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Joanne Yau

Summer is here and it is internship and graduation season for another batch of Generation Z students.
Savannah Lai, who has just completed her third year studying law at City University of Hong Kong, has packed her schedule with internships and exchange programmes.
With her ultimate goal being either working for the city’s Department of Justice or serving as a barrister-at-law, there is no slowing down for her.
“I feel like I don’t need a transition period from graduation to the start of a full-time position, because I already established a routine of studying and doing internships during the academic year, which feels similar to working,” says the 20-year-old, who will graduate in 2025.
But not all of her contemporaries are as ready for the real world as she is.
The term “panic master’s” has emerged in online spaces in recent years, a reference to graduates deciding at the last minute to study for a master’s degree with their prime motivation to delaying adulthood or having to find a real job.

The Covid-19 pandemic may have played a part in such decisions. According to the United Kingdom’s Higher Education Statistics Agency, postgraduate applications in the UK increased by 16 per cent between 2020 and 2021.
This may have been because students were unable to enjoy university life, or internship experiences, to the full because of restrictions imposed during the pandemic. These would have been exacerbated by an overcrowded job market and an economic downturn.
For Tracy Lam, 22, a master’s student at the University of Hong Kong, the decision to spend another year studying philosophy is no delaying tactic but a necessity to help her realise her long-term goal of working in public policy.
A lot of people my age are no longer craving much attachment to their role, and instead just want to fulfil their duty and leave
Savannah Lai, studying law in Hong Kong
She acknowledges that many of her friends are going down that postgraduate education route. “The master’s degree is actually the new bachelor’s degree,” she says.
Adam (not his real name), a Hongkonger who has just graduated with a degree in English and Russian in the UK, is still on the lookout for a full-time job there. While the 21-year-old has not settled on a definite plan, he understands the inevitability of adulthood.
“Who is ever going to be fully ready anyway? At some point you have to bite the bullet and get to it,” he says.

Generation Z, the people born after 1995 and before 2011, will account for over a quarter of the workforce by 2025, according to the World Economic Forum.
A recent report in the journal Educational Administration Theory and Practice says Gen Z employees value flexibility and work-life balance more than previous generations.
A 2023 poll by ResumeBuilder.com, an online resource for jobseekers, revealed that 40 per cent of managers found Generation Z to be less motivated and easily distracted.
In China, the term tang ping, which translates as “lying flat”, has emerged to describe a rejection by young people of societal pressures to overwork and overachieve in favour of a more low-key lifestyle. The term was one of the top trending memes in Chinese search engine Sogou in 2021.
Amid a drastic rise in youth unemployment in China, tang ping expresses young people’s disillusionment with and apathy towards a working culture that feels like joining a rat race.

Yet there are many Gen Zers who do not subscribe to this culture. Lai says the “lying flat” label can be an “overgeneralisation” and that many students, “from accounting to the arts”, still have ambitious academic and career goals.
Jennifer Huang, who graduated with a degree in mathematics from the University of St Andrews in the UK in 2022, is anything but unmotivated. The 24-year-old has always known that she wanted a career in investment banking despite the notoriously long hours.
“I understand that it has always been really competitive and tough to enter the industry [ …] but it is a good feeling to be rewarded for your hard work and entrepreneurship,” Huang says.
Adam has not lost motivation. “In theory, I can see myself subscribing to ‘lying flat’ [ …] but in reality, I think this term carries nuances of nihilism, and that means I have to fully let go of anything that serves a purpose in my life.
“I want to have something to hang onto, to have hope, and to recognise what my values and goals are.”

People who are “lying flat” may appear indifferent about work. This is a perception increasingly held by others in the workplace, with 74 per cent of managers thinking that Gen Z is the most difficult group to work with, according to ResumeBuilder.com.
Both Lai and Huang say some people in their age group are rude and feel a sense of entitlement, with “quiet quitting” – doing the minimum necessary – and refusing to take on tasks they do not want a growing problem.
“A lot of people my age are no longer craving much attachment to their role, and instead just want to fulfil their duty and leave, unlike the sense of commitment and loyalty rooted in other generations towards their work,” Lai says.
Adam says that hybrid and work-from-home modes will become the norm and should not be viewed as inferior to working in an office.
Work-life balance, while not everyone’s top priority, is gaining in significance. Adam says the freedom to work on something he is passionate about is more important than the money he earns.
“Your worth is not solely determined by your employability,” he says, questioning the thinking of the more ambitious members of his generation.


