There's probably an aspect that is being overlooked, and that is that there is no guarantee that after 10, 20 years of hard work your will be rewarded.
Too many people are chewed only to be spit out by the "machine".
So people tend to grab what they can the faster they can (wallstreet, anyone?)
Young people were told that they would be rewarded for putting the effort of going to college, right? Where is it then? If you make about the same money/benefits doing difficult work why should you do it? Different work, same reward.
And I'm talking about making a living, not doing something for pleasure. If you happen to like what you do for a living that shouldn't matter.