Men who choose not to work

There's an article in today's NY Times about working-age men who choose not to work.

Millions of men like Mr. Beggerow — men in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55 — have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified, even as an expanding economy offers opportunities to work.

About 13 percent of American men in this age group are not working, up from 5 percent in the late 1960’s. The difference represents 4 million men who would be working today if the employment rate had remained where it was in the 1950’s and 60’s.

I respect these guys who are enjoying their leisure instead of working. They haven't let themselves be brainwashed by conventional middle class values which say that every man has to work otherwise he's a loser.

Some of the men who don't work receive disability benefits which pay better than a minimum wage job. If I were getting disability benefits, and the only jobs I could find paid only a little better than what I could make by not working, I wouldn't bother to work either.

The disability program, in turn, is an obstacle to working again. Taking a job holds the risk of demonstrating that one can earn a living and is thus no longer entitled to the monthly payments. But staying out of work has consequences. Skills deteriorate, along with the desire for a paying job and the habits that it requires.

If the goal is to encourage people to work, means tested benefits are bad policy because they provide the wrong incentives.

Comments

[SFG]

"I respect these guys who are enjoying their leisure instead of working. They haven't let themselves be brainwashed by conventional middle class values which say that every man has to work otherwise he's a loser."

I expect this article to be followed with an outcry against these 'parasites'. This may or may not have been the original intention of the article, the signals were too mixed to tell.

The truth is that the economy isn't providing a lot of good jobs anymore. That's why I think frugality is an important value for the young people of today; good jobs are few and far between, so save where you can and spend the money on durable things: Japanese cars that go 200,000 miles, sweaters that last through many wearings. Don't spend money on a plasma screen TV or a motorcycle. Depression values are good to go back to.
BTW, when reading it I remember thinking 'I wonder what Half Sigma's going to make of this?'. That's the sign of a good blog.

[mvpy]

Perhaps these guys made their millions in Silicon Valley in the nineties and are now spending their days blogging.
By the way, as half sigma says, theres nothing necessarily wrong with this. It might portend we are turning into Europe; where leisure is all the rage.

[SFG]

"It might portend we are turning into Europe; where leisure is all the rage."

Of course, they have a big fat socialist welfare system which makes it all possible and is paid for by higher taxes.

My main objection to such a system is that I suspect I'd pay into it and then it would get wrecked by the Republicans before I could collect. You can't trust the government in this country when it comes to these things.

[Peter]

It wasn't entirely clear from the article, but health insurance surely is a major factor behind the "epidemic" of able-bodied people (note to Times - it's not just men) who collect disability benefