Why Men Are Leaving The Workforce

Men have been steadily dropping out of the workforce - especially men aged 25 to 54, who are often considered to be in their prime working years. About 10.5% of men in their prime working years, or roughly 6.8 million men nationwide, are neither working nor looking for employment, compared to just 2.5% in 1954. So what’s driving men out of the workforce? And if left unchecked, what impact will it have on the U.S. economy?

Chapters:
1:29 Why some men aren’t working
6:05 Economic impact
8:02 Solutions

Produced by: Juhohn Lee
Edited by: DeLon Thornton
Animation: Mallory Brangan
Supervising Producer: Lindsey Jacobson
Additional Footage: Getty Images

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Why Men Are Leaving The Workforce

[Diverse]

Corporations posting ghost jobs while claiming no one wants to work is insane

[ninerknight]

Life went from working for a good life to working to barely survive, often needing help. It’s not a mystery

[bigrob]

The 'shortage of workers' line is a fallacy. There's a shortage of companies willing to pay a proper wage, _THAT'S_ the problem!

[windatar]

As a man looking for work, it's the employers posting fake job postings or offering minimum wage. You can't live on minimum wage.

[DeenanTheKemon]

Imagine telling multiple entire generations that they have to work fulltime in order to never own a home, never own a car, never take a single paid vacation, no health insurance, zero sick days, no benefits, no OT, no paid lunch breaks, no groceries, no savings, no retirement, no children, no future, and then complaining that they dont wanna work.

[ArnuldGovernator]

Young man here. I want to work. Stop making ridiculous requirements for entry level jobs, start paying livable wages relative to our work area and treat us like human beings is all we ask for. Also cover health insurance costs, dental and PTO since a few generations back our parents had options. If your CEO's and stockholders cant figure it out then have fun with your high turn over!

[problactive]

Who wants to work 8 to 12 hours a day having to endure incompetent leadership and still come up short paying the bills?

[jlcii]

Yikes. As a woman watching this video, all I see is a bunch of so-called experts being completely condescending and dismissive as to how a lot of young men are feeling right now, and what they have been dealing with. Not to mention, being entirely dismissive when it comes to the poor quality of jobs being offered to individuals nowadays that some people, particularly men, don't feel are worth working. Low wage jobs that offer little to no benefits are not anything to aspire to. And the fact that this video seems to be more concerned with economic growth to line the pockets of wealthy business owners than it does the welfare or well-being of young men who feel completely broken down and discouraged is very problematic to say the least. This is a terrible video that doesn't even ask any young man in this age demographic what he is feeling, and what are his reasons for not bothering with an obviously broken system.

[michaelmoise]

People get tired of applying at these fake job ads. I'm in South Florida and I work in IT and I swear the past 3 years I just keep seeing the same job listings over and over

[raelamaestra]

"We're going to be losing that sector of productivity." This video is the wealthy lamenting that their workhorses are no longer buying into the system that doesn't pay fair wages.

[BasedAFCap]

"Young men are leaving the workforce at an alarming rate - let's ask several completely out of touch 70 year olds why this is happening". GREAT JOB CNBC.

[andrewp]

I started a technician job at a manufacturing facility almost two years ago. I’m currently 29. I was told last week there was no chance I would ever move up.

[Brian-exmi]

Whats hilarious is that all the "experts" talking are not "prime age men"

[UsualSuspect]

Short answer, we're tired. Long answer. Overworked. Underpaid. Then we die with absolutely nothing. Life hasn't been enjoyable at all.

[petereese]

Just remember none of the people in this video care about the unemployed men, they just care about how those unemployed men effect them personally.

[belava]

"Schrödinger's labor shortage" is a phenomenon where, simultaneously, people are massively unemployed and corporations are complaining about a lack of workers.

[arunbenny]

As a 34 year old working man, I can honestly say that everyday I wake up wishing I didn’t have to work anymore. The problem isn’t young men. The problem is a work culture that is enslaved to corporate profits over our health and well-being. The problem is corporate greed making life intolerable for society as a whole exacerbating every problem to become worse.

[momo.ru-chan]

My brother quit the workforce at 38. He was trying to save up money for retirement, but because of the stress at work, his health was failing, and was spending more for his health than he could save. So when he eventually quit work, his health became better. I also have a boss who worked himself to death. He did get wealthy, but when he got sick he found soon enough that getting rich was useless as there was no cure for his disease. Also, my brother gave up on having a family, if he couldn't even provide and have time for himself, then he didn't want his children to suffer for it.

[glenjo]

Don't over think it. Want more workers? RAISE PAY. Want more college educated workers? LOWER THE COST OF COLLEGE.

[StephenBrown-gtlk]

as a retired disabled support help, I would say that the best job right now is to work from home for an investment manager who will hire you to do records. I make over 210k annually.