More Men Not Married; More Men Not Working

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Is society breaking down? Sister Edith, a sociologist at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth who blogs at Monastic Musings is doing a "buspersons holiday" today with an interesting article on some recent changes that have been observed in U.S. society.

My fellow sociologist Beau Weston picked an interesting story from the NY Times, Men Not Working and Not Wanting Just Any Job and blogged about it (see Gruntled Center: More Men Not Married; More Men Not Working ).

The proportion of working-age men who have simply dropped out of the workforce has grown dramatically. (There's a great interactive map with the NY Times article.) There seem to be a few common themes. Gruntled Center picked up on one of the most prominent ones: men who are married are less likely to fall in this able-to-work / not-working category.

The article highlights some other patterns. Some divorced men lose their jobs, and don't want to take low-paying jobs because much of their wages would be garnished for child-support. Others had high-paid industrial jobs but can't find anything similar to replace them. Many are drawing Social Security Disability payments but, as the article points out, probably could work in spite of their real ailments if an attractive job became available. All of them are drawing down savings, borrowing against their homes, or jeopardizing their future in other ways.

Stories like the one in the NY Times are tantalizing for sociologists. The numbers point to a trend - something has changed in society, and this growing pool of employable men who don't work is evidence of it. But the numbers can't tell us what happened - what aspect(s) of modern life are responsible for the change. [snip] Read More