Survey Finds A Majority Of Gen Z Is Dreading Seeing Family For Christmas Because They’ve Lied About This One Thing
Kiselev Andrey Valerevich | Shutterstock The holiday season is one typically spent surrounded by family, but that's not necessarily how Gen Z wants to celebrate this year. A recent survey actually found that the young cohort is dreading seeing their family because they've been fibbing about a pretty major part of their life — their job!
The image of an extended family sitting down to Christmas dinner together, with a random great-aunt asking about someone’s relationship status, has become a cliché at this point. It would be understandable for Gen Z to be concerned about their family questioning their romantic choices over the holidays. But bring on the "are you dating anyone" questions, Aunt Agnes, because Gen Z would rather you ask about their love life than their career.
Gen Z doesn’t want to see their family for Christmas because they’ve lied about their jobs.
ELVTR, a platform that allows professionals to take courses on the latest hot topics in the business world, surveyed 2,000 workers aged 21 to 35. They found that 58% of these respondents had lied to their family about their career in some way.
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This was even more prevalent among Gen Z respondents in their 20s. Forty-two percent admitted to feeling at least “somewhat stressed” over talking about their job at family gatherings. Just like older relatives seem to be judging their younger counterparts over whether they’re settled down with a family yet, they’re also questioning their career choices.
It’s so bad that 33% of ELVTR’s respondents said they had actually skipped a family gathering so they could avoid facing questions about their job. Another problem arose with larger families. Fifty-five percent said that their family members “sometimes” tended to compare their own success to that of their siblings or cousins.
Jobs have become a hot topic around the dinner table.
It’s becoming harder for older, more traditional relatives to grill their younger family members about marriage and family because they just aren’t interested in it anymore. According to USA Facts, “In 2024, U.S. adults were less likely to be married than at almost any point since the Census Bureau began tracking marital status in 1940.”
Additionally, Pew Research Center found that only 51% of people between 18 and 34 wanted to have children. People are increasingly choosing their jobs over families, which is putting those careers on a new pedestal. However, career success is often slow to come. Cengage Group reported that only 30% of 2025 graduates landed a full-time job that was related to their degree.
It seems like older family members who are desperate to find something they can ask their younger counterparts about are turning to the only thing that seems to interest them — the workforce. Unfortunately, between the tough job market and the lack of job security present for Gen Z, they don’t have much good news to share. This leaves families at a bit of an impasse.
Despite the difficulties Gen Z is facing, they still crave validation from their families.
Given how precarious Gen Zers’ position is in the workforce, it would be perfectly understandable for them to kindly ask Aunt Susan to keep her opinions about their jobs to herself. But 45% of ELVTR’s respondents said they felt like they should switch jobs because of their relatives’ thoughts. In fact, 22% said they would be willing to give up their dream job for something their family approves of more strongly.
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Times and traditions may change, but it looks like the desire to have your family’s approval never will. Gen Z may be very individualistic, but they still want their family to be happy with the decisions they’re making in their lives.
But, because there’s not exactly a lot of good news to report as far as jobs are concerned, it seems like many are embellishing the truth about what they do just to be better accepted. Now that it’s almost Christmas, they’re having to reckon with these white lies in person. What Gen Z needs to remember, however, is that Grandpa Bob is only asking because he cares. Instead of avoiding the uncomfortable question, be open and honest. Who knows, he might actually have some good advice to share.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
