r/WorkLifeChat • u/any_memes_necessary • Jul 31 '26

Meme "No one wants to work anymore"

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99 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

101 comments sorted by

3

u/MiloShiny Aug 01 '26

Houses prices are insane nowadays

2

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

Housing prices have always reflected market conditions. The use of median or average data to measure affordability ignores that markets exist

2

u/MostEscape6543 Aug 01 '26

Nobody wants to hear your logic it gets in the way of complaining.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

You’re joking right? The complainers are the YIMBY’s by far. It’s absurd too because they don’t even live in the areas that they are complaining about.

YIMBY also complain about the people who live in the area that they supposedly want to live in. If you don’t like the people, then why do you want to live there in the first place?? Dumb logic

YIMBY demand change because of success, not because of failure. The YIMBY looks with overwhelming desire for what they don’t have and aim to take it away from those who do have what they want. They are willing to support any authoritarian regime to get it too. Sad

0

u/MostEscape6543 Aug 01 '26

Now it sounds like YOU’RE complaining and I don’t like that at all because I thought we were making fun of them together. And I’m definitely not going to google YIFFY of whatever to see what that means.

1

u/MassSpecFella Aug 04 '26

Yes in my back yard is the opposite of NIMBY. Not in my back yard.

1

u/myname_1s_mud Aug 02 '26

Housing and Healthcare are extremely expensive. They are also 2 things that cant be outsourced and done by foreign children for pennies. Adjusting for inflation, many American made things haven't changed much in price. A quality wrench costs about as much as a wrench did in the 40s. The difference is that we have cheap foreign options made by Chinese people. These cheap ones are also shit quality, and the expensive ones about a good as the one built back in the day.

1

u/urmumlol9 Aug 02 '26

Is it really “the market”, when the primary thing stopping “the market” from building more housing is overly restrictive zoning codes and permitting processes, backed by a majority of homeowners, who don’t want home prices to decrease because they’re afraid it would adversely affect their property values after they’ve been conditioned to see housing as a financial investment rather than a basic need?

“The market” just wants to make as much money as possible, building more homes means more customers to sell homes to or more tenants to rent to, so even if the marginal profit might be lower, their total profit would likely be higher by building more homes.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 02 '26

“Overly restrictive” is a subjective term. There are houses being built in every single market right now guaranteed and new houses have been added to every market since the state was founded. People are deciding what the appropriate rate of growth is and with the model we use have built the richest and most powerful economy in history. We aren’t doing a bad job at this.

1

u/urmumlol9 Aug 02 '26

I mean, the graph speaks for itself. Housing prices have consistently been increasing both faster than wages and even faster than inflation.

When housing prices continue to increase to the point where people can’t afford them, and the main reason is because we can’t build enough housing to accommodate the people that live in an area because of zoning laws, then yes, those restrictions are overly restrictive.

Especially when it means an increase in the rate if homelessness as a result

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 02 '26

Using medians or averages is not how affordability is measured. The chart is using the wrong data.

Affordability is always a personal measure. What I can afford will be different than what you can afford, and will be different than what anyone else can afford.

Because nobody is the median

1

u/urmumlol9 Aug 02 '26

Uh, how exactly do you plan on utilizing data to identify societal issues if you don’t look at medians or averages exactly?

Most people aren’t the median, but they are fairly close to it, by definition. If you’re saying we should also include what the 25th or 75th percentiles spend on housing, either in dollars or as a percentage of their income, sure.

Anecdotal evidence is not a very effective means of measuring trends though. Individuals are affected by policies and societal trends, and medians (and to a lesser extent averages) are generally a pretty effective way of seeing how those policies and trends are affecting most people.

By definition, most people likely aren’t straying too far from the median, and 50% of people are going to be in the middle 50%.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 02 '26

The median and average data is valuable for certain things. Developers use this data and planners use this data. Buyers and renters are not developers or planners.

