Where Gen Z Wants to Work
Key Takeaways
While all U.S. adults saw gains in net admired employer scores from “the Great Resignation” to “the Great Freeze,” Gen Z’s scores scaled up more quickly, gaining about 11 percentage points from 2022 to 2025.
The technology and retail sectors top the industries with the strongest net admired scores among Gen Zers, though travel and financial services brands are seeing strong gains more recently.
Brands with strong overall reputations among Gen Z stand out as their favored employers. TikTok tops the list, naturally.
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Gen Z is growing up. As the oldest in the cohort approach 30, they’re more settled into their careers, and with that maturation comes growth in their impression of brands not only as consumers, but as prospective employees. Morning Consult’s daily tracking survey asks respondents, “Thinking about your current or most recent job, would you be proud to have a similar job at [brand]?” For Gen Zers, the answer is increasingly yes. The net employer admiration score for Gen Z adults has gained significant ground since 2022 (+11 percentage points), narrowing the gap between Gen Zers and the general population of U.S. adults.
This shift is a win for employers. Our State of Workers 2025 report found that just 32% of employed Gen Z report being “very engaged” when working, which lags behind older generations. Job satisfaction lags for Gen Z as well. But, improving attitudes towards employers and work in general bodes well for boosting that engagement.
That same report found that the youngest full-time workers saw a big uptick in the share interested in finding a new job from 2024 to 2025, from 35% to 45%, so brands with a strong employer reputation stand to gain the next generation of talent.
Gen Z’s perception of brands as employers is improving
The gap between Gen Z and the general population in net admired employer scores, defined as the share of respondents who would be proud to have a job similar to their current role at a given company, minus the share who would not, is narrowing over time. Using an average net employer score for U.S. brands across nine industries, we can see that the trend among Gen Z mirrors the dips and gains for the general population, but the surge in admired employer scores since the “great resignation” era of 2022 led to larger gains with Gen Z. This is great news, as Gen Z’s historic net employer admiration scores have been deeply negative, meaning far more Gen Zers would not be proud to work at a company than would be.
Morning Consult covered the “Great Resignation” in 2022, when workers reprioritized what was important to them after being empowered by an economy that favored employees. The subsequent climb in admired employer scores among both Gen Zers and the population at large was the result of employers working to attract and retain talent, which has since leveled off in “the Great Freeze” era for employees, where job market activity has slowed and employees feel stuck.
Gen Z’s employer admiration is catching up to the general population
Gen Zers with at least a bachelor’s degree (and the employment opportunities that degree unlocks) tend to give brands more favorable employer admiration scores, while those without a bachelor’s mirror the trend line for Gen Z at large.
Tech and retail companies have stronger employer perceptions among Gen Z
Gen Zers are more likely to be proud to say they work for technology and retail companies than they are for travel and financial services companies, like hotels or insurance. However, some of the largest gains driving the improvement in the average net employer admiration score are coming from industries closer to the bottom of the list.
Technology and retail hold top-admired employer scores with Gen Z
The strong growth from brands toward the bottom of this chart is likely due to several factors, including Gen Z’s increasing familiarity with brands they hadn’t yet been exposed to as young adults, like those in the financial services industry. Approaching 30 comes with a greater interest in and awareness of the range of companies that are more relevant to grown-ups, while retail and tech have been big parts of their lives for decades.
Gen Z’s standout employers
Brands with standout net employer admiration scores from Gen Zers reflect the generation’s obsession with social media, technology and gaming. The brands aren’t necessarily the highest scoring for the generation; rather, they have the largest difference between Gen Z and the general population.
TikTok, Instagram and Spotify top the list, followed by gaming juggernauts PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo. Entertainment brands like Marvel, Pixar, Netflix and Disney also see strong scores with Gen Z, as do major retailers like Target and Best Buy.
Gen Z’s top 20 standout employer brands
Gen Zers with at least a bachelor’s degree have a somewhat different list. Notably, Yale, Harvard and Stanford Universities hold spots two through four (TikTok remains at number one). For Gen Zers without a bachelor’s, retail and food service brands are more prevalent, including Chick-fil-A and Walmart.
It’s clear that both familiarity and the cool factor of a brand translate to employer admiration with Gen Zers, but it takes more than that X factor to win them over. Like all workers, Gen Zers still want to work for employers that can promise good work/life balance, healthcare and competitive pay.
