I think work for money is extremely important for young adults. For myself, it pulled me out of a teenage depression. It gave me purpose and rewarded me not only with money, but also with a feeling of accomplishment, a tremendous amount of positive feedback from coworkers and customers, and new friendships. It builds self esteem and self worth.
Additionally, adolescence is about becoming your own person. It’s a time when we work through who we are independent of our parents. I’d argue adolescence lasts well into our early 20’s in the US. Financial independence is a piece of becoming independent.
After about 35 years of busting your butt (most people work very hard and also most people don’t work in a job they love to go to) you hopefully have self worth aside from working. If you are really lucky you have financial independence without working. Most people I know prefer not to have to work once they hit their 60’s and when they have to to pay bills that sucks in my opinion, but that is the situation for most people. In our later years it’s nice to be able to “work” doing something you love or that is rewarding whether you make money at it or not. I guess I would say feeling productive is important.
When you tell people they should work themselves into an early grave for dignity or to pay for basics then it’s just abusive in my opinion.