February 21, 2017
He uses his column today to tell us that “this century is broken.” Much of his tale involves the old problem with men story.
“For every one American man aged 25 to 55 looking for work, there are three who have dropped out of the labor force. If Americans were working at the same rates they were when this century started, over 10 million more people would have jobs. As Eberstadt puts it, ‘The plain fact is that 21st-century America has witnessed a dreadful collapse of work.’
“That means there’s an army of Americans semi-attached to their communities, who struggle to contribute, to realize their capacities and find their dignity. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics time-use studies, these labor force dropouts spend on average 2,000 hours a year watching some screen. That’s about the number of hours that usually go to a full-time job.”
While it apparently makes folks like Brooks feel good to tell these sorts of morality tales about the failings of men today, it actually has nothing to do with reality. While fewer prime-age men (ages 25–54) men are working today than in 2000, the share of prime-age women has fallen by almost the same amount. Furthermore, the percent of prime-age women working had been rising prior to 2000 and was projected to continue to rise by most economists.
The fact that women’s employment rates have fallen as well is important because it indicates that, contrary to what Brooks tells us, the problem is not a gender specific moral failing. The problem is most likely a good old-fashioned shortfall in demand in the economy.
This matters a great deal because we actually do know how to create more demand. It’s called “spending money.” This means that if the government spent more money on things like education, health care, and infrastructure, we could get more of these prime-age men and women employed. There are other ways to create demand. For example, if we got our trade deficit down by reducing the value of the dollar it would also generate more demand and employment.
If we are troubled by the large number of prime-age workers who are not employed there are policies that we could pursue that would address the problem. In other words, we should be more worried about the moral failings of people in a position to make economic policy than the moral failings of the folks not working.
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