His wife and he were set to be a “power couple.” They’d be living the American dream. They’d purchase a home in the suburbs and go on two-year breaks.

 The dream of a perfect life was eventually dismantled. His then-wife was able to see through the illusions of work, he told her that he would quit and be a caregiver for their children and her elderly father. It took him some time to reach the moment.

 Larry his last name isn’t known to Insider Larry, told Insider that “it’s something that someone else has created in our minds.”

 Now, Larry, 52, doesn’t work. He was ready for an adjustment in his career when the pandemic struck. He quit his job as an engineer in South Carolina to be with his ex-wife, and his children in Colorado. After he was laid off from a temporary job and returned to South Carolina to be with his mother. He lives in a 20-foot trailer that is the backyard of his mother’s.

 “I don’t have any expenditures. I don’t require money. He stated that he would survive without any money.

 Larry is part of something that is growing People who have decided to stop working.

 Some call it “antiwork.” This is a trend that has been fueled by young workers, as Gen Zers begin to make their mark on the labour market. In America the trend is similar to similar youth-led movements against work in other countries particularly China and China, where youth are “lying flat” by decentering a drive to be constantly more productive and competitive at work instead they seek happiness within their lives and in their leisure.

 “I do not need to work,” Larry said. He added: “I don’t want to hold meetings, no deadlines, no goals, no quarter, no seminar. I don’t want anything to do with that.”

 An increasing discontent with the work environment has led to millions of Larrys in the past year. People have been quitting their jobs at a record rate for at least six months currently, and the majority have decided to not return. That’s because, for some people, work just doesn’t seem to be worth it now. The wages of workers have been declining for decades , while student debt has increased. Since the Great Depression, the quantity of low-wage workers has increased.

 Recession

  The salaries that allow for a middle-class life have cratered.

 Then came the pandemic: Billionaires added $2.1 trillion to their overall wealth while thousands of Americans were without work. The gap between the richest and the poor widened.

 There are a myriad of reasons we have a labor shortage. The tales of the anti-work protest movement provide some insight. It doesn’t matter whether bosses recognize it or not, workers are effectively striking for better conditions — and it may work.

 A million strong and growing

 Reddit’s “r/antiwork” group, which has over a million users, was founded in 2013. Half of those who joined the group in the month of October 2021 were already there. This means the group is visited by thousands if not more, every day. As expressed on the subreddit,”antiwork” refers to living a life of no-work, and establishing a community to push against the oppressive working conditions.

 Insider was told by a moderator of the subreddit, which is known as U/rockcellist that antiwork can be thought of as lazy.

 “But it is true that the issue of antiworkand everything that surrounds it is that, in all likelihood, things have to be completed however the way the way things are conducted and how capital flows once they’re done is unfair and should be nonexistent.”

 Kade, a Gen Z worker from Kansas, was one of those who posted to r/antiwork after quitting his job as an employee. He had been considering leaving for a while, but was then pushed over the edge when his boss posted a sign warning workers against using their phones during shifts -in the event that they were caught with phones, the management could seize them.

 “I never really see anybody working and not checking their phones,” Kade said. Kade said that he did not believe management should be allowed to take away his personal property.

 Kade stated that he started to look up posts on the r/antiwork forum about a month before. He also claimed that reading about other people’s experiences of quitting and learning how they are rethinking their work was a big aspect in his decision to take a break. He’s already had at least one interview for a new job, and has a small amount of savings to help him for the time being.

 Kade declared, “It felt like I could do more to a cause.” “I didn’t want to put up with this stuff.”

 It’s also where Kaytlynnn Nicholson also a Gen Zer was posted after she quit her job as a food service worker to pursue woodworking full-time.

 She was able see that she wasn’t on her own in her concerns.

 “I noticed that it’s all over the place — businesses are saying, “Hey you know there’s a workforce shortage, but they’re not hiring anyone and are instead overworking their employees who are already working,’” Nicholson said. “I consider it a good idea to be aware of this — that you don’t need to believe the position that it’s not true.”