Recently, the March Jobs report which was released April 1st stated that there was a drop in the jobless rate from 9.8 percent to an 8.8 percent. However, it seems an even bigger problem looms over the horizon. It seems that men in particular have given up looking for jobs and are not marked as unemployed. They become stuck as jobless and have difficulty finding jobs. They draw from government benefits or rely on family friends for support. They hurt the economy by draining government benefits that should be used on the unemployed. Men’s absence from the labor market is bad for men, their families, the economy, and the government finances. They make it difficult for other workers whom are unemployed to reenter the job market. A tighter labor market forces employers to consider a wider range of candidates. The article ends by saying “The effect of the ‘mancession’ on the male American workforce will be felt well into the recovery as some men stay stuck in unemployment”.
3 comments:
I wouldn't be too pessimistic about this trend. If the sharp decline in unemployment rate last month was truly due to the reason this article mentioned, then it means that firms didn't start to hire as much as we all thought. So it shouldn't be a huge problem if men are dropping out of the labor force: they won't get a job anyways. Furthermore, this could be a great opportunity for female workers in America. As female workers play a larger role in the economy, they can demand better benefits and equal wage, thus closing the gender gap that has existed for a long time.
High unemployment insurance could have reduced the incentives for the unemployed to look for jobs. Increasing the requirements for the insurance and decreasing the number of days the unemployed can get the insurance may help motivate them to look for new jobs faster. Investing the money instead in local agencies that help people look for suitable jobs would be better in reducing unemployment.
It's interesting to see that men in particular have given up looking for jobs in the March job report. I wonder if it is just a coincidence that more men in March decided not to look for jobs or it is a stable trend. If it is a stable trend that higher percentage of men than women tend to give up in job seeking, I wonder what the underlying reason would be...
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