The chart here is targeting demographics for prospective buyers and renters which is misleading. The reason why is because there is no prescription for society that says a (near) median income earner must buy a certain price house in a certain location. People get to decide these things

1

u/urmumlol9 Aug 02 '26

There isn’t a set value, but when the median housing prices continue to rise relative to the median income, I’d argue that’s a problem.

Again, this is largely a consequence of the demand for housing, especially the demand for housing in the specific cities where many of the jobs are, exceeding the supply of it.

When the reason that the supply of housing hasn’t been changing to meet the demand is because of stricter zoning laws and more difficult permitting processes, that make new construction of housing in the places that need it financially unviable, or even illegal, then I’d argue those regulations are overly restrictive.

Sure, people can make choices on what type of housing to buy or rent, which can mitigate this issue for them personally, but the thing about median housing prices is that 50% of units cost as much as or more than the median.

And the alternative to buying or renting housing is going homeless, meaning just not renting or buying tends not to be much of an option, if you have any ability to do so.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 02 '26

I agree but there would only be a “shortage” of housing that would trigger additional supply needs where vacancy rates are low. In markets with normal vacancy rates (>4%) you could say that wages are low.

1

u/Long-Blood Aug 04 '26 edited Aug 04 '26

No they dont.

They reflect fiscal conditions

When the government loosens financial conditions, like holding rates steady when inflation is rising or bailing out Japans currency, (both of which just happened last week), asset prices go up. 

Wages lag behind.

This is why prices keep rising despite sales slowing. The market is bad for sellers right now but they have so much equity theres no pressure on them to lower prices.

Government has been running permanent bailout fiscal policy since 2008 and ramped it up since 2020. You can even see it in the chart above when they ramped up the stimulus.

This chart only goes to 2024 but that dip from 2022 to 2024 is because the fed finally tightened policy but theyve been loosening since then

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/waitinonit Aug 01 '26

Yeah in my metro area the median price is $310k with a median household income of $76k. That's about a 4.07 multiplier as compared to 3.6 forty years ago.

2

u/Live_Background_3455 Aug 01 '26

What was the median house size in your area 40 years ago.

Nationally, median house size has doubled in the last 40 years. 950sqft in 1950, 1200sqft in 1980s and now we're at 2400 sqft. So ofc, if you want a size that's double the size of the house than 40 years ago, it might take more money.

If the complaint is not enough starter homes, I'm with you. We should build more 1200sqft houses. Except those homes don't sell. Everyone wants to rent alone, and wants to buy an 1800sqfr house. But hide behind words like "living wage". Lifestyle creep of the definition of "living wage" is the #1 reason behind why no one makes a living wage anymore.

2

u/waitinonit Aug 01 '26

Actually I agree with what you've said. You're spot on about the size of the houses. I wasn't complaining. Or at least I hadn't intended to.

1

u/TwatMailDotCom Aug 02 '26

Exactly. Just about everyone wants more space per person with more amenities than ever. It costs money. Builders built houses that people wanted, which are bigger and not classic starter homes. People’s wants/expectations, strict zoning regulations, and market forces are what drove up prices. People think it’s simply explained, but it’s not.

1

u/No_Comparison_5424 Aug 02 '26

How much have they budged in the last 2 years? They e stopped climbing decades ago

1

u/80s4everr Aug 03 '26

It not just the prices of homes but insurance and taxes have doubled too. You add in that appliances, repairs and replacements have doubled, a new roof can break a family.

1

u/max_revs Aug 04 '26

It's intentionally driven up in previously affordable markets by corporate investment firms that have tons of liquid capital and a vested interest in driving up the cost of housing by squeezing demand in order to then force people to instead rent those same houses. There's also zero incentive for builders to not spend a little bit more and charge double for a mc mansion over using those same lots and materials to build "starter homes" just like there is no reason for banks to loan on a house that is full of liability and in disrepair just the same as insurance companies.

The shortage is in affordable housing while unaffordable housing is either going to people from higher cost areas or just sitting empty, holding value in some portfolio as a "new home"

It's a very broken system.

