For Gen Z, a Paycheck Does Not Mean Stability

By Ahmad Todd

WASHINGTON — Behind the counter of Georgetown’s Compass Coffee,  Spencer Young takes orders, makes drinks and works the kind of full-time schedule many college graduates hope will lead to independence.

Forty-hour weeks making coffees, teas and other drinks earn him $840 a week before taxes. In 2024, Young graduated from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts in theater. His rent is $2,200 a month, and he still owes about $55,000 in student debt. After rent, food, bills and loan payments, he said, there is little left.

“After rent, living expenses and debt, I don’t really have anything left,” Young said.

Young, 23, is part of a generation expected to have great financial influence. A 2025 analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the international consulting and accounting firm commonly known as PwC, said Gen Z’s spending power is expected to reach $12 trillion by 2030, even as young consumers adjust to inflation, rising interest rates, student loan payments and a difficult job market.

PwC found that Gen Z cut overall spending by 13 percent between January and April 2025 and planned to reduce holiday spending by 23 percent, but still expected to spend an average of $1,357 during the season.

The report also found that Gen Z is patiently frugal. More than 79 percent wait for products to go on sale, while 64 percent have tried buy now, pay later at least once. PwC described the generation as “cautious with money, yet quick to spend when the purchase carries emotional weight.”

Young started college in 2020, the year the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted universities across the country. He studied theater at George Washington and graduated four years later.

“I started college in 2020, so COVID was my first year,” Young said. “It was a terrible year to start.”

Now, he wants to move to New York and keeps applying for jobs there. He said he is not especially worried about the future, even though his present finances are tight.

“I’m not really worried about the future,” Young said. “I think it’s just a matter of trying and trying again and surviving in the meantime.”

For Sara Jones, a sophomore at American University, money is not a serious concern yet.

Jones’s regular expenses are limited to what she chooses to buy for herself while she studies political science with a minor in communications and works a few days a week at the front desks of AU residence halls.

She makes $18 an hour and tries to keep her weekly spending under $50, mostly on coffee, occasional treats, beauty products and, rarely, clothes.

Her father covers the rest of her major costs, including college, housing, food and her planned law school tuition.

That support gives her space to focus on academics and career preparation, ahead of full financial independence.

She said she applied to one internship this year because she wanted “a job for the summer in preparation for study abroad” and “some real-world experience relating to my major.” She sees internships as useful, but not everything.

“I think they’re beneficial,” Jones said. “I don’t think they’re necessary, but I think they definitely can help with some career readiness.”

She says early career opportunities, like internships, do not always pay enough to support the students they are supposed to help. The internship she applied for was in her hometown and paid about $13 an hour, which she considered good because it was above the local minimum wage. But she said that kind of pay would not go far in Washington.

“I don’t think the internship alone pays enough at all,” Jones said. “I think like $18 an hour is definitely not enough to like pay for an apartment, especially here where it’s way more expensive than most cities.”

In Lexington, Virginia, McCormick’s money goes further.

He works at the front end of a Walmart, eight hours a day, five days a week. He makes about $15 an hour, better than the $13 he made at Kroger. He is classified as part time, which means he does not receive benefits, even though his hours resemble full-time work.

“It’s easy work,” McCormick said. “I mostly watch self-checkout, run registers, bag groceries and sometimes help with pickup orders.”

McCormick lives with his parents and does not plan to go to college or trade school. His father works at Dominion Energy and earns enough to comfortably support his family. McCormick applied for a job there and was rejected, but he said it did not bother him.

His biggest expense is his truck, a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 Ford F-150 that gets about 17 miles per gallon. He pays around $450 a month for it.

“My truck is my pride and joy,” McCormick said.

His other major expense is fishing. He drives about 30 minutes to fish on weekends and sometimes after work. He mostly catches and releases bass, though he occasionally cooks fish wrapped in foil with lemon, butter and herbs.

“I’m always chasing the biggest bass,” McCormick said.

Tapiwa Sande, a second-year master’s student in finance who has researched consumer confidence and studied banking and finance as an undergraduate in Zimbabwe, said young adults are entering a job market where credentials alone may not be enough.

“For Gen Z, getting a job is no longer just about what you know,” Sande said. “It is also about who can vouch for you.”

Sande said artificial intelligence has made applications easier to polish, making personal connections more important.

“Gen Z is stuck in the classic catch-22,” Sande said. “You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience.”

Sande said Gen Z is also being shaped by new forms of consumer credit and recurring payments. Companies such as Klarna and Affirm have made buy now, pay later programs common in online shopping. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warned in a 2022 public inquiry that those products can appear to consumers as a standard payment option even though they are taking on debt.

“Buy now, pay later does not always feel like debt to young people,” Sande said. “It feels like a monthly payment.”

PwC’s analysis also found that more than 40 percent of Gen Z consumers who used buy now, pay later had made a late payment, a risk Sande said builds exponentially through recurring charges and installment plans.

Sande said that can make young consumers look stable month to month while still building up obligations through rent, phone payments, subscriptions, credit cards and installment plans.

“The danger is that young people can look financially stable month to month while still becoming seriously indebted,” Sande said.

But he said Gen Z is not simply reckless. Many young adults are thinking creatively about money because they do not trust one paycheck to provide security.

“Gen Z does not only think about a nine-to-five anymore,” Sande said. “They think about investing, content creation, streaming, side hustles and online businesses.”

Not every Gen Zer is living the same way. Jones is spending carefully while preparing for a professional future. McCormick is working steadily and spending on a truck and hobby he loves. Young is trying to survive expensive city life long enough to reach the next opportunity.