The decades-long decline of men participating in the labor force and the negative impact this trend has had on the U.S. economy was discussed this week at a House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee hearing.
Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE), chair of the subcommittee, said there are more than seven million working-age men in America who are not working or looking for work.
“Unfortunately, this is not a new phenomenon. The large number of men not in the labor force is a trend which has been growing for the past 50 years,” Smith said. “In 1967, 96% of men were working or looking for a job. Today it’s only 88 percent. And it is even worse for those men without a high school diploma – an alarming 83 percent or one in six are out of work.”
Smith said the United States ranks second to last, ahead of only Italy, in prime-age male labor force participation among developed nations despite having a record number of job openings since 2001.
Further, each year, there are more than 600,000 people released from prison, many of whom are struggling to find work and often end up back in prison – a big cost to communities and taxpayers.
In addition, there are roughly 11 million noncustodial fathers in the United States, with close to 25 percent of them having no earnings, and therefore unable to support and care for their children.
One of the subcommittee’s witnesses, Tyrone Ferrens, shared his own experience about how he overcame his drug addiction and flourished in his new career thanks to “Project JumpStart,” a workforce training program that has helped place over 70 percent of men who enter the program in technical and skilled-based careers.
“I’ve been a recipient of welfare, food-stamps, a lot of government assistance programs and there is no comparison, none whatsoever,” Ferrens said. “I would have much preferred someone given me or exposed me to a program like JumpStart rather than me getting a check on the 3rd. I received training in everything: from math to residential wiring. We had resume preparation and mock interviews. We were taught what employers were expecting from us, and just how to be successful on the job site — something I have never been exposed to before.”
He said Project JumpStart has had a positive impact on his family.
“The biggest impact that this program has had on my life is that it goes far beyond my life,” Ferrens said. “My son is the first one to step foot on a college campus. My mother had retired and was struggling on Social Security, and after years of torment that I put her through as an addict, I was able to move her into my home. I became a first-time homeowner last year. My daughter, who is 30 years old, spent half of her life with a father who was an addict and a disgrace and an embarrassment. She is presently in a JumpStart class that is taking place now. She looks up to me, she admires me, and she wants to follow in my footprints. That’s three generations that have been changed from this program.”