High cost of living worries Gen Z; nearly half have side jobs: Report

According to Deloitte’s 2023 Gen Z and Millennial Survey, a significant portion of individuals expressed heightened worry about the soaring cost of living, followed closely by concerns about unemployment and climate change.

The survey reveals that many Gen Z members struggle to make ends meet and live from paycheck to paycheck. As a result, an increasing number of them are resorting to additional jobs or side gigs in an effort to alleviate their financial anxieties.

Further, it highlights the high cost of living as the primary societal concern among Gen Zs, shedding light on their economic challenges and the steps they are taking to cope. About 46 per cent of Gen Zs and 37 percent of Millennials have taken on either a part or full-time paying job in addition to their primary job, it said.

Gen Zs are people who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, while Millennial are those born in the 1980s or 1990s. The Deloitte Global 2023 ‘Gen Z and Millennial Survey’ is based on responses of 22,856 respondents of which 14,483 were Generation Zs and 8,373 were Millennials from 44 countries across North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific. This report includes responses of 800 respondents from India as well.