‘Nobody wants to work anymore’: How a simple phrase became the oversimplified scapegoat for every problem plaguing the American labor market

Does “Nobody want to work anymore,” or is there a national reckoning happening in the labor market? And where did that phrase even come from?

A Starbucks location in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, offered a variety of additional incentives to new hires, including “Free College” and “Free Spotify.” Photo: Ben Gilbert/Insider

By Ben Gilbert

Maybe you’ve seen it on a sign at your local Taco Bell drive-thru, or as part of a screed on social media: “Nobody wants to work anymore.”

The phrase has become strikingly common in current American society, and taken at face value, it stands to reason that everyone has collectively decided to stop working.

On a recent trip near Reading, Pennsylvania, I heard the phrase no less than three times in 24 hours from three completely different people.

My colleague Áine Cain recently traveled through several states and saw the same signs everywhere, from Virginia to upstate New York:

Signs in Virginia (left) and New York (right). Photo: Courtesy of Kevin Greenlee

It even spread to the most popular show on cable news, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

“The government is paying people more to not work than to work,” Fox News host…