Finance & economics | Poor slackers

Why Gen X is the real loser generation

Don’t cry for millennials or Gen Z. Save your pity for those in their 50s

Illustration of a man in a suit shackled to a giant stone X by his arms and legs
Illustration: Igor Bastidas
|San Francisco

“We suffer”, said Seneca, “more often in imagination than in reality.” The Stoic philosopher could have been talking about the generations. Members of Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012, say that social media ruined their childhood. Millennials, between 1981 and 1996, complain that they cannot buy a house. Baby-boomers, between 1946 and 1964, grouse that they face an uncertain retirement.

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Finance & economics

May 10th 2025
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The Economist today

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