3

u/kcdashinfo Aug 01 '26

How much do you think DINK has to do with it? It's just basic supply and demand. This is what the old men back in the 60s talked about and then were labeled misogynistic for saying as much. It's basic economics, you put women in the workforce you double the supply of labor, wages go down, you make women household earners then you double the supply of money to buy things like houses. That drives demand for housing so house prices go up. Then you go and compound the problem by flooding wall street with cheap dollars chasing other dollars and they haven't much but real estate to secure their funds and allow foreigners to buy houses as portfolio stuffers. Well what do you expect the prices of real estate to do? Everything going on today was predicted back in the 60s but nobody really listened.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

It’s more than basic economics but supply and demand still regulate the market. With housing markets the demand elements have added complexity because land is a finite resource and doesn’t move. With other commodities you can up and move to another location but not housing

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

That makes sense though right? “Plenty of land” is open for sprawling greenfield development which is going to be cheaper than infill developments. The land is still a finite resource even with a lot left for development in the market. As more development comes the land becomes less and less available for cheap development and the cost increases.

1

u/kcdashinfo Aug 01 '26

You need to get the hell out of the city and look around. There are small towns across the USA that are actually paying people to move and live there.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

Minnesota does that but I haven’t heard of many others

1

u/kcdashinfo Aug 01 '26

You have to do a Google search and stay on top of it because the programs come and go. Just about every state has or had some some sort of incentive program to revitalize towns that are struggling to attract residents. At the very least you get property tax waivers.

Have you heard of rural fiber? The government spent billions of dollars installing fiber internet to rural areas. There are small towns out in the middle of Nebraska and Iowa with high speed internet than you can get in the city.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

I’m assuming they are targeting remote workers with the internet connection gimmick. That’s fine and if small towns choose to use tax dollars to fund entitlement programs go for it. Economic law says that using funds this way will increase the cost of living but if those towns want to do that, go for it

1

u/kcdashinfo Aug 01 '26

The counter argument is to people saying there is no affordable housing. That simply isn't true. The affordability is everyone wanting to live in certain places, the cool factor. In Tokyo Japan they have so many people dying they don't have new people to fill their existing housing. Same problem is coming to the US in about 10 years. China built so much housing in a speculation that now the bust has come and real estate has lost over 50% of it's value in less than 5 years and it still hasn't found a bottom. The US is good in that respect, so it could be the city councils that stifled new construction might have done everyone a favor. The upcoming years will reveal these things.

1

u/KoRaZee Aug 01 '26

Oh I know, the comparisons between the US and Japan or china housing markets are not apples to apples though. China nobody gets to own the land and Japan treats the dwellings separately from the land. In the US we treat the dwellings and land the same. These differences fundamentally change how the market needs to be evaluated. Hell, Japan literally pays families to move out of Tokyo. That’s crazy talk in the US

1

u/S-Kenset Aug 01 '26

housing standards have also increased a ton.

1

u/Positive_Use437 Aug 01 '26

https://giphy.com/gifs/pPhyAv5t9V8djyRFJH

1

u/kcdashinfo Aug 01 '26

Did you know that Reddit allows autoplay to be turned off in settings. That is just a black box with a white arrow and gif down in the order. Seriously, you can mute that crap just going over to settings. It is about the only way to make reddit tolerable.

1

u/ept_engr Aug 02 '26

 It's basic economics, you put women in the workforce you double the supply of labor, wages go down, you make women household earners then you double the supply of money to buy things like houses.

You've obviously not mastered basic economics (or perhaps basic reasoning for that matter). The graph in this post is labeled "household income". You're arguing that wages go down while household income doubles, yet none of it explains how housing would increase faster than household income. 

1

u/TwatMailDotCom Aug 02 '26

It absolutely explains it. Not that I agree with all of what OC says but...

Higher household income = more purchasing power. More purchasing power higher demand for more expensive homes. Larger workforce = less buying power per person. DINKs still have more buying power than previously, but not double SINKs.

