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Labor Day is more than the official end of summer or the mark of a three-day weekend. The scheme was established and continues to this day as an opportunity to thank workers for their contributions to our country. It’s also an opportunity to see how they’re doing.
This week my office will release a report on one group of workers in particular: American men. Entitled “The State of Working (and Non-Working) Men,” the report details the challenges men face in taking on important roles as health care providers.
Unfortunately, the evidence is clear that working-age men are not doing well at all. Overall, they suffer generation after generation of declining quality jobs and a shocking number of dropouts from the workforce. These problems have dire consequences not only for men, but also for women, children, and our nation at large.
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With the national unemployment rate near an all-time low, some may wonder how this is happening. The problem is hidden in plain sight and is caused by the slow erosion of workers’ earning power and labor force participation.
Working-class men used to be able to take care of their families. It is now too costly to manage. File: The Golden Gate Bridge under construction. Workers put the finishing touches on the South Tower. 1935, San Francisco, California. The Golden Gate Bridge was the first major construction project in America to require workers to wear helmets. (Photo Credit: Underwood Archive/Getty Images)
A 1985 study by American Compass, a think tank, found that the median American male had the middle-class lifestyle basics—food, housing, and health care—against four with an income of 40 weeks. , transportation and education.
In 2022, this same man would need 62 weeks of income to do the same. But of course, today he doesn’t have more weeks a year than he did 40 years ago. In other words, millions of men (mainly blue-collar, low-educated men) are no longer able to provide their families with a middle-class lifestyle.
An equally big problem is the millions of men who are completely out of the workforce and spend their days idle, or even worse. Seven million men were lost from the labor force last year, leaving a total of 10 million unemployed. As scholar Nicholas Eberstadt points out, this means that the proportion of unemployed American men today is as large as it was during the height of the Great Depression.
Depressive levels of non-work among American men are leading to social disintegration all around us. A record 49,000 people died in our country last year, and four-fifths of them were men.
Addiction to drugs, alcohol, pornography, gambling and video games is also on the rise. Individual stories are devastating, as is the impact on families and communities. Taken together, they pose serious problems for America.
I know from personal experience how important it is to have good men who are role models for boys. My father worked late nights as a banquet bartender so he could provide a better life for his wife and children and me. His example taught me the value of hard work and the vital importance of family doing things right.
My football coaches taught me similar lessons about responsibility and perseverance every time a bear crawled or circled. They also taught me how to take a hit. This is a skill that has served me well throughout my adult life, especially in Washington DC.
However, today fewer boys are involved with their fathers. Many men do not have positive male role models. Headlines are full of tragic consequences. Men and boys can be depressed, lonely, angry and even violent, both to themselves and to others. They lack direction.
Worse, all policy makers and the media have is criticism of men, as if they are the root of all our problems and those who suffer are nothing but themselves. It often seems like there is nothing to blame.
What is the root cause of men’s current troubles? While there is no single culprit behind this carnage, our report identifies five factors worthy of particular attention: deindustrialization, open borders, corrosive welfare programs, changes in education, and the recent United States. It identifies cultural and technological revolutions. We must address these factors head-on.
For policy makers, this means cutting off critical industries from communist China and helping the (male-dominated) manufacturing jobs return. That means cracking down on illegal immigration and low-skilled immigration, driving down wages for American men whom the US government deems uncompetitive.
And that means adopting a work-first approach to safety-net programs. Instead of punishing less fortunate men, encourage them to improve themselves and send the message that in America, able-bodied men are expected to work.
Policy makers can also divert money from the broken “University for All” pipeline to technical training and apprenticeships. Boys and men are generally more capable of working with their hands than girls and women, so this support would be helpful.
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The federal government spends about $175 billion on higher education each year, but only about $20 billion is spent on employment and training programs. This is an unfair deal that puts boys, and the working class in general, at a significant disadvantage. must change.
Finally, policymakers should encourage marriage and parenting involvement by expanding child tax credits for working families, eliminating marriage penalties, and increasing benefits available to single-income married households. is. As statistics prove, the chances of finding happiness are much higher within the family than outside it.
Our country desperately needs a policy solution. Ultimately, however, the government alone will not be able to resolve the negative spiral of male happiness and labor force participation. Contributing to the common good of men, women and children will require economic, cultural and political reorientation.
Worse, all policy makers and the media have is criticism of men, as if they are the root of all our problems and those who suffer are nothing but themselves. It often seems like there is nothing to blame.
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Because while this may sound like an ambitious undertaking, it is. But it is also the only way our country can escape decline. Remember. The United States has entered a great power conflict with China, the most powerful enemy it has ever faced. To meet the great challenges ahead, we need good people with dignified jobs, stable families and strong communities.
It took generations for the problems described in our report to become apparent. In order to have any hope of success, our response must take turns over generations. Better start now so we can have more good news for the upcoming Labor Day.
Click here to read more from Sen.Marco Rubio
