Gen Zs are asking millennials to retire so they can move up. A millennial woman breaks down the reality: ‘You’re yelling at the wrong generation’

A Las Vegas creator named Jillian Gerhardt, who posts on TikTok as @jilliangerhardt, shared a video addressing a claim circulating among younger users that millennials should retire so Gen Z can move up at work. The video, captioned “How old do you think we are?”, had drawn about 847,800 views, 82,600 likes, and more than 3,860 comments.

Gerhardt said in the video that “Gen Z is on TikTok asking millennials to retire so that they can climb the corporate ladder.” On-screen text in the clip read, “Gen Z wants millennials to retire?” She spoke to the camera from what appeared to be an outdoor patio and said millennials would leave those jobs if they could.

She said, “Retire? We would love to.” She asked whether viewers thought millennials were still in office jobs because they were “passionate about the corporate ladder,” and she added that her generation had been trying to get off that path since college. She said they “graduated into a recession with student loans and a communications degree” and were told to “just get your foot in the door.”

Forbes report cites age, family costs and hiring data in the same debate

Gerhardt said the same foot had been “in the door for 15 years” and that “we’re losing circulation.” She asked, “How old do you think we are?” and said she still has “a group chat named after an inside joke from 2011.” She then said, “You’re yelling at the wrong generation. Go talk to Deborah. Deborah’s been in accounting since fax machines were considered cutting-edge technology.”

She said millennials were told to “just work hard and you’ll eventually move up,” then added that “we don’t even want to be here.” She asked whether people thought millennials were “clinging to the corporate ladder” and said they were trying to get off it. 

Gerhardt also said they do not want “the corner office” and instead “want to sell candles on Etsy and somehow still be able to afford healthcare.” She closed by telling younger workers, “Please climb past us. Just grab my hand on your way up because my back hurts. Okay.”

Forbes reported on the same argument, saying some Gen Z users have asked how they are supposed to move up when people above them will not retire. The outlet said millennials are roughly 30 to 45 years old in 2026, which is not retirement age, and that many in that group spent their early careers after the 2008 recession.

According to a Pew Research Center data published in August, 54 percent of Americans in their 40s are supporting a parent 65 or older and a child at the same time. The same Pew figures, as reported by Forbes, said nearly a quarter of that group is supporting both a minor child and an adult child. Workplace generational friction can appear in daily interactions, such as when a Baltimore woman said her Gen Z coworker claimed she left her last job over bullying then got fired for taking personal calls. 

Forbes also cited the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ July Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey putting the quits rate at 1.9 percent. The outlet said companies are not simply handing mid-career seats to new graduates when older workers leave, and a Fortune analysis of Revelio Labs data shows the average new hire is now 42 and that Gen Z’s share of new hires fell from 14.9 percent in 2022 to 8.8 percent in 2025.

Viewers responding to Gerhardt’s video focused on age and money. One commenter wrote, “I’m the eldest millennial I’m 45 d–n years old.” Another wrote, “Boomers think we’re still 18, GenZ thinks we’re 80.”

A third commenter wrote, “Most of us still haven’t been able to buy our first house.” Others pointed to older groups still in the workforce, writing, “Wait until they find out that Gen X are still working,” and “Ask boomer and Gen X to retire so millennials can go up.” 

One commenter wrote, “If we were retired, we’d just have to shut the world down because there’s no way they could pull it off.” Another wrote, “Pretty sure millennials are trying to climb down to make room. Problem is we have critical thinking skills and accidentally made it known. I accidentally became important.”