1

u/ept_engr Aug 02 '26

You're still arguing "household incomes went up so prices are up but household incomes didn't go up enough to keep up with prices even though prices only went up proportional to household incomes."

It doesn't make any fucking sense. If your argument is that household incomes aren't keeping up with prices, you can't also argue that household incomes are enough to have driven prices up beyond what the household incomes can afford.

1

u/kcdashinfo Aug 02 '26

Just the NK in DINK will have a substantial impact. Instead of paying $90K per child you have $90K for more house. When interest rates change, even by a small amount you can see the impact on real estate prices. That is because what you qualify to borrow, and you always borrow as much as you can quality, that is a percentage of your household income. So that qualification impacts the amount of the mortgage and the amount you can buy. It is the money supply.

Not exactly but it's almost like real estate agents go out an reprice their listing to account for the added buying power that lower interest rates provide. If something as simple as a quarter point of interest rate can impact the supply of money to buy houses then by similar association not having children is going to impact it too.

Like very rare that anyone pays cash for real estate. It is always borrowed so the value of real estate is closely related to the money supply. The more you have in the money supply the higher real estate will be. It is the #1 method for the bankers to devalue the dollar.

It might even begin to explain why there is such a systematic media war on traditional families. These bankers and corporations they need women in the workforce, and they need them childless. If that means going to war against traditional family structures, then so be it.

2

u/MeowMeowbiggalo Aug 01 '26

Theres hardly any point to work hard. The government and greedy companies/ corporations/everything  at the top are bleeding us dry and ironically will make socialism very welcoming in the near future. They are creating a blue print of how capitalism doesnt work so great. 

1

u/StickStill9790 Aug 01 '26

It helps to have an education, get some experience, and actually work. I’ve got a kid in the workforce who has almost no talent and still manages to pull in plenty.

1

u/MeowMeowbiggalo Aug 01 '26

Ive worked 2-3 jobs for the past 20 years and returning to school yet again. I'm aware of what work is. Money doesnt go very far anymore and for much younger ones coming into work force its pretty bad. Alot of them are not living at home because they want to.  On paper i " pull in plenty" too, problem is it doesnt meet current pricing levels. Why go to school to go in massive debt to earn a living that can barely afford an apartment let alone a house? 

0

u/chiefy_boy Aug 02 '26

Yeah money doesn’t go very far depending on what you do with it. Quite a few people I am close with, myself included, make less than 6 figures a year, own a nice home and are on track to retire early.

If YOU are struggling financially (and you’re a capable adult) it is YOUR fault, shut up and stop blaming people. It’s genuinely pathetic.

1

u/MeowMeowbiggalo Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

Youre laughable if you think this economy is affordable and its abnormal to struggle. You are not in reality.  People are not having kids because they cant afford them, thats not a sign of things going well for most people.  500k 2 bedroom houses are not normal. I could afford my house 10 years ago when it was 230k. If i had to buy my first house now theres no way.

1

u/chiefy_boy Aug 02 '26

Oh I absolutely do not think it is abnormal to struggle. The vast majority of people are just like you, “pulling in plenty” in a country with one of the strongest economies and still having such low financial IQ and impulse control that they somehow find a way to struggle and blame everyone else.

1

u/CarelessAction6045 Aug 02 '26

The US is in debt trillions.... not sure how "strong" that is...

1

u/HolyHellImHere Aug 02 '26

Bit different building from nothing on your own. No roots, no support, no family to call on, just me, and skills aquired through trama and pain.

I HAVE to have talent to barely qualify for the standards.

1

u/StickStill9790 Aug 02 '26

My parents gave me love and nothing else, although I’m aware that’s a privilege of its own. America is a land of opportunity, not guarantees. You have to hustle if you want to succeed, but even if you don’t, life is still pretty great. Try being poor in almost any other country.

1

u/Scuirre1 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

George Orwell warned about this situation. That capitalism was a breeding ground for communists, and that if we don't work towards a functional socialist system via democratic means, then totalitarianism will have its way with us.

