Hi Billy, On Jul 10, 2013, at 11:35 AM, [email protected] wrote:
> The plain fact is that men in what are generally regarded as conventional > working ages have been increasingly opting out of the workforce altogether. > This arresting fact is brought home in Figure 4, which tracks employment > ratios and labor force participation ratios for men 25 to 54-prime years of > working life.or this key demographic group over the past sixty years (i.e., > 1953-2013) > I agree. We have a generation of lost men. > So what exactly has been going on with work in modern America? Or more > specifically: what is wrong with work in modern America? Why is there so much > less of it now? > > From an economic perspective, it seems safe to say that both demand and > supply factors are at play in this disheartening dynamic. On the demand side, > it seems fairly clear that our contemporary economy is just not generating > jobs and work as robustly as it did in the past---even the relatively recent > past. This can be seen as a "structural" problem. Of course, it is the > problem that self-described Keynesians always fix upon. It is part of the > overall picture-but just part. For on the supply side, it is apparent that > there has been a major behavioral change in America, wherein a growing > proportion of working-age Americans are checking out of paid labor > altogether. Suffice it to say that not working at all is neither unthinkable > nor unaffordable these days, even for adults in the prime of life. This too > is a problem-a huge problem, one that has been gathering for decades, and one > must unlikely to be undone by recourse to standard-issue Keynesian tools. > > America's leadership has not yet paid serious attention to the collapse of > work in modern America. This is an egregious oversight. Our long-term social, > political, and economic health all depend upon redressing this critical flaw > in our country today > I agree. We have a generation of lost men. Where we disagree is that I don't think a return to corporate jobs is either a viable or a desirable solution. We need something better and more sustainable. -- Ernie P. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
