Gen Z faces rising economic hurdles and parental career involvement

A growing trend of ‘career co-piloting’ is emerging among Gen Z workers, driven by financial insecurity and anxiety regarding the future. A study by Zety involving 1,001 Gen Z workers in the United States found that 20% have brought a parent to a job interview, with 15% doing so physically and 5% virtually. Additionally, 44% received parental help with resumes, 21% had parents contact employers directly, and 28% received assistance with salary negotiations.

This phenomenon has reached human resources professionals, with reports of parents intervening in workplace issues or contacting companies on behalf of their children. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has also addressed this trend.

These professional challenges coincide with broader economic difficulties for young people. In Portugal, Eurostat data shows that young adults leave their parental homes at an average age of 28.9, one of the highest in the European Union. Rising housing costs, which have nearly tripled in recent decades, have outpaced income growth, making financial independence, home ownership, and savings increasingly difficult to achieve for the younger generation.