Melissa Kearney Comments on the Decline in Male Workers on NPR
There’s much less demand for the labor of less-educated men despite the job boon after the Great Recession
Jim Zarroli, an NPR correspondent based in New York, published an article on why the the number of men in the labor force during their prime working age (25-54) has dropped significantly over the past 50 years.
Faculty Associate Melissa Kearney comments on the issue, noting that "the decline in male workers is concentrated almost entirely among men with high school diplomas or less, or even a bit of college." Therefore, despite encouraging job market and economic growth in the past five years, one of the reasons why males at their prime working age are less likely to work is simply that "there has been much less demand for the labor of less-educated men in the job market," she said.