Young people haven't been taught the 'value of work,' says Ronald Reagan's education secretary

• Young people haven't been taught the "value of work," Bill Bennett told Fox Business.
• Reagan's education secretary said he was "very concerned" about young people's attitudes towards work.
• Data shows that Americans are working fewer hours a week than pre-pandemic.

Young people haven't been taught the "value of work," according to Ronald Reagan's education secretary.

Bill Bennett, who served under President Reagan between 1985 and 1988, told Fox Business he was "very concerned" about the younger generation's attitudes towards work.

Bennett made the remarks in response to questions about a recent Bloomberg article examining why Americans were working fewer hours than before the pandemic struck.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that people in employment worked an average of 38.4 hours a week in March, compared to an average of 39 hours a week in 2019. Research from two University of Maryland professors found that the average US work week had overall fallen by more than 30 minutes since before the pandemic.

Further BLS data shows that the US labor participation rate - the percentage of adults working or actively seeking employment - plummeted in April 2020, when the country first entered lockdown. Although it's since been rebounding, the data shows that the labor participation rate was already in steady decline even before the pandemic hit.

"I'm not concerned so much about the rich not working so much, as long as they're keeping that economy moving, but I am very concerned about the young," Bennett told Fox Business.

"We haven't talked to them about the value of work, we haven't taught them," he continued. "Are parents talking to their kids about work and why they work and how important it is? I'm not so sure. Plus, the schools are certainly not doing that."

Bennett added: "The young people's attitude toward work is kind of like their attitude toward most of what adults do these days: they're not in favor."

Data from the BLS shows that the labor participation rate of people aged between 16 and 19 is actually higher than in years preceding the pandemic. But Gen Z workers say they're feeling burnt out from their jobs, which experts attribute to remote work and post-pandemic stress.

Bennett's comments appear to echoed the rhetoric of "Nobody wants to work anymore," a phrase repeated by business owners during the pandemic when they struggled to find employees.

The pandemic saw a huge shift in the American labor market as people used took the opportunity to rethink what they wanted from work. Many people left their jobs in search of other roles with better wages and benefits, or the opportunity to work remotely or with flexible hours.

Customer-facing roles saw an exodus of workers as people worried about the dangers of catching coronavirus on the job. Some people also quit their jobs to return to education, retire early, or prioritize caring responsibilities.

But many employers instead claimed that they were struggling to recruit and retain staff because of laziness and the government's pandemic unemployment benefits.

"People got checks for not working, they get used to it, and they want to continue," Bennett told Fox Business.