1 in 6 American Men Between Ages 25-54 Are Not Working

Weekly Standard ^ | May 30, 2014 | DANIEL HALPER

[george76]

There are currently 61.1 million American men in their prime working years, age 25–54. A staggering 1 in 8 such men are not in the labor force at all, meaning they are neither working nor looking for work. This is an all-time high dating back to when records were first kept in 1955.

An additional 2.9 million men are in the labor force but not employed (i.e., they would work if they could find a job). A total of 10.2 million individuals in this cohort, therefore, are not holding jobs in the U.S. economy today. There are also nearly 3 million more men in this age group not working today than there were before the recession began

...

The ratio of those over 55 in the workforce actually ticked up'—in other words, older Americans are being forced to return to work in a poor economy to make ends meet while many younger Americans simply aren’t working at all

[Cboldt]

A staggering 1 in 8 such men are not in the labor force at all

And as such, they are not part of the unemployment rate reported by the government. Not in the labor force? Then you aren't unemployed.

[george76]

Government and the enemedia cooking the books.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

This has been a long time in coming, but has been accelerated under Obama. I know there are a lot of unemployed men looking for work and who want to work. But our culture has conditioned a lot of others to not care about working anymore. It started witht ever-expanding Welfare State giving men the ability to live while not working. Then the shame associated with not trying to find work was eliminated — in the 50s and 60s, if you were a man, you had to work and you tried your hardest to find a job. Now, not so much. A lot of men no longer view it as their place to earn a living and think its OK to sit on their asses basically doing nothing.

[cloudmountain]

He and his supporters may indeed see this as a success. Remember, they have a different worldview than we do.

It's on US for electing him TWICE.
If the GOP had come up with someone other than a MORMON for its candidate, it might have done better.

Mormons believe that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers. That's not even a whiff of Christianity; it's a perversion of Christianity.

[kabar]

In the fourth quarter of 2013, the standard unemployment rate (referred to as U-3) for native-born adults who have not completed high school was 16.6 percent, while for those with only a high school education it was 8.5. The U-3 unemployed are people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks.

The broader U-6 measure of unemployment — which includes those want to work, but have not looked recently, and those forced to work part-time — was 28.7 percent for native-born adults who have not completed high school and 16.5 percent for those with only a high school education.

The total number of native-born, working-age adults (18 to 65) of any education level not working (unemployed or out the labor force) was 50.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2012 — 8.8 million more than in the fourth quarter of 2007, and 14.7 million more than in the same quarter of 2000.

n the fourth quarter of 2013, there were only two working-age natives holding a job for every one that was not employed. This represents a huge deterioration. As recently as 2000, there were three working-age adults holding a job for every one not working.

[Elsiejay]

The long-planned Fundamental Transformation, now in process of consummation, depends in part on altering the cultural expectation of citizens becoming self-supporting through gainful work to an attitude of dependency on the socialist bureaucracy.

[cloudmountain]

This has been a long time in coming, but has been accelerated under Obama. I know there are a lot of unemployed men looking for work and who want to work. But our culture has conditioned a lot of others to not care about working anymore. It started witht ever-expanding Welfare State giving men the ability to live while not working. Then the shame associated with not trying to find work was eliminated — in the 50s and 60s, if you were a man, you had to work and you tried your hardest to find a job. Now, not so much. A lot of men no longer view it as their place to earn a living and think its OK to sit on their asses basically doing nothing.

So true and well put.

[kabar]

A lot of men no longer view it as their place to earn a living and think its OK to sit on their asses basically doing nothing.

So there are plenty of jobs, but people are just too lazy to fill them? If there is a shortage of labor, why are wages declining and not increasing?

[zeestephen]

Re: “I think it’s high time we do away with the current way of presenting unemployment.”

Yes, the headline number - 6.3% - has become meaningless.

The number that the “Weekly Standard” uses in this article comes from a better - but not perfect - measurement.

Namely: “Total Number Of Working Age Adults Who Have A Job.”

Last month, as I recall, that number was at a 35 year low.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: In the fourth quarter of 2013, the standard unemployment rate (referred to as U-3) for native-born adults who have not completed high school was 16.6 percent, while for those with only a high school education it was 8.5. The U-3 unemployed are people who have looked for a job in the last four weeks.

_________________________________

Here’s the interesting question — what is the average time it takes for a laid off employee who is over 50 years old to find another job?

I ask this question because a significant number of those who were laid off during the mortgage meltdown were over 50 years of age.

[Rich21IE]

This is nothing short of bizarre.

[precisionshootist]

"We don't have a shortage of labor, we have a shortage of jobs".

Both are just symptoms of the real problem and that is we have a destructive surplus of Government.

Every time I see posters on here saying bring back American Jobs I want to tell them the answer to that is to get rid of 80% of our government. The "jobs" will reappear on their own.

On a related note. I'm tired of hearing Republicans and Conservatives say we need to do this or that to save the country and the economy for our children and grandchildren. Forget that! We need to save the country and the economy for OURSELVES. If we don't fix problems for ourselves our children and grandchildren don't have a snowballs chance in hell.

[hal ogen]

If you add-in the government employees in that age range, that % would be a lot higher.

[kabar]

More than likely a very long time. It explains why the numbers of those on SS disability have exploded,

[Cringing Negativism Network]

I do not agree.

Jobs have moved to China. We need to bring them back to America.

Stop importing everything.

[kabar]

Every time I see posters on here saying bring back American Jobs I want to tell them the answer to that is to get rid of 80% of our government. The "jobs" will reappear on their own.

One out of six workers in this country work for the government--federal, state, and local. Government controls 40% of the GDP--and it is growing.

[Mr. Jeeves]

1 in 6 American Men Between Ages 25-54 Are Not Working

During my years in Corporate America, about 4 in 6 of my co-workers were not working. :)

[Secret Agent Man]

also tie in how many blacks have government ‘jobs’. hard to fire for crappy work kind of govt jobs.

[Freeping Since 2001]

These are powerful statistics to rebut the notion that the workforce is declining due to retirements. These young men ain’t retired!

[Carthego delenda est]

“One out of six workers in this country work for the government—federal, state, and local. Government controls 40% of the GDP—and it is growing.”

Here in New Mexico that ‘one out of six’ number is much much higher, and constantly growing. I wonder if that figure is arrived at only by individuals who are ‘officially’ employed by one of the multitudes of government titles. If the figure were to include all the jobs that come to be through government grants, it would absolutely skyrocket.