Generation Unemployed
Why 2030 Is Gen X’s Wake-Up Call
I’ve been working since I was old enough to teach swim lessons at the YMCA.
Before that, I spent my summers as a camp counselor — learning early that work was about more than a paycheck. It was about showing up, taking responsibility, and finding meaning in what you do.
“For me, 2030 isn’t a deadline — it’s an opportunity. A moment to rethink what’s next instead of chasing a past that no longer exists. ”
Like a lot of Gen X, I grew up watching the world shift beneath our feet. I saw my parents have to retake financial control during the 1988 recession. I watched friends reinvent themselves during the dot-com bust. And now, I’m seeing incredibly talented people — people with decades of experience — searching for work far longer than they ever imagined.
We were told to “get a job,” and we did. We worked through recessions, layoffs, market crashes, and pandemics. We built the digital economy — and in many ways, it’s now consuming the very generation that helped create it.
And here we are, staring down 2030 — the year the first wave of Gen X is supposed to retire. But what does retirement even mean anymore? Most of us can’t buy a house, stay at the same job for 30 years, and collect the gold watch. That model is gone.
For me, 2030 isn’t a deadline — it’s an opportunity. A moment to rethink what’s next instead of chasing a past that no longer exists. Because if Gen X — the generation that’s adapted to everything — can’t land securely, what does that say about the future of work, dignity, and aging in America?
That’s why we’re making My Last Job.
It’s not just a documentary. It’s a story about resilience, reinvention, and the systems that were never built to hold us up.
We’re not waiting until 2030 to talk about it.
We’re talking about it now.
