Why more men are dropping out of the workforce [Video]

Men have been steadily dropping out of the workforce, especially men ages 25 to 54, who are considered to be in their prime working years.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for prime-age working men was 3.4% in August 2024. This number primarily includes those who are unemployed and looking for a job. But about 10.5% of men in their prime working years, or roughly 6.8 million men nationwide, are neither working nor looking for employment, compared with just 2.5% in 1954.

“The long-term decline in labor force participation by so-called prime-age men is a tremendous worry for our society, our economy, and probably our political system,” said Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist at the American Enterprise Institute.

Education is an important predictor of prime-age men’s odds of being out of the labor force.

“The big impacts are on the non-college-educated groups on their ability …