According to Wilbur Ross, who served during Donald Trump's first term, American men have lost their work ethic and are feeling entitled to a comfortable life without any effort.
Ross, the Wall Street investor once known as the “King of Bankruptcy”, said younger generations have been “coddled” by growing up in a wealthy society, weakening previous generations' motivation to work and threatening long-term economic growth.
Ross said, “It used to be that the mantra for any young person was to work hard and you can progress and do better than your parents.” “It never occurred to anyone not to work, at least not anyone I knew. It's been a complete transformation.”
He argued that the combination of state benefits and parental prosperity created a sense of entitlement. “I think about all this [benefits] “The programs and relative affluence of the current generation of parents have created a feeling that they are entitled to a good lifestyle, no matter what kind of meaningful work they do,” he said.
“If you are a capable person who is not even willing to look for a job, why should you be rich?”
Overall labor force participation among Americans aged 25 to 54, the so-called prime-age workforce, fell sharply during the pandemic but has since recovered to 83.8 percent, one of the highest levels in nearly a quarter century. However, Ross and other economists say the key figures hide a deeper long-term shift among men.
There has been a structural decline in prime-age male participation since the 1960s, even as female participation has increased to record levels. This difference is particularly pronounced among younger workers.
A Brookings Institution analysis shows that labor force participation for 25-year-old men has declined in every generation since 1969. For men born in the late 1990s, participation at that age is about 84 percent, down from 93 percent for those born about 45 years ago.
In contrast, participation among women of the same age has steadily increased, from 66.3 percent to 76.6 percent over the same period.
Ross said this trend among men is particularly harmful to economic prospects. “I think there are a lot of men who don't want to work that hard,” he said.
He said workforce participation was one of the three important drivers of economic growth. “One is the growth in the population of working-age people – that's something you have no control over in the near future. The other two are productivity and workforce participation. And of the two, at the moment, workforce participation is probably the more important.”
Economists have pointed to several factors behind the decline in men's participation, including the loss of industrial jobs, an increase in service sector roles traditionally dominated by women, high incarceration rates leading to the criminal records of many men, the expansion of disability benefits, and persistent weaknesses in education and skills training.
Together, they warn, these forces risk pushing growing groups of men out of work – with long-term consequences for productivity, public finances and social cohesion.
jamie young
Jamie is a senior reporter at Business Matters, with over a decade of experience in UK SME business reporting. Jamie has a degree in Business Administration and regularly attends industry conferences and workshops. When Jamie is not reporting on the latest business developments, he is passionate about mentoring budding journalists and entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation of business leaders.