While the U.S. labor market remains incredibly tight — with the economy adding another 263,000 jobs in November — around 7 million “prime age” men between the ages of 25 and 54 are reportedly sitting it out.
[…]
The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank also found that 25% of prime age Americans aren’t currently working — and while some say they’re looking for jobs, but can’t find any, others are actively choosing not to join the job hunt.
[…]
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce surveyed Americans who lost their jobs during the pandemic and about a quarter said federal aid incentivized them to not actively look for work, while about half aren’t willing to take jobs that don’t offer the option of remote work. Over a third of younger respondents said they were focusing on learning new skills and prioritizing their personal growth before re-entering the labor force.
[…]
College-educated women are now participating in the labor force at the same rate they were before the pandemic, while the share of college-educated men working or actively looking for work has lessened.
We need to take a much harder stance on taxpayer support for people who won’t work. They won’t go back to work until they have to. Make them have to. I get it. Sometimes work sucks. But those of us who work should not have to pay for lazy asses to lounge around smoking dope and playing Xbox.
Well, I don’t know.
In my city, we have at least 30 regular people begging for money on street corners and in front the big stores in town.
Most are able body younger than me men and women.
They claim they are homeless but they are not.
I’m not sure if they are considered employed or not, though.
These kind of articles are usually a circle jerk of different “experts” coming up with a simple reason for a complex situation.
I notice that this trend precedes the pandemic by about 5 years. Stacy McCain has been writing about this stuff – here is an article from 2018: <a href="https://theothermccain.com/2018/08/20/no-masculinity-allowed/"<No Masculinity Allowed!
You won’t see articles about the impact of feminism on issues like this – it is verboten to take a position that does not support the notion that any displays of “manly” characteristics must be extinguished from society. The concept that men should be strong, do work that is physically demanding. should be “sensitive”, protect their family, work to support their family, etc.
So, I think some of these guys are sitting out, because they don’t feel welcome in today’s world.
Big pharma has played a role too – this is a statistic: In children and adolescents with ADHD, one study showed that girls received one-third of the prescriptions that boys did (25.2% vs 74.8%).
Boy are easier to manage in a school setting if they are medicated.
So, in some ways, these guys are doing what they have been conditioned to do – don’t be “manly”, be quiet, be invisible. That might explain the drug use (not on ADHD meds anymore) & playing video games (keeps them out of sight.).
Perhaps this is why there is so much gender confusion going on too. Lots of men extinguishing their masculinity by becoming women.
I know this comment seems disorganized- this is like peeling an onion.
I must say, I have a new appreciation for male teachers. I am sure there are feminists who would like to see them removed from education, as they serve as positive male role models to both boys & girls. At some point, I am sure that will not be allowed to stand, either.
I appreciate the value and validity of your comment Mark, but agreeing and going with the onion peel comparison, all of Owen’s opinions in the Post are also valid layers.
Boys are also easier to program in a school setting if they are medicated and emasculated. Republicans have never really fought that hard to curb the programming going on in public schools today because ‘the real world’ will teach them conservatism as they age. The group of young people who never enter the real world is growing and Dems want to keep them that way as sure voters. Do we defend them and pay for them because they turned out almost exactly like the liberals wanted them to? I would say no.
I see the other side you are painting and agree with you that it happened that way for many. However, paying for them to stay emasculated and on drugs of their own choosing isn’t helping them (or our country) so I have to say I agree with Owen’s sentiments in the Post.
I find it funny that people think that boys are being “emasculated”. Teaching boys and men to deal with emotions isn’t emasculating. Teaching them to be less violent and aggressive isn’t “emasculating”. Teaching them sympathy and compassion isn’t emasculating. Teaching them to accept who they are and be free to express themselves as they WANT to be expressed isn’t emasculating. And who exactly is doing this? Schools? Parents? The “big bad” media? Last time I checked, my son didn’t have an “emasculation” class in middle school. Oh, and schools are not handing out medication, parents are.
