Can Colorado Avoid the Rising Male Unemployment Rates Across the US?

Even as women enter the workforce at rates never before seen in our country, a disturbing trend is arising among men between the ages of 25-54.

A new Common Sense Institute study finds these men, in their prime working-age years, are leaving the workforce. 

How many men? Today, across the US, roughly seven million men are not in the labor force, or NILF, as the US Department of Labor refers to them. This does not apply to men who are employed part-time. In fact, one only needs to work an hour in the period being recorded to be counted as employed.

These men are neither working nor looking for work. One of the reasons the unemployment rate across the country appears to be so low is because for every man looking for work, two-to-three men are NILFs.

READ: Colorado’s Labor Market Paradox —  Plentiful Jobs, Mismatched Talent

This trend for men is not a matter of being in transition or working to take care of households while their spouses go to work. When time-use studies are done to document how these men spend their non-working time, they spend much more time than working men or women in general on socializing, relaxing and leisure. This includes an alarming amount of video game playing. 

Married men and men with kids are more likely to be working. Married black men work at a higher rate than single white men. Men with higher education levels are also more likely to be working. Men’s retreat from the workforce has also occurred with a retreat from civil society. NILF men are likely to be unmarried and not in clubs, involved in church or otherwise engaged in their communities. 

This is also not a blip. Prime-age working male labor force participation rate (LFPR) has been trending down since the 1960’s and continues post-pandemic. In 1969 the LFPR of prime working age men was 96.1%. Since Title IX was enacted in 1972, women have consistently increased their labor force participation rate, reaching a post-pandemic high of 77.8%, while men’s has dropped to a current national level of 89.7%. 

Women are advancing their educations at a higher rate than men as well. In 1970, just 12% of young women had attained bachelor’s degrees, compared to 20% of men. By 2020 4 % of women had a bachelor’s degree, compared to 32 % of men. Since better-educated men are more likely to be in the workforce, this national trend is concerning. 

But what about Colorado? The state’s male LFPR is higher than the national LFPR at 92.5%. Note that Colorado also has the second-highest percentage of college-educated citizens. While encouraging, now is the time to sound the alarm in Colorado. Despite an overall better LFPR for prime-age working men in Colorado, the rate has dropped four percentage points since 1977 while Colorado’s female LFPR has risen 20 points to 83%.

READ: Guest Column — Closing the Racial Wealth Gap With Education and Financial Planning

At a time of low unemployment and a plethora of available jobs, the bigger question is why are men leaving the workforce at all? To start, for men with only a high school diploma, inflation-adjusted real wages have dropped since the 1970’s. It’s estimated that this factor alone accounts for 44% of the growth in labor force exit. 

Social factors contribute as well. As society has shifted and more men are born to single mothers, their likelihood of being nonworkers has grown. When single mothers are less educated, or have low household incomes, the boys growing up in these households are more likely to be nonworkers as adults. 

Perhaps most alarmingly, because work is not only a source of income, but also dignity, belonging and self-respect, the loss of work and the possibilities work creates lead to disconnection, hopelessness and negative emotions that cause both physical and psychological pain. The US male life expectancy has dropped and the rate of deaths of despair are increasing. Men in Colorado accounted for 77% of suicide deaths from 2010 to 2020 and 62% of suicide deaths. Colorado has the sixth highest suicide rate in the US.

READ: Transform Your Mental Health in the Workplace — Strategies for a Healthier, Happier Experience

In terms of economic empowerment, it is a great time to be a woman in our country. But men not working is a problem, not just for our economy, but for our society. 

What if women’s gains since 1972’s Title IX law have occurred to the detriment of men? How might we recover these losses and build up all people moving forward?

In November 2021, the Global Initiative for Boys & Men published a report on the need for a Colorado Commission on the Status of Boys & Men. This report identified six areas where boys and men have been disproportionately impacted, including physical and mental health, education, careers and financial health, family and relationships, criminal justice and court systems, and male narrative in the public discourse. In each of these key areas, the trends for boys and men are concerning, but it is not too late. Now is the time for a state commission to be created to keep Colorado boys and men from falling farther behind.

Tamra Ryan is the CSI Coors Economic Mobility Fellow and CEO of the Women’s Bean Project.