"JOBS!!?? We don't want no steenking JOBS!!!!"
Posted on 02/06/2014 10:47:06 AM PST by reaganaut1
...
More than one in six men ages 25 to 54, prime working years, don't have jobs—a total of 10.4 million. Some are looking for jobs; many aren't. Some had jobs that went overseas or were lost to technology. Some refuse to uproot for work because they are tied down by family needs or tethered to homes worth less than the mortgage. Some rely on government benefits. Others depend on working spouses.
Having so many men out of work is partly a symptom of a U.S. economy slow to recover from the worst recession in 75 years. It is also a chronic condition that shows how technology and globalization are transforming jobs faster than many workers can adapt, economists say.
The trend has been building for decades, according to government data. In the early 1970s, just 6% of American men ages 25 to 54 were without jobs. By late 2007, it was 13%. In 2009, during the worst of the recession, nearly 20% didn't have jobs.
Although the economy is improving and the unemployment rate is falling, 17% of working-age men weren't working in December. More than two-thirds said they weren't looking for work, so the government doesn't label them unemployed. The January snapshot of the job market is due Friday.
For women, the story is different. In the 1950s, only about a third of women ages 25 to 54 had jobs. That rose steadily until the 1990s, and then leveled off for reasons that aren't clear. At last tally, about 70% were working; 30% weren't.
Men without jobs stand apart in a society that has long celebrated work and hailed the breadwinners who support their families. "Our culture is one that venerates work, that views work as good for its own sake," said David Autor, [an MIT] economist.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"JOBS!!?? We don't want no steenking JOBS!!!!"
Indeed, you are absolutely correct. They are children playing white, uh playing house, yeah playing white house. And they have no clue.
It is too bad there is no way to tell for certain the extent to which this is because jobs are flat out not available and the extent to which this is because of conscious choices. Of those men who are not in the labor force, how many of them could walk into an unemployment or human resources office today and find a job that brings in sufficient income almost immediately but make the conscious choice not to do that? The number of men who are not in the labor force would necessarily include them; the issue is how many unemployed men are in this category? As for women being preferred over men, I don’t doubt this is a part of why more wives are working when husbands are not, but this could also be just as much, maybe even more, because more men are actively forgoing the role of providing for the family. Two posters mentioned military veterans collecting benefits in their working prime while their wives work at least until SS age.
If there is a wave of people retiring from the military right now, that could be a significant factor in this drop in labor force participation. There are now people who join the military because they think it is the most convenient way to get a guaranteed income as opposed to serving and protecting their nation and people. With the rapidly increasing amount of social engineering and pressure to diversify, it is probably only going to get worse.
The laws against age discrimination are a good thing for folks who are healthy, engaged, able to work, but still over 50. Also, Many employers find they do better with older, stable mature workers as opposed to dealing with snot nosed 20 to 30 somethings with utopian notions as to how employment should work!
I suppose the reporter couldn't connect the dots here. The unemployment rate is down precisely because many workers ae discouraged and not looking for jobs. IOW, the unemployment rate has not dropped. Elementary.
Don’t forget the millions of jobs taken from these men by illegal aliens working for peanuts, and not just Mexicans illegals, either. This country has been flooded by illegals from nations all over the earth, and not all of them are unskilled either.
Your comment is proof that the prejudice is against the young.
The American people have never heard of John Galt. And they wouldn’t understand who he really is if one tried to explain it to them.
I think the MSM is afraid of Obama facing the crowds burning the White House to the ground if they knew the real numbers.
Older workers are denied jobs every day...they never get called back for a second interview after the HR person sees how “mature” they are.
Some few fortunate ones can get hired after 50, but you would be shocked at the number of both skilled and low-skilled people over 50 who cannot get hired.
Just google something like “over fifty can’t get job” and read the comments and forums, the real stories of those frustrated seekers. Some very talented people have been unemployed for several years now. Those forums tell the true story of the job situation in this country, and it looks pretty bad.
And again, just to emphasize, read the comments by people after the articles.
There’s a ton of articles on how to get a job over 50, but the real stories are written by the many people who leave their comments.
As opposed to what...prejudice against the old...you young “snot nosed” youngin’ you!
The feminazis don’t love it. It’s a case of “be careful what you wish for.” I work with one of them. Mid fifties, been at a gov’t job for almost 30 years, no children, two divorces.
She makes a good salary and made out well due to her first divorce and an auto injury settlement yet she constantly bemoans the fact that she doesn’t have a man to take care of her (aka pay all the bills while she bosses him around)
She also wails about not being able to retire until she’s put her 30 years in which is 4 years away for her. She has a lot of health problems, arthritis, recent gall bladder surgery, etc.
She IS finding a string of boyfriends her age who want to live off of HER as they are unemployed. Such irony!
“Can we all just drop the term “recession” and call this the Bush-Obama Depression? “
I don’t blame either. The American people wanted more and better stuff than they could afford so they borrowed it from the future. Now the future is here and all the growth that should be here has already been consumed in the past.
We just have too much debt for a healthy economy and I don’t see how Bush or Obama made anyone borrow it.
I think you may be correct; I’ve noticed the same thing. Straight white males are near seen as threatening to the establishments that used to hire them.
Those who have smarts and ambition would do well to look outside the US for jobs..........there’s nothing for them here.
“...So here we are. Like living under the sword of Damocles....”
“cept....we have swords too.
Every bit as sharp as Damocles’.
“I don’t blame either. The American people wanted more and better stuff than they could afford so they borrowed it from the future.”
Agreed. But TARP (Bush) and QE-(pick a number, Obama) have deepened and lengthened our economic malaise. Those were political decisions that could have been avoided.
We got used to living large during the mainly equity-fueled internet/telecom boom of the Clinton years, and kept it up by borrowing staggering sums of money during the post 9/11 era.
Like the laws to protect the handicapped meant nothing in the Terri Schiavo murder; so is the age discrimination law a net of loopholes.
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