But your country does have 20% unemployment in young people, and 25% for Maori young people.

I don't think young people however are lazy, they are just smart (like all people). They work as hard as they need to in order to sustain a standard of living they are accustomed to.

I would be considered very lazy compared to someone who was in my working class 100 years ago. If I lived 100 years ago however, I would work a lot harder. 

Well, Im not going to pretend I actually know much, but maybe is more an age thing than a generation thing, I mean, you have more  things that can keep you away from work and I think inmaturity leads to these problems, I dont think these same workers will do the same thing once they grow older as I think old people now wouldve done the same thing if they were young.

Well, here we have inmigration from Bolivia and Peru and they do the work some chilean workers are not willing to do at lower salaries, its not as massive, but it exists. But my point was that its not a generation thing and more like different circumstances, which may be economical, technological, etc... lead to current state of young people, and these circumstances they live are not caused by young people so I think judging them by these is not apropiate.

Going by what Mafoo said, people will work as much as they need to acording to the times and their own necesities, I dont consider work to be desireable(of course it can be but the general consensus is that its not), and maybe the phenomenom you speak of will change eventually when people realize with phisical work they can obtain more money doing it.

Nope.. we just have waaaaaaay more options what to do with our lives...

I can "out-lazy" any THREE generation Y members if I wanted to.

Largely due to the fact that the industries hit hardest by the recession like the building industry hired a lot of younger people and in addition to this the stupid policy which lets them collect the unemployment benefit whilst living at home with their parents.

Oh shit, i'm just on the fringe! (1992)

Ugh, friggin stereotypes. No, we're not lazy, dammit. I remember looking for a job at 14, I had my working papers in hand and all, but no dice. The closest I found was that one McDonalds would be willing to hire at 15 for cleaning tables. (Of course, there was no opening there for that once I turned 15.) So I started looking right before I turned 16 again, and found a retail job; they hired me to start 2 days after my 16th birthday. It's not glamorous, but hey, it was money, and it meant that I could get what I wanted.

Now, some complain about loyalty. Even when I was going to school, I kept this job. Even when I went to college, I transferred this job, to retransfer back for the summer. I was there for about 5 years or so, moving up the chain in the meanwhile. (I went from floor associate to cashier to service desk to cash office.) I was in the cash office for a couple of years, waiting for another chance to open up. 3 more years pass, and a position for administrative coordinator opens up. I've actually been doing some of the things this position pertains to for a bit under the table. (I was the only non-supervisor who had access to request supplies to order, access to the sales reports, and even cashier tracking reports.) Now, I put in for it, and I'm told by the administrative manager that I'm one of 2 people who put in for it. But the store manager has to make the decision, and she decides to hire a person from the outside, AND has the nerve to ask me to train this person for some of the responsibilities of it. (Admin coord has to know cash office.) He lasted about a month, then she decided to give it to the other person in the store, and again, training for cash office fell on me. Of course, I asked about this, and was told flat out that the manager didn't trust my loyalty. So... I've been working here for 8 years, and for what? Nothing, apparently. This was when I saw I had no future in this store, and decided to move and transfer out. And again, the same crap happened in the other store, with no reason given. A little more than 10 years with the company, and I quit, because I wasn't going to move up any more; they decided to keep hiring more outside people. And yes, I had another job before quitting here. The only reason it didn't last was because my bank got bought out by the devil itself (Capital One), and they decided to close all supermarket locations. Obviously, there wasn't space for everyone, and some had to be let go. With my being the newest at our location, I expected to be let go, and started hunting for another job, which I hold now.

But... you want to know why I think the older generations, at least in the US, are whining about us being "lazy"? It's because they saw what all the prior generations have done- retire and then collect social security. However, with the system facing severe financial straits, they're worried that it'll go broke before they die, and hence, not get paid their whole life. They thing we should work 2-3 jobs just to pay for the rest of their life. Meanwhile, I object to paying into a system that's going to be gone before I retire, not seeing a cent of my money come back. We're not going to have this retirement option, yet those older ones think they're entitled to it, and they shouldn't have to do what we're going to have to do- work until we die.

I agree with this assessment for the most part. I think the Y generation is less focused on money, and more self absorbed (for better or worse). Adults in the 80s wanted money money money money money money and in excess. That was status, that was success. Today's youth/adults are more focused on "self discovery" and "nurturing their passions" and other ways of saying "being incredibly self absorbed". I will openly admit I only work a 4 day week, not because I'm lazy (I work damn hard when I'm at work, and I'm not afraid to put in a 12 or 13 hour day to get the work done) but work and money are not the things that are most important to me. My wife and my hobbies are, and they take top billing. My job just funds that.

Also, luxuries are RIDICULOUSLY cheap now a days. With few exceptions, housing has gotten alot more expensive for instance (which may be trying to correct itself now, we'll see), but things like electronics, wine, fine cheese, TVs, sporting equipment are dirt cheap, and there are plenty of stores to cater to today's young self absorbed hippie snobs. I don't say that with derision, I have multiple flat screen TV's, obviously a few videogame systems, a wine rack and I love a good cheese, and as I said before I only work as much as I need to in order to support my life style. And for the record, I am in the labor market, no desk jobs for me. And I don't mind this, I find the idea of being stuck in a cubicle terrifying, though often far more lucrative. And their are certainly days when sitting behind a desk sounds pretty damn good, but I don't think I could take that kind of job.

So I don't necessarily think they are lazier, but they definitely have different priorities than their parents did. And they are definitely very self absorbed.

@The_vagabond -

Houses ARE NOT more expensive. They are bigger, which costs more. The average house built for a family in the 1950's was 900-1000 square feet. Now, it is 2400. That is why it costs more. People demand a bigger fancier house.