{"id":36429,"date":"2024-04-27T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-27T04:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=36429"},"modified":"2024-05-05T22:47:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-05T22:47:07","slug":"the-myth-of-mens-full-time-employment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/the-myth-of-mens-full-time-employment\/","title":{"rendered":"The myth of men\u2019s full-time employment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sarah Damaske<\/a>, Penn State<\/a><\/em> and Adrianne Frech<\/a>, Ohio University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Men\u2019s employment in the U.S. reached a 20-year high in 2023, with nearly 90%<\/a> of men ages 25 to 54 in the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/a>. This supports the broad expectation<\/a> \u2013 some might say stereotype \u2013 that full-time employment is the norm for American men.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet examining employment at a single point in time leaves out important information about whether people are able to maintain stable work. Our recent study<\/a> of male baby boomers\u2019 working lives \u2013 spanning more than two decades \u2013 tells a very different story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, men\u2019s labor force participation has been steadily declining<\/a> since the 1970s, and workers are experiencing greater labor market precarity \u2013 that is, shorter job spells, greater job insecurity and more long-term unemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In our research as experts<\/a> in the study of people\u2019s employment<\/a> over time, we have previously challenged the myth<\/a> that most women \u201copt out\u201d of the workforce, establishing that the majority of women work steadily and full time. That led us to suspect that the picture of men\u2019s employment could also be incomplete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand these long-term trends, we studied data from about 4,500 men collected over more than 25 years. We were looking for patterns in the amount of time these men spent employed, unemployed and looking for work, and out of the workforce and not looking for work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were surprised to find that only 41%<\/a> of late baby boomer men \u2013 those who were between 14 and 21 years old in 1979 \u2013 worked steadily and continuously, which we defined as working almost every week of the year between ages 27 and 49. This is a cohort of men who were widely thought to have taken a \u201clockstep<\/a>\u201d approach to work: entering the labor market when they finished their schooling and remaining employed until retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We found most men didn\u2019t fit this stereotype. About a quarter didn\u2019t reach steady employment until they were nearly 50. Another quarter either found themselves increasingly unemployed and out of work as they aged or able to find only intermittent work. Finally, a smaller group of men left the labor market entirely \u2013 some leaving paid work at relatively young ages, while others leaving as they reached middle age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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