patrick.net

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2016/10/06/the_new_non-working_class_131990.html

"In the 1950s, 98 percent of prime-age males were working or looking for work (i.e., in the labor force). Today it is 88 percent. Recessions have affected labor-force participation, but the downward trend line has been consistent for decades. Only 15 percent of non-working men cite inability to find work as the reason for their idleness."

"Is it the decline in manufacturing jobs? Eberstadt acknowledges the possibility but thinks it's been overstated. Other industrialized nations such as Australia and Sweden experienced an identical decline in manufacturing employment without the steep withdrawal from work recorded among American men."

"Who are these new non-workers? Most are low-skilled, never married and native-born, and many are African-American. High school dropouts are the most likely group to be out of the labor force, but 40 percent of non-workers have some college under their belts, and one-sixth are college graduates. A significant number have felony convictions and/or prison time in their pasts."

"Labor-force participation rates are higher for Latinos than for non-Hispanic whites. And married black men are more likely to be in the workforce than unmarried white men of the same age. Similarly, the labor-force participation rate for married whites with only a high school degree exceeds that of unmarried whites with some college or associate degrees."

"Marriage is a far better predictor than race or ethnicity of whether a man will be employed, contributing to his community and caring for others. The causality goes both ways, too. A man raised by a single mother is less likely to be mature and responsible (i.e., marriageable) than a man from an intact family."