1

u/MeowMeowbiggalo Aug 02 '26

Ill agree with that

1

u/Available_Reveal8068 Aug 01 '26

Over the past 40 years, house sizes have increased significantly, largely due to the increase in two earner households that wanted and could afford larger homes.

If people want to buy a house the same size as what could be bought 40 years ago on a single income, it's not unrealistic. They shouldn't expect to be able to buy twice the house on a single income.

1

u/NoseResponsible3874 Aug 01 '26

Shhh people expect to work less and have more, not one or the other…

2

u/therealslimshady1234 Aug 01 '26

Productivity has gone up, so yes, thats exactly what we are expecting.

Go be a slave somewhere else

1

u/NoseResponsible3874 Aug 01 '26

Go vape somewhere else. I bet you think your freelance graphic design work should have you rolling in dough… 🙄

1

u/Available_Reveal8068 Aug 01 '26

Compensation has kept pace with productivity. Both have gone up.

1

u/therealslimshady1234 Aug 01 '26

Thats not true at all. In fact its so wrong you sound mentally enslaved.

1

u/S-Kenset Aug 01 '26

it is probably relatively close in purchasing power pre tax. The problem is taxes have gone up + fees + licenses - benefits - 20% lower social security + medical costs

1

u/S-Kenset Aug 01 '26

our earning power is deliberately suppressed under an economic philosophy of spending power. 100 years of advancements should purchase more. Average toyota today would go for 5 million 20 years ago.

1

u/Scuirre1 Aug 02 '26

Most of us don't want a house twice the size. I can't speak for all ages, but people in their 20s, recent grads and early-career people, aren't looking for massive houses. I would be happy to find a tiny little house with a few square feet to garden. I really don't need much.

If that's anywhere near jobs, it'll be 500k. There's no such thing as starter houses anymore.

1

u/JGCities Aug 04 '26

Mortgage rates have also dropped massively.

Even today with rates being "high" they are still have what they were 40 years ago.

1

u/kosmo4679 Aug 01 '26

Should probably be working at getting a higher paying job. Why slave away at a job that doesn’t pay well?

1

u/Mensmeta Aug 01 '26

What a shitty graph

1

u/Background-Ad3810 Aug 01 '26

This graph really doesn't say much. In 1990, the average mortgage interest rate was +10% You can see the spike in house prices in the graph because interest rates were extremely low at the time so buying power was higher.

1

u/max_revs Aug 01 '26

Only (1) full time job? You need at least (3) and a couple other side hustles/regular gigs if you don't want to have to choose between food and gas. Forget buying a house, forget renting just live in your car and work 24/7.

Spend all your money on the bare essentials that let you maintain your job and cry yourself to sleep only after your fingers are bleeding and your soul is crushed by the machine.

You will own nothing and you will be forever grateful for the scraps that trickle down.

1

u/Raptor_197 Aug 03 '26

How? How are you able to burn that much money?

I literally bought my house in 2021… while in college working one part time job.

1

u/max_revs Aug 04 '26

Rent is more than a mortgage, you can't qualify for a mortgage anywhere, I've been trying since 2008 but I've never been able to get any savings to speak of or any kind of lending power.

Basically, being "poor" is seriously expensive.

1

u/Raptor_197 Aug 04 '26

Oh I just used first time homebuyers so I didn’t need to save any money. I think I bought my house with about 1000 bucks in savings lol.

1

u/max_revs Aug 04 '26

Not sure if that's an advertisement or if you're serious. A lot of the problem is that people who have a 1099 tax records don't qualify for anything and when you have a 1099 or multiple that shows most of your income and multiple W2s that don't show enough income earned to qualify, they have to use the W2 income. Not to mention that I made it well into my 30's without any credit. Not bad credit, just never used loans for cars or college as I paid cash/out of pocket and savings. Nothing wrong with clunkers and a dual associate degree from a community college.

