g********2
发帖数: 312 | 1 The New Non-Working Class
Mona Charen
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Posted: Oct 07, 2016 12:01 AM
"He that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled).
For the labors of 30 or 40 honest and industrious men shall not be consumed
to maintain 150 idle loiterers." -- John Smith, 1609
One out of 6 prime-working-age adult males in the United States is not
temporarily unemployed, or "between jobs," or "looking for work." No, a huge
cohort of men in America is now neither employed nor looking for work. They
are just skating by on a combination of girlfriends, wives, mothers and
government benefits. Their status, argues Nicholas Eberstadt in "Men Without
Work," is a "quiet catastrophe."
Until relatively recently, choosing not to work was a luxury only the
wealthy could afford. Everyone else had to keep the wolf from the door (
though the temptation to try to live off others has always been with us --
see John Smith above). 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.
Eberstadt examines the usual explanations. The retirement of baby boomers?
It doesn't account for the decline in work by those aged 25-54 (
traditionally, the group most likely to be employed). The participation of
prime-age men in the labor force fell from 94.1 percent in 1948 to 84.3
percent in 2015.
Aren't more men in college? If the work patterns of 1965 were obtained today
, even accounting for the extra students enrolled in education programs, an
additional 10 percent of America's young men would be employed. "The
overwhelming majority of adult male job trainees," Eberstadt writes, "appear
to be job holders already. ... Most men enrolled in formal schooling are
also in the workforce."
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.
How do they spend their time? The non-employed consistently spend more time
on personal care (including sleep) than unemployed men. They spend the same
amount of time on caring for household members as employed men (about 28
minutes per day), and they spend much more time on "socializing, relaxing,
and leisure" than employed men, unemployed men and employed women. Watching
TV shows and movies consumed an average of 5 1/2 hours of each day for the
non-employed.
How do they make ends meet? Many live with family members who earn income --
and then there are government benefits. The average working man received $
500 in benefits from the government in 2014. The average non-working man got
$5,700. Disability payments seem to account for a large share of the
benefits the non-employed receive, and it's an open secret that most are not
truly disabled. Households with non-working prime-age men are not as well
off as those with working men, but they aren't at the bottom, either (that
distinction belongs to single mothers).
Race and ethnicity take you only so far in understanding the flight from
work. 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.
The factors contributing to non-work are clearly complex, but the role of
social mores is highly significant. When a man feels the traditional role of
father and husband is no longer valued, he has less incentive to become the
sort of person who can hold down a job. Our family roles give life meaning
and purpose. 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.
Non-marriage and non-work are locked in a downward spiral. Eberstadt's book
is a fire bell.
http://townhall.com/columnists/monacharen/2016/10/07/the-new-nonworking-class-n2228966 | t*******d
发帖数: 12895 | 2 93M Americans out of the labor force, 50M Americans in poverty, 46M
Americans on food stamps.
Nearly 40% African-American children live in poverty.
58% of African-American youth are not working
lowest home-ownership rate in 51 years, lowest labor participation rate
since the 70s, worst recovery since the 40s, 12 million more Americans on
food stamps, eight million more on poverty, a doubling of our national debt,
one in five Americans that do not have a single family member working, and
one in six American men 18 to 34 are either in jail or in mommy's basement. | i**********k
发帖数: 5274 | | g********2
发帖数: 312 | 4 The average working man received $500 in benefits from the government in
2014. The average non-working man got $5,700.
——这就是中国以前说的游手好闲的二流子吧？ | H******C
发帖数: 700 | 5 奥黑毁灭美国的传奇
【在 i**********k 的大作中提到】
: 看图表，奥黑的传奇，千古第一人。
| g********2
发帖数: 312 | 6 "How do they make ends meet? Many live with family members who earn income -
-and then there are government benefits. "
——楼主说的都是正当方法，其实有很多人是以不正当的方式在谋生，贩毒的，倒卖毒
品的，偷东西的，抢劫的，卖淫的，买卖人口的，多得很。 | o******l
发帖数: 2324 | |
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