Many of us, at some point, received the message that hard work pays off.
And there’s a lot to like about this message: It suggests that each of us maintains some semblance of control over our fate, and that the fruit of our labor will taste more like an Ambrosia apple than one of those gross ginkgo nuts that stink up our streets. As such, it incentivizes effort, which is a good thing.
But over the past 20 years, the belief in hard work has suffered some serious setbacks.
We could spend a lot of time debating the true origin of our current war on work, but a significant moment occurred during the Great Recession, when working-class Americans collectively lost about $2.4 trillion, with those having worked 20 years specifically losing about 25% of their savings over a six-month period.