, Columnist
The Mancession Is Finally Over
There are still lots of men out of the workforce. But that’s not all bad news.
A man who isn’t working isn’t necessarily idle.
Photographer: Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. labor market has just hit another happy landmark. Of Americans aged 25 through 54 who were neither in military uniform nor behind bars, 80.3% have jobs. That equals the January 2007 high of the last economic expansion.
This measure, also known as the prime-age employment-population ratio, or Epop,2 avoids a key limitation of the headline unemployment rate, which only counts people actively looking for jobs. According to the unemployment rate, the current job market is the best since the late 1960s; according to prime-age Epop, it’s still not as strong as it was in 1999 and 2000.