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Why have so many men stopped working?
CNN Money ^ | 09/11/2015

Posted on 09/11/2015 6:44:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Fifty years ago, nearly every single working-age American man had a job or was looking for one. That's not the case anymore.

The labor force participation rate for men ages 25 to 54 stood at nearly 97% in 1965, but now hovers near a record low of 88%. That rate includes those who are working or have looked for a job in the past four weeks.

If the participation rate had held steady, more than five million additional men would be in the workforce. Men are dropping out of the labor force in large part because they can't find positions that pay decently or they don't have the education and skills to land employment, experts say.

Richard Kessler is one of them.

Kessler, who worked as a research analyst and database manager at financial information firms, hasn't held a job since he was laid off during the recession of the early 1990s. He was 37.

Unable to find a job, he became a stay-at-home dad to his son, Chris. Still, he looked for work and went through a retraining program, learning computer skills such as Word and Excel, in the mid-1990s. The positions he was offered, however, paid only $8 an hour.

"It didn't make sense to give that to a babysitter," said Kessler, now 60, who lives in Bernardsville, N.J., with his wife, a business analyst. Kessler decided to start looking again when Chris hit his teen years. But that coincided with the Great Recession, when jobs were again scarce. He hasn't sent out a resume in more than a year, saying he now lacks the technical skills and references needed to land employment.

"I don't know what's worse -- the stress of not having a job or the stress of having a job," he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: economy; employment; jobs; men; obamalegacy; work
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To: Old Sarge

I spell it “the wun”.


41 posted on 09/11/2015 8:05:24 AM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: Arm_Bears

In my case, nobody seems terribly interested in hiring a 60-year old White, conservative, Christian.

...

Men are minorities at colleges and universities for the same reason. Some discrimination doesn’t matter or get noticed.


42 posted on 09/11/2015 8:06:28 AM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
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To: theBuckwheat

“Place to live, food to eat, medical care, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter and high speed internet. Why work at all? Yes indeed. Why work at all?”

Updated version of “Welfare Cadillac.”


43 posted on 09/11/2015 8:27:28 AM PDT by SharpRightTurn (Been shown repeatedly that Mittens would not have won with 70% of the “Hispanic vote”. What killed)
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To: Arm_Bears
In my case, nobody seems terribly interested in hiring a 60-year old White, conservative, Christian.

I hear you! Been there done that, it's all rosy, "hey your number 1, 2 or 3 on the selection list", until you walk in for that interview and then all you get is a polite rejection letter. I finally had enough with that BS and the physical pain I dealt with for years and gave in. I had two major surgeries in six months and am now disabled, I would rather be working, having to settle for SSD a decade before you planned to retire sucks!

I have a good friend that is seven years older, a very experienced Plumber and Tradesman, no one will hire him, he's too qualified!

44 posted on 09/11/2015 8:33:52 AM PDT by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: SeekAndFind

“Men are dropping out of the labor force in large part because they can’t find positions that pay decently or they don’t have the education and skills to land employment, experts say.”

Of course having all the illegal invaders sucking up the jobs that typically don’t require having done 4yrs in one of those liberal indoctrination centers couldn’t possibly be part of the problem....


45 posted on 09/11/2015 8:47:19 AM PDT by Carthego delenda est
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To: SeekAndFind
Men are dropping out of the labor force in large part because they can't find positions that pay decently or they don't have the education and skills to land employment, experts say.

and they have found ways that big government will take care of them

46 posted on 09/11/2015 8:49:36 AM PDT by mjp ((pro-{God, reality, reason, egoism, individualism, natural rights, limited government, capitalism}))
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To: SeekAndFind

welfare and unemployment compensation pay too much and they are all too comfortable. Only provide “livable” pay and they will go back to work. Right now every day is a holiday.


47 posted on 09/11/2015 8:49:45 AM PDT by elpadre (AfganistaMr Obama said the goal was to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-hereQaeda" and its allies.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Obama reinstated generational welfare which Clinton and the GOP ended.


48 posted on 09/11/2015 8:51:16 AM PDT by Harpotoo
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To: SeekAndFind

Men are drawn to either be family providers or rogues.

The nanny-state has declared war on the family provider.


49 posted on 09/11/2015 9:11:32 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: SeekAndFind

50 posted on 09/11/2015 9:14:42 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Whatever happened to Petula Clark??

She is 82 and living in Britain. Apparently she performed someplace in New York in June.


51 posted on 09/11/2015 9:32:24 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: KC_Lion

The problem is that women are in the workplace. Prior to the 1960’s (excluding World War Two) most women stayed at home and raised families. After the 1960’s women entered the work force and created a surplus of labor - supply and demand kicked in and the effective income of a married couple in the late 1970’s was roughly equal to the income of a married man in the 1940’s.

Take women out of the workplace and the employment of men will surge and the value of male labor will also surge and more men will be able to afford to support a wife and family.

Yes, it’s true! I am not a feminist!


52 posted on 09/11/2015 10:21:20 AM PDT by MeganC (The Republic of The United States of America: 7/4/1776 to 6/26/2015 R.I.P.)
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To: Old Sarge

So sayeth the sooth!


53 posted on 09/11/2015 11:39:50 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator
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To: SeekAndFind

Over taxation and over regulation of the private sector by this Marxist government and the turds in the bureaucracy are destroying the job creators.


54 posted on 09/11/2015 11:56:49 AM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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To: SeekAndFind

Because they can.


55 posted on 09/11/2015 1:01:11 PM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: Dilbert San Diego

Pet Clark’s gotta be in her 80s by now?


56 posted on 09/11/2015 1:14:51 PM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & water the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
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To: JimRed

From Wikipedia: 15 November 1932 (age 82)


57 posted on 09/11/2015 6:21:52 PM PDT by ChicagahAl (Today's Democrats are much more Fascist than Communist; but Sen Joe McCarthy was still right.)
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To: Iron Munro
I can't speak to the white trash or the feral blacks, but a regular normal guy coming out of HS either has to have an "in" with a company, or has to go into the service, or try to do college....

and unless you're into highly skilled college programs...like premed, law, engineering, etc, liberal arts is a crap shoot....

we need those hardy manufacturing jobs back and until then, many young men will flounder sadly...

58 posted on 09/11/2015 11:21:52 PM PDT by cherry
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To: tbw2
"women wanted to make more, they’d get a degree with value in the workplace"

IIRC, women make up the majority of med students now, as well as law...I think they also make up most of the physical therapy and pharmacists as well....

and don't forget nursing, which pays at least $50,000 right out of college....

59 posted on 09/11/2015 11:29:51 PM PDT by cherry
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To: Dilbert San Diego
Whatever happened to Petula Clark?? I always wanted to go Downtown with her............

LOL! I felt the same - had a huge crush - also had one on Sky King's niece Penny....

60 posted on 09/12/2015 3:14:22 AM PDT by trebb (Where in the the hell has my country gone?)
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