(FORTUNE Magazine) – Twentysomethings. Generation X. Slackers. Why isn't there a standard moniker for the flannel-clad, grunge-happy, jaded, cynical loafers born in the Sixties and Seventies? Perhaps because they're no more real a demographic phenomenon than the tree nymph. Take the common perception that this crowd is less ambitious and hardworking than its elders. Wrong, says Everett Carll Ladd, director of the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. Survey data, says Ladd, ''don't show anything -- anything -- generationally distinctive. Any sense that the work ethic is less vital among Xers is just not borne out.'' Ladd is not the only myth-buster. In a Gallup survey last year for CNN and USA Today, 87% of 18- to 29-year-olds said they were satisfied with the amount of work required of them. Typical of the fresh-faced, that's a slightly higher proportion than among the older generations. The same 87% share a strong sense of loyalty to the company or organization they work for, vs. 85% for 30- to 44-year-olds and 88% for 45- to 59-year-olds. As grunge band Nirvana didn't quite sing, ''Smells like team spirit.'' Nor are there many differences in attitudes about life in general, reports Ladd. Then why the baby-buster bashing? Ladd admits he's puzzled. ''It seems so easily rejected by available information,'' he says. ''A lot of people just don't look at the data.''

CHART: NOT AVAILABLE CREDIT: SOURCE: NATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER CAPTION: Percent agreeing that people get ahead by their own hard work