Posted on 06/16/2018 5:41:18 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
With unemployment at 3.8 percent, its lowest level in many years, the labor market seems healthy.
But that number hides a perplexing anomaly: The percentage of men who are neither working nor looking for work has risen substantially over the past several decades.
The issue, in economist’s jargon, is labor force participation. When the Bureau of Labor Statistics surveys households, every adult is put into one of three categories. Those who have a job are employed. Those who are not working but are searching for a job are unemployed. Those who are neither working nor looking for work are counted as out of the labor force.
This last group is ignored when calculating the unemployment rate. The presumption is that if a person without a job isn’t looking for one, then he or she doesn’t want one, and the joblessness is not a problem. But is that really accurate?
The data show some striking changes over time. Among women, the share out of the labor force has fallen from 66 percent in 1950 to 43 percent today. That is not surprising in light of changing social norms and the greater career opportunities now open to women.
Men, however, exhibit the opposite long-term trend. In 1950, 14 percent of men were out of the labor force. Today, that figure stands at 31 percent.
Some of this change is easy to explain. People now spend more years in school, delaying their start of work. In addition, as life expectancy rises, people have longer retirements. A man retiring at age 65 in 1950 could expect to live another 13 years. Today, a man retiring at that age has an average retirement of 18 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Because men realize they get a raw deal.
Whenever I go to a restaurant, I see zillions of men and women who obviously are not dressed for work and arent’ working. It’s as though the whole effing country has retired except me.
With all of those women in the work areas, there are several reasons.
1) it’s a hostile place for men.
2) with all of those women, there is much more work to be done by the men who actually are there.
Never confuse lack of motion with lack of action.
The 0bama recession seems clear enough.
Explaining women?
Good luck finding that.
At least 300 on the project I am on now.
Requires work.
Project Sycamore in NC.
deadbeat Dad law is the reason for most nonworking males here.
If they get a regular job the gov dips into their checks.
So they work under the table, beg for handouts, or mooch off another woman who works.
Are men who are retired and receiving a pension or Social Security retirement benefits considered “out of the labor force?”
Women have been telling men they aren’t necessary. Okay, no need to workee.
“engaged in some sort of money-making activity, but prefer not to talk about it. It could be legal, it could be illegal, or it could be on the margins.”
Right now I’m rebuilding some classic cars. Am I employed?
THC
Have to pass a drug screen to work the trades.
:-)
Ignoring all the sexist comments, I’ll focus on the communist welfare state as the reason for declining useful men. We keep telling everyone they should get more money for less work. And why work when you can freeload and get a few bucks that are enough for you to be comfortable in your poverty?
There must be a book.
Plesae list the welfare benefits that you believe single men can get.
My answer:
Video games and the related effect of kids never leaving their parents’ basements.
Also gayness - no need for both ‘men’ to work, in most cases, as they are usually well-educated (at least one of them), and their only major expense is make up.
Must be getting it somehow. Lots of black yutes managing not to work.
And the real point is the whole culture of gimmedats, AKA money-for-nothing.
I’ve gone to college orientations with my kids, and I’ve noticed at least 70% of the incoming freshmen are female.
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