Why Did So Many US Men Quit Working? Social Status May Hold the Key, Study Says
- Study links wage inequalities to status, labor participation
- Men more inclined to exit job market when earnings decline
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A decline in social status relative to better-paid peers is a key reason why so many American men have dropped out of the labor force, according to the latest paper to examine a conundrum that’s baffled economists for decades.
Men’s sense of their status in the labor market is highly dependent on how much they earn compared with male peers of similar age, according to the research by Pinghui Wu, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.