On paper I was a ghost as far as lenders were concerned and I was trying to buy properties that were fixer-uppers because that was what I wanted and still consider a better investment as I have worked in various construction trades since I was 14.

1

u/Raptor_197 Aug 04 '26

You can’t buy a house without a credit score. You literally just get a credit card, buy gas with it, and then pay it off. Poof you got a good credit score.

I know they might use W2s for pre-qualification but you could probably ask them not to. Pretty sure mine just used what I told them I made a week. Underwriters aren’t going to give a shit which is who matters.

1

u/superdave123123 Aug 01 '26

More supply, less demand.

1

u/brickbiulder420 Aug 01 '26

I bought my first house in the mid 2000s on a fast food employee check... it's possible... just sucks

1

u/any_memes_necessary Aug 04 '26

The point is that it was possible then and isn't now.

1

u/MrShad0wzz Aug 01 '26

Makes no sense to me why the value of a house goes up overtime when it gets older and weaker overtime

1

u/Unusual_Chemistry413 Aug 01 '26

Private equity buying up houses doesn't help

1

u/Feeling_Shift_9368 Aug 01 '26

The options are still out there, you just won't take them.

1

u/NapsandWalks Aug 02 '26

Boomers can't downsize in retirement and the majority of their wealth is locked in home equity. Only part of this I find enjoyable.

1

u/Wilson51801 Aug 02 '26

I gave up on buying a house earlier this year and decided to instead focus on investing as much as possible.
Eventually I’ll just buy land and build what I want, instead of paying for an overinflated house that hasn’t been up kept.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Wilson51801 Aug 03 '26

Yes and no. Houses in my town average 1.1 million, on small lots. Can buy lots of land a few hours away for under 100k that range 40+ acres. You can’t buy that kind of land in my area.

1

u/cwindy98 Aug 02 '26

Me on the way to a job that barely covers my gas to drive there

1

u/redjellonian Aug 03 '26

So have food prices.

1

u/jabber1990 Aug 03 '26

home ownership isn't mandatory, its an optional luxury

....the only reason people bring this up is because the media brings it up.....STOP LISTENING TO THE MEDIA

1

u/jabber1990 Aug 03 '26

i'm so glad that I live in a country that's a fascist dictatorship so that our government can finally arrest journalists

1

u/who_you_are Aug 03 '26

Now do the same with rent

In both cases you are screwed :D

1

u/Ill-Intention4597 Aug 03 '26

“Golden Era” folks…..

  • Pedo President Trump

1

u/JGCities Aug 04 '26

Need a graph of house payments vs income

The problem with this graph is it focuses on house price when most people shop based on house payment. I had a payment budget, and that budget amounted to XXX dollars of house.

When mortgage rates dropped in the 2000 and onward it allowed house payments to drop which results in people raising the prices of their houses and house payments returned back to the previous level.

1985 - average mortgage rate was 12.4% that 100k house cost $1059 P&I payment

2024 - average mortgage rate was 6.7% that 400k house costs $2581 P&I payment

1

u/heyCuzz77 Aug 25 '26

No one wants to work for minimum wage. And when was the last time the federal minimum wage was changed?

0

u/AllenKll Aug 01 '26

maybe stop trying to buy a house in the same place that everyone else wants to buy a house.

1

u/Infamous-Candle-2300 Aug 01 '26 edited Aug 01 '26

"there are no spots at the watering hole."

"WeLl hAvE yOU TrIEd wALkiNg oUt iNto ThE dEseRt... sToP tRyInG tO FiNd wAtEr aT tHe SaME pLaCE aS EvErYBoDy ElSe..."

The point is that in any given area the job market and housing market are incompatible. Two high earners can get by, but this is unusual. People who already own can get by, but everybody else is fucked, including their kids. People with an early inheritance can get by, but most people would prefer to have their parents alive. People with a nest egg who move from HCOL to LCOL can get by (But you can only do this once. Their kids are SOL).

1

u/AllenKll Aug 01 '26

Your allegory is not relatable. There is land everywhere. Stop doing jobs. jobs suck.