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Gen Z

‘Lying flat’, ‘difficult to work with’: Gen Zers on some wrong ideas about young people

Graduating students take a group photo at the University of Hong Kong. Fresh Gen Z graduates and students offer their thoughts on other people’s perceptions of their generation’s attitudes towards work. Photo: Dickson Lee

A lot of the current Generation Zs are still in secondary or tertiary education. Photo: Shutterstock

Students attend a job fair at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Many Gen Z students are making last-minute decisions to study for a master’s degree mainly to put off adulthood or finding a full-time job. Photo: Xinhua

Young jobseekers at a job fair in Mong Kok, Hong Kong, in 2024. Gen Z workers have been described as valuing flexibility and work-life balance more than previous generations. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

“Lying flat” refers to a rejection of societal pressure to overwork and overachieve. Photo: Shutterstock

‘Kangaroo tribe’ grows with 66% of young Korean adults dependent on their parents

Jobseekers at a jobs fair in Seoul, South Korea. A majority of young adults, whether unemployed or earning too little to support themselves, live with their parents or depend on them for help. Photo: AFP

A jobseeker looks at notices while searching for employment at a jobs fair in South Korea. Photo: AFP

Almost 50 per cent of young adults in the ‘kangaroo tribe’ in 2012 were unemployed. By 2020, that number had increased to 66 per cent. Photo: AFP

Elderly Koreans are increasingly spending time and money on their grandchildren. Photo: Shutterstock

South Korean soldiers look at job offers during a job fair for soldiers about to be discharged, in Goyang, northwest of Seoul. Photo: AFP

Gen Z and millennial travel trends, from why Facebook and Instagram are key to planning trips, to how wellness activities and homestays are hits

A young woman takes in the view in Beno village in Flores, Indonesia. Young travellers are more likely to prioritise photography and smaller accommodation on their holidays than their older counterparts. Photo: Getty Images

Young tourists in Japan using a smartphone. Social media plays a big role in how Gen Zers and millennials travel. We look at trends among young tourists, from taking inspiration from Instagram to why authentic experiences are key. Photo: Getty Images

A diner photographs her food at a cafe in Singapore. Posting on social media – not just scrolling through feeds for information on destinations – is popular with younger travellers. Photo: Getty Images

A young woman takes in a city view from a rooftop swimming pool. According to research, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are among the main platforms on which Gen Zers and millennials find their travel inspiration. Photo: Getty Images

A traveller takes in the view in Beno village in Flores, Indonesia. Young tourists are more likely to prioritise photography and smaller accommodation on their holidays than their older counterparts. Photo: Getty Images

Lunar New Year dim sum image by Chinese photographer wins global food photo contest

Detail from Zhonghua Yang’s image of a woman preparing steamed dim sum for a Lunar New Year celebration in Xiangshan, Zhejiang province, eastern China which won the overall prize in a global food photography contest. Photo: Zhonghua Yang/Pink Lady

Hanging Up Persimmons by Zhonghua Yang won the Moments of Joy category in the 2023 Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year contest. Photo: Zhonghua Yang/Pink Lady 

Anchang Sugar Dance Artist by Zhonghua Yang won the Philip Harben Award for Food in Action and the China category in the competition’s 2023 edition. Photo: Zhonghua Yang/Pink Lady 

Let Them Eat Cake! by Lynne Kennedy, which shows a wedding party on the island of Skye eating mini wedding cakes from containers, won the Champagne Taittinger Wedding Food Photographer award. Photo: Lynne Kennedy/Pink Lady 

As Gen Z post anti-ageing videos on TikTok and beauty products continue to mine our insecurities, celebs like Pamela Anderson offer glimmers of hope

Pamela Anderson attends The Fashion Awards 2023 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England on December 4, 2023.  Her no-make-up look has impressed the general public and other celebrities alike at a time when Gen Z anti-ageing videos on TikTok are going viral. Photo: Getty Images

Pamela Anderson in 2001 aged 34. Photo: WireImage

Kim Kardashian (from left) in 2006, 2014 and 2023. Photos: Getty Images

Kelly McGillis in Top Gun in 1986 (left) and in 2014. Photos: Paramount Pictures/Getty Images

Why Gen Z fear they will raise a generation of ‘terribly behaved’ iPad kids, stoking TikTok debate about screen time

Gen Z are taking to TikTok to express their fears about raising kids who are hooked on iPads. The issue once applied to TV and video games, but whatever the device, too much screen time does affect early childhood development. Photo: Shutterstock

Gen Z is worried about raising a generation of iPad kids – who scream when their device is taken away, have zero interest in speaking to others, and no idea how to play with other toys. Photo: Shutterstock

Studies found too much screen time is associated with poor sleep. Photo: Shutterstock 

One TikTok user described the iPad kid generation as “an absolute terrifying nightmare to deal with”. Photo: Shutterstock

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Education

Generation Z are seen by many as difficult to work with and lacking motivation. New graduates and students talk about how they’re perceived


Fresh graduates and students tell the Post what they think of perceptions of their generation’s attitude to work and finding jobs.


Education in Hong Kong

City University of Hong Kong