More than 44 million U.S. men age 16 and older were outside the labor force last month, with male participation falling to its lowest non-pandemic level since 1948 as economists point to retirement, industrial job losses, automation, demographic shifts and changing employment patterns.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
More than 44 million American men were outside the labor force last month, extending a decades-long decline in male workforce participation that economists and labor analysts say could have significant consequences for economic growth, the supply of skilled workers and the nation’s tax base.
The latest figures show 44.07 million of the nation’s 132.8 million men age 16 and older were not participating in the labor force, representing 33.2% of that population, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics breakdown cited in a Washington Times report Wednesday.
The total is approximately 9 million higher than it was in 2012, an increase of 29%, according to the report. Over the most recent 12-month period alone, the number of men outside the workforce increased by 891,000.
The longer-term decline is even more pronounced when measured through the labor-force participation rate.
In 1976, 77.5% of men age 16 and older were participating in the workforce. Last month, that figure stood at 66.8%, according to the report, marking the lowest reading outside the COVID-19 pandemic period since 1948.
Women have moved in the opposite direction over the same half-century. Their workforce participation rate increased from 47.3% in 1976 to 56.4% last month.
Economists cited several overlapping explanations for the divergence, including the erosion of employment in industries that traditionally employed large numbers of men without college degrees and the expansion of sectors where women represent a greater portion of the workforce.
“The American economy has gradually moved away from some of the industries that historically provided good jobs to men without college degrees,” Scott Beaulier, a University of Wyoming economist, told the Times.
“Meanwhile, much of the recent employment growth has occurred in areas such as healthcare and education, where women make up a much larger share of the workforce,” he said.
The report identified declining opportunities in manufacturing and finance as contributing factors, while also pointing to increasing automation in industrial occupations that historically employed disproportionately male workforces.
Retirement is another important component of the increase.
The American Staffing Association estimates that the number of men leaving the workforce after turning 65 has risen 99% since 2000. The comparable increase among women is 71%, according to the Times.
The staffing organization also identified recent immigration restrictions and increasing academic difficulties among boys as factors contributing to the broader workforce trend. The group, however, did not provide data separating the specific impact of immigration policy from the other forces affecting male labor-force participation.
“Decreased workforce participation among men poses serious issues for the economy,” Noah Yosif, chief economist for the American Staffing Association, said. “Bringing more men into the workforce is just as important as preserving the gains of women within it.”
Analysts cited in the report said a sustained reduction in the number of working men can worsen shortages of skilled labor, weigh on gross domestic product and reduce the number of workers contributing payroll taxes to Social Security.
They also associated declining male workforce participation with higher rates of suicide and depression among men, though the report included competing views about how broadly those conclusions should be applied to people who are not working.
“We shouldn’t assume every nonworking man is dysfunctional,” Peter Earle, a senior economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the Times. “Some are students, caregivers, disabled or financially able to remain outside the workforce.”
The headline numbers also include men well beyond traditional working age, making the age composition of the population an important consideration.
White House spokesman Kush Desai pointed to a substantially stronger participation rate among men in their prime working years. He told the Times that 89.2% of men ages 25 to 54 participated in the workforce last month, a rate that “remains above its monthly average over the last 10 years,” a period that includes the sharp pandemic-era decline.
“The Trump administration is focused on investing in workforce training and accelerating economic growth to get more working-age Americans off the sidelines and playing an active role in America’s resurgence,” Desai said in an emailed statement to the Times.
Interpreting the overall workforce figures has also become more complicated because the population estimates used to calculate participation rates have undergone substantial revisions and remain subject to uncertainty surrounding international migration.
The Census Bureau said in January that net international migration declined from 2.7 million people in 2024 to 1.3 million in 2025. If current trends persist, the bureau projects the figure could fall further to approximately 321,000 in 2026.
The 2025 estimate covers the period from July 2024 through June 2025, spanning two presidential administrations and corresponding changes in federal immigration policy.
The Census Bureau said complete information covering that period will not become available until December.
Additional uncertainty is evident in the Current Population Survey, which is also used by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in calculating workforce participation.
The Census Bureau reported that the foreign-born population measured through the same underlying survey declined from 53.3 million in January 2025 to 51.9 million in June 2025.
But the agency warned against treating that change automatically as evidence that the actual foreign-born population fell by an equivalent amount.
The decline “can also reflect survey non-response, coverage error or the impact of population controls,” the Census Bureau said.
Questions surrounding those measurements prompted the bureau to change its migration methodology in December 2024 after concluding that its previous approach had not adequately captured recent shifts reflected in the available data. The agency consequently revised population estimates dating back to 2020.
Those methodological issues do not eliminate the broader decades-long decline in male workforce participation, but they complicate attempts to measure recent year-to-year movements with precision.
The overall figures also encompass several very different categories of men, ranging from retirees and students to disabled people, caregivers and those who can financially remain outside the workforce, as well as working-age men who have stopped seeking employment.
That distinction is central to the debate surrounding the economic significance of the trend.
While the overall male participation rate has fallen dramatically from its level 50 years ago, the White House points to comparatively high participation among men ages 25 to 54. Other economists and labor groups, meanwhile, argue that the continuing growth in the total number of men outside the workforce deserves attention because of its implications for labor supply and the broader economy.
With 44.07 million men now classified as outside the labor force and the overall male participation rate at 66.8%, the latest figures add to a long-running transformation of the American workforce — one shaped by an aging population, changes in the types of jobs available, automation, education, migration and the movement of employment growth toward industries with markedly different demographic profiles.
Original article
Comments