Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday October 09 2016, @03:39AM   Printer-friendly

The "quiet catastrophe" is particularly dismaying because it is so quiet, without social turmoil or even debate. It is this: After 88 consecutive months of the economic expansion that began in June 2009, a smaller percentage of American males in the prime working years (ages 25 to 54) are working than were working near the end of the Great Depression in 1940, when the unemployment rate was above 14 percent. If the labor-force participation rate were as high today as it was as recently as 2000, nearly 10 million more Americans would have jobs.

The work rate for adult men has plunged 13 percentage points in a half-century. This "work deficit" of "Great Depression-scale underutilization" of male potential workers is the subject of Nicholas Eberstadt's new monograph "Men Without Work: America's Invisible Crisis," which explores the economic and moral causes and consequences of this:

Is it an aberration, or a harbinger of things to come?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:11AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 09 2016, @06:11AM (#411964) Journal

    Do the math, silly. If women were cheaper, then men wouldn't find jobs at all. If my company could hire a woman to do my job for 3/4 of my pay, they wouldn't think twice about it. I would be out the door. Fact is, new hires are paid new hire wages. Seniority (longevity) gets men and women the same raises. Some jobs in the plant pay more, but you have to bid on them. Males and females are equally represented in most of those jobs. The dirty, grubby and/or physically demanding jobs are dominated by men, and they generally make more than the other jobs that people bid on, but the females ARE PERMITTED to bid on them, if they want. Let me be more specific - women don't bid on maintenance, tool making, machining, or tool setting. They like the QC department, shipping, warehouse, assembly, janitor/housekeeping, parts room - anything that isn't going to get them dirty, or require that they lift more than 20 or 30 pounds.

    I can teach a woman to turn a wrench, read a caliper, run a lathe, or any other job that I've ever done, if only she is willing to DO THAT JOB! The few times I've had a woman near any of this work, she is exactly as untrainable as some young boy who is worried about his appearance, and isn't willing to make an effort.

    "What, you want me to cut my nails? Can't you just make these tools softer, so I don't break my nails on them? Oh - MY HAIR!"

    Women have their priorities, and the jobs that I most enjoy doing do not make that list of priorities. THAT is why I make more money than most of the women at the plant - and most of the men too.

    All of that said, I work for a woman. Sue's priorities are slightly different than most women's priorities. She never looks like a slob, but she sometimes goes home dirty. She doesn't do makeup, her nails are trimmed, never seen her in "pretty" shoes, she's always dressed for work. And, she makes more money than I do because not only is she damned good at her job, but she's been doing the same jobs for over 30 years. I think she learned plastics from George Washington Carver, directly.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +3  
       Interesting=2, Informative=1, Total=3
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   5  
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @08:18AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 09 2016, @08:18AM (#411991)

    Yes, but companies are predominantly run by white male cis-gendered scum who hate women. Logic is sexist anyway, just take my word for it. </sarcasm>

  • (Score: 2) by mhajicek on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:36PM

    by mhajicek (51) on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:36PM (#412130)

    There are a lot of young men who do the same. They don't want to get dirty or put in real effort. I got lucky and found an apprentice who's actually willing to work. That said I do let him play computer games while the machine is running if all the stock is cut and such.

    This inability to find good entry level workers is driving a lot of automation effort. If you can't hire good operators to keep the machine running nights and weekends you're better off adding an automation cell.

    --
    The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek