Young White Men Without College Are Dropping Out Of Work Force

[Cheerful Charlie]

Reports are coming in the young white men without college degrees are dropping out of the work force. This is a demographic that heavily votes Republican.

...
The study, conducted by Pinghui Wu, a researcher at the Boston Fed, found that men without a college degree are more likely to stop working or seeking work when their expected earnings fall in comparison to other workers. For these men, jobs aren't just a source of income; they're a source of social status.

That's especially true for white men, Wu writes, and younger men, who see a job with limited pay growth — which they believe could affect their marriage prospects and social status — as worse than no job. So what are they doing instead? Wu cited research showing that prime-age men who are not in the labor force spend twice as much time on leisure activities and sleeping, compared with labor force participants.
...

Men without college degrees are dropping out of the workforce because they viewed their dead-end jobs as a threat to social status

Men without degrees are quitting in growing numbers because limited pay growth impacts their social status and marriage prospects.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[starwater]

So does that mean that if they don't have a job they are not going to get married and procreate? Or they will procreate but not get married?

 

[TomC]

So does that mean that if they don't have a job they are not going to get married and procreate? Or they will procreate but not get married?

My guess, knowing a few, is procreate without marrying. Or supporting their kids, because that would require gainful employment.

Why bother, when the government will pay for your kids?

This looks like YWM joining the ranks of the of the culture of "entitlement and victimhood".
Not surprising.
Tom

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Rather be a dead beat than in a dead end job? Sounds like a punk song.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

Running a meth lab in Mom's basement.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

Running a meth lab in Mom's basement.

Glad I'm not the only person who thought about that.

 

[Toni]

I’m thinking of a youngish white male I know, with a college degree, but who has been working in a manufacturing field because he feels tied to his home town which does not offer many white collar jobs. He left his job because he’s tired of being treated poorly by his employer—which has finally started paying people semi-decently but still treats employees like equipment with lots of mandatory overtime including on holiday weekends. There is very little opportunity for professional growth. I think this is happening all over, and certainly is happening in my town a lot. Employers think they can treat employees like garbage and give them a ham at Christmas and they’re golden.

 

[Cheerful Charlie]

And yet, nobody wants the unions. Despite unionized workers do much better.

 

[Toni]

So does that mean that if they don't have a job they are not going to get married and procreate? Or they will procreate but not get married?

My guess, knowing a few, is procreate without marrying. Or supporting their kids, because that would require gainful employment.

Why bother, when the government will pay for your kids?

This looks like YWM joining the ranks of the of the culture of "entitlement and victimhood".
Not surprising.
Tom

It is a terrible mistake to tie government benefits for mothers of young children to single status. Low earning couples often delay marriage because they lose important benefits for the kids if they marry.

 

[Gospel]

Waiting for someone to chime in and say they're lazy and want to live off government cheese.

 

[laughing dog]

From the linked article

marriage market anxiety for younger male workers is likely the prime reason for leaving the workforce when their social status declines.

In addition to that, she said, 30% of prime-age men who left the workforce reported disability conditions at the time of their exits. Studies show that stress and low-self-esteem linked to lower social status contribute to worse health and early death.


Some of these men are going back to school as well. The percentage of exiting workers enrolled in school by the time they left work increased "modestly" from 11% to 14% over the last 20 years, Wu found.

So these young men feel that their dead-end jobs reduce their marriage prospects and/or social status. Moreover, 30% - a relatively high proportion - report disability conditions while 14% report going back to school.

These young men did not view themselves as college material - either through their interests or from their school work. Perhaps growing up, they were either taught or learned through observation that the jobs in their area would be sufficient for them to have decent life. Who knows?

I seriously doubt most of these job leavers felt that being jobless would improve their life prospects or their material well-being. Despite the overwhelming view of conservative ideologues and their dupes, gov't income maintenance in the US does not leave anyone in the lap of luxury. It certainly does not permanently leave one with more income.

 

[ZiprHead]

Why bother, when the government will pay for your kids?

I believe welfare systems in most all states requires mothers trying to get welfare must name the father and the government will go after the father to reduce the welfare amount the government pays.

 

[TomC]

Why bother, when the government will pay for your kids?

I believe welfare systems in most all states requires mothers trying to get welfare must name the father and the government will go after the father to reduce the welfare amount the government pays.

You'd be wrong.
Tom

 

[RVonse]

And yet, nobody wants the unions. Despite unionized workers do much better.

The workers certainly want unions. It is the consumers who want something for nothing from China and other 3rd world countries who don't want unions in the US. And it is also our federal government (other than Trump) who will not provide tariff protections in order to keep those unions.

 

[RVonse]

Why bother, when the government will pay for your kids?

I believe welfare systems in most all states requires mothers trying to get welfare must name the father and the government will go after the father to reduce the welfare amount the government pays.

How is that relevant to the behavior of the mother? She could care less what the government does as long as her check comes in the mail.

 

[Metaphor]

And yet, nobody wants the unions. Despite unionized workers do much better.

The workers certainly want unions. It is the consumers who want something for nothing from China and other 3rd world countries who don't want unions in the US. And it is also our federal government (other than Trump) who will not provide tariff protections in order to keep those unions.

If workers wanted unions they'd join them. Instead, union membership has been declining for decades.

 

[RVonse]

Waiting for someone to chime in and say they're lazy and want to live off government cheese.

They aren't lazy. But they do want everything they can get for as little effort as possible. Same as the rest of us do.

 

[RVonse]

And yet, nobody wants the unions. Despite unionized workers do much better.

The workers certainly want unions. It is the consumers who want something for nothing from China and other 3rd world countries who don't want unions in the US. And it is also our federal government (other than Trump) who will not provide tariff protections in order to keep those unions.

If workers wanted unions they'd join them. Instead, union membership has been declining for decades.

Not in the countries that export manufacturing where the governent is pro-union (Germany).

 

[Metaphor]

And yet, nobody wants the unions. Despite unionized workers do much better.

The workers certainly want unions. It is the consumers who want something for nothing from China and other 3rd world countries who don't want unions in the US. And it is also our federal government (other than Trump) who will not provide tariff protections in order to keep those unions.

If workers wanted unions they'd join them. Instead, union membership has been declining for decades.

Not in the countries that export manufacturing where the governent is pro-union (Germany).

Germany's trade union membership has been declining since at least 1960.

Trade Union Dataset

OECD.Stat enables users to search for and extract data from across OECD’s many databases.

stats.oecd.org

 

[laughing dog]

And yet, nobody wants the unions. Despite unionized workers do much better.

The workers certainly want unions. It is the consumers who want something for nothing from China and other 3rd world countries who don't want unions in the US. And it is also our federal government (other than Trump) who will not provide tariff protections in order to keep those unions.

Workers do tend to want union. However, in the US, it is difficult to organize an union. Firms that help companies fight unions are extremely profitable. Companies typically have the upper hand in fighting against union organizing. And, of course, there is recent theocratically-driven SCOTUS ruling in Janus that makes public employee unions much more difficult to maintain.

Consumers don't care about unions - they care about availability, quality and price.