Men Dropping Out of the Workforce Could Be Progress
After decades of gains in earnings and opportunity, economically empowered women are in a stronger position to support households with nonworking men.
Not at work.
When I think of the working-age men I know who choose not to work, they all have something in common: a woman who earns enough to support them both. One of the big economic mysteries of our time has become why men in the prime age group of 25 to 54 are leaving the labor force. What are they doing instead? Why don’t they want to work? How do they support themselves? Those are still largely unanswered questions, but I wondered if some of my personal acquaintances offered a clue.
One of these men grew up in an upper middle class home and had access to a great education. But he was always a bit of a free spirit, a Gen X hippie who followed bands in his youth and traveled the world. He eventually married a hard-working doctor and now she supports him.