He couldn’t get people to work more than 1 pay period. They’d start, and work until they got their 1st paycheck, and then not come back. They would then go do whatever they were doing with that money until it ran out, and then get a job somewhere else and do it again. The company was offering signing bonuses (paid out partially over 3-4 paychecks), a good starting salary for the area that they were in, and promises of raises. NONE of it mattered.
My daughter was a GM in a national retail clothing company. She just couldn’t get employees AT ALL.