We need to find a way to encourage a younger generation to participate more in the workforce. That is on all aspects. Everything from encouraging more higher education to teaching that the blue-collar trades can be a great career. I recently had to hire a new tier-1 “help desk” person for our company. I had multiple interviews with young kids right out of HS and college. Most of the men were your stereotypical “geeky” super awkward young men. I hired a woman for the first time. College educated, minimal experience, and much more socially confident.
I almost hired a different guy, but his background check was amazingly BAD when we found out. He actually sent a nasty email to our HR people about “wasting his f’in time! And we can suck a D.” Super masculine thing to do. hahaha.
And who exactly is doing this? Schools? Parents?
Academia is doing it. Whole departments devoted to the topic. They force other educational institutions, corporations, and governmental agencies to comply. It’s kind of like Critical Race Theory – not taught in the schools, but it does inform curricula and operating practices.
encourage a younger generation to participate more in the workforce
The article talks about this group being as old as 54. Problem with waiting for the next generation to enter the workforce to turn things around is that perhaps they will turn out the same as the current ones not working, and demographics point to there being less next generation people being born in the future.
Most of the men were your stereotypical “geeky” super awkward young men. I hired a woman for the first time. College educated, minimal experience, and much more socially confident. Oh, the irony of that.
Mark, I am not going to pretend that her being a woman wasn’t a consideration. One of the guys had more tech experience and probably would have been a slightly better problem solver. But her social interaction during the interview was better. And I am 100% in favor of trying to change the stereotype of the “nerdy white tech support guy”. She is a geeky gamer still. But better on the communication side than most of the others I spoke with.
My new employee told me of her last job working for a healthcare help desk. And how miserable it was. How they had to account for almost every minute of their day on tickets. How they were judged by how quickly they can get thru tickets and how MANY tickets. That isn’t the way I run my dept. We are a company of about 500 people. And I want my tech support to be friendly and take the time to “sooth” the people they talk to. I allow WFH a few days a week if they need to, after they prove they can do the job.
The job industry has to change, we have been saying it since the Millennials came into the workforce and it is spreading to a lot of people. Many of them don’t want a “job”. They want a career. They want to be proud of the company they work for. They don’t want to feel like just another number, Money is important, but they also weigh different criteria. Work from home, community involvement, work environment, vacation days, etc. And corporations need to adapt, or they will fail to hire. OR… they will need to pay enough for people to ignore those other things. It feels like we are beginning to see a rise in the interest of worker’s unions again, but I don’t know if this is a blip or a trend? Amazon, Starbucks, Game developers are all starting to look at unionizing to fight for better conditions.
Rightfully so, many employees have seen that the “work hard and move up the ladder” ideal can be BS. So instead, they are valuing many of the other perks.
One more thing………’the workforce’ includes a lot of very well-paid women who are able to support their entire family on their paycheck. I suspect that a lot of men are perfectly willing to do housework and walk the dog in exchange. They may also watch the chilluns.
It’s not news that men can be lazy.
I’m old enough to remember a time when you had to work if you wanted to eat. For better or worse, American affluence in all of its various forms has done away with this requirement. This country has the fattest poor people on the planet. That’s definitely a first world ‘problem’.
Dad29, depending on what they are doing at home, I wouldn’t consider them lazy. No more than a woman who chooses to stay at home and do the cooking, cleaning, and child raising. If that is the job that the man takes, good for them. But, that is with the assumption that they are doing all of the traditional house work.
Big pharma has played a role too – this is a statistic: In children and adolescents with ADHD, one study showed that girls received one-third of the prescriptions that boys did (25.2% vs 74.8%).
Ummmmm…..boys are three times more likely to receive the diagnosis than girls. So this prescription ratio follows the diagnosis ratio.
Oh and by the way this isn’t due to the fact that girls are less likely to have it, just that girls are less likely to be recognized as having it because they exhibit differences in symptoms than boys, and the boy symptoms are much more recognized as a ADHD symptoms.
Apologies to Mark Hoefert..I misread what you typed as boys and girls in general, not those with ADHD. (realized it right after I hit enter) So my post above doesn’t apply.