Nov 25, 2024
Men aged 25 to 34 years old have a significantly lower rate of labor force participation today than they did early in the millennium, while the opposite is true of women in the same age range, an analysis shows.
However, despite a closing of the gap, men are still more active than women. Labor force participation among men in this age group dropped from 92.4% in August 2004 to 88.8% as of August 2024, according to the Aspen Economic Strategy Group (AESG), while it went up from 72.8% to 78.5% for women.
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“If labor force participation among young men today matched its August 2004 rate, over 700,000 more men would be in the workforce,” the group’s policy director wrote in an Oct. 2 blog post.
The decrease for men comes amid a drop in college enrollment during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has yet to recover. Only 55% of men who had just graduated high school enrolled in college in 2021, the AESG reports, compared to 62% in 2019. Meanwhile, enrollment figures remained flat for women at 70% during this time.
As young men become less likely to join the workforce or pursue higher education, they’re also more lonely than women.
Home alone and not up to much
Men aged 18 to 30 spend more waking hours alone than women, per the AESG. As of 2023, men spent an average of 6.6 hours alone each day compared to 5.4 hours for women.
The analysis also shows the average time young men spend alone went up during the pandemic and hasn’t meaningfully fallen back down. Time spent alone for men went from 5.6 hours per day in 2019 to 6.4 hours in 2020, 6.6 hours in 2021 and 6.9 hours in 2022.
“This increased isolation contributes to weakened labor market prospects through a narrowing of social networks,” the study said.
The numbers also went up for women during the pandemic, however, they always remained below the men.
Some of these young adults may be spending time alone while living with their parents as well. Among men aged 25 to 34, as of 2023, 19.7% still lived at home, compared with just 12.3% of women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
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What's up, man?
So what’s behind some of these startling figures?
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The AESG suggests technological disruptions and competition from low-wage overseas workers have reduced economic opportunities for non-college educated men.
Shifts away from traditional gender roles and single-earner family structures may also play a part, University of Maryland family science professor Kevin M. Roy explained to The Wall Street Journal, as well as fewer opportunities in male-dominated industries such as manufacturing.
Increased isolation during the pandemic may have also had a disproportionate effect. Men rely more on face-to-face interactions to maintain social connections, and have a harder time rebounding from loneliness, Richard Reeves, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, told The Journal.
Several young men interviewed by the publication expressed frustrations about finding purpose in their lives. Daniel Moreno, who says he “felt so, so lost” before dropping out of college five years ago, hopes to go back some day and study a subject he’s passionate about, but feels unable to drum up the motivation.
“Nothing is really stopping me,” he told The Journal. “It’s just myself, standing in my own way.”
Editor’s note, Nov. 25, 2024: This story has been updated to clarify the college enrollment figures above apply to those who just graduated high school.
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William Koblensky Varela is a Staff Reporter at Wise who has worked as a journalist for seven years covering finance, local news, politics, legal issues and the environment.
