A Better Economy, But More U.S. Men Drop Out Of The Workforce

More and more men are dropping out of the U.S. workforce, leaving the nation far behind its international competitors in male workforce participation and drawing concerns from members of Congress at a hearing Wednesday that found no consensus on solutions.

Twelve percent of working-age men in the U.S. are either unemployed or not looking for work, Rep. Adrian Smith, a Nebraska Republican, said at the start of a hearing he convened.

The male inactivity rate has grown even as the nation’s unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3 percent in May from 10 percent in late 2009, suggesting that men are either unable to find jobs or not trying.

“The steady decline is most troubling because so few people seem to be discussing it,” said Smith, chairman of the House Human Resources Subcommittee. “Yet it has a profound impact on our society, the economy, and individual and family well-being.”

The U.S. ranks second-to-last in male labor-force participation among the 35 industrialized nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Smith said. Italy, with an 11.1 percent unemployment rate, ranks first.

Lawmakers and witnesses at Wednesday’s hearing seemed to agree on some contributing factors, such as the growing number of men who lack education or training, or who have criminal records. But they disagreed on the role played by what Smith called “a growing dependence on public-benefit programs.”

Brent Orrell, a former official in the administration of President George W. Bush and a vice president of management-consulting firm ICF International of Virginia, cited a study that found men not in the labor force spent 43 minutes a day working or looking for work—and nearly eight hours on “socializing, relaxing and leisure.”

“At least 7 million prime working-age men are out of the labor force, creating a double burden of untapped economic potential and higher social welfare costs,” Orrell said.

Rising Barriers Blamed

But Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois, the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, disputed the notion that the unemployed are coddled and lazy.