The Idle Army: America's Unworking Men

This is arguably a crisis, but it is hardly ever discussed in the public square. Received wisdom holds that the U.S. is at or near "full employment." Most readers have probably heard this, perhaps from the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, who said in a speech last week that "it is a remarkable, and perhaps underappreciated, achievement that the economy has returned to near-full employment in a relatively short time after the Great Recession."

...

What do unworking men do with their free time? Sadly, not much that's constructive... [for them,] "socializing, relaxing and leisure" is a full-time occupation, accounting for 3,000 hours a year, much of this time in front of television or computer screens.

...

What we might call "sociological" factors are evident, not least the tremendous rise in unworking men who draw from government disability and means-tested benefit programs. There are also the barriers to work for America's huge pool of male ex-prisoners and felons not behind bars--a poorly tracked cohort that accounts for one adult male in eight in the civilian population, excluding those in jail now.

Regardless of its cause, this new normal is inimical to America's national interests. Declining labor-force participation and falling work rates have contributed to slower economic growth and widening gaps in income and wealth. Slower growth in turn reduces tax revenue and increases budgetary pressures, producing higher deficits and national debt. Unworking men have increased poverty in the U.S., not least among the great many children whose fathers are without jobs.

There are the social effects, too. The male retreat from the labor force has exacerbated family breakdown, promoted welfare dependence and recast "disability" into a viable alternative lifestyle. Among these men the death of work seems to mean also the death of civic engagement, community participation and voluntary association.