Don't bite my head off for saying this Jessica, but this is not a new thing. Watch the Steve Martin movie "Parenthood" from 1984. He says the exact things you are saying.

Although it sounds like it's gotten worse.

I was a child during the age of corporate paternalism, before the deregulation of the Reagan 80's. I remember when IBM had a country club for employees, when every child of every employee got a toy at the Christmas Party (a sit-down dinner in a hotel ballroom for employees, spouses, and kids).

A time, when getting a job at a corporation meant there was really a ladder to climb and you might spend 20-30 years working for the same company. Because they would invest in you and there was a sense of reciprocal loyalty.

During the dot.com boom of the 90's I watched people age ten years in two because of the hours and the stress. I watched HR departments staff up on young workers while getting rid of those over 40.

Because young people are inexperienced and will let you work them to death. Companies exploit that ruthlessly.

When you are young, you work like that because you want to stand out and get noticed. The hyper-competitive academic environments of high school and college inculcate the idea that “extra effort” and “going the extra mile” is what sets apart “high achievers” from “the merely average”.

Working crazy hours has always been part of being young. It’s what you do to establish yourself. I think what’s new, is that employers have weaponized it.

They have also weaponized ageism.

Older workers want cash on the barrel head and set limits on what they are willing to do "extra" for the company. So companies are getting rid of older workers.

As of the third quarter of 2021, 50.3% of U.S. adults 55 and older said they were out of the labor force due to retirement, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of the most recent official labor force data.

If you lose your job after 50, you may never work again. You will almost certainly take a pay cut if you can find work.

If you want to go further back, imagine living in a company town and living in a state of debt peonage. He wasn't kidding in that song when he said,

St. Peter don't you call me, cuz I cann't go.

I owe my soul to the company store.

Everyone wants to get off the wheel, the trick is finding a way to make it happen. Plus, what price you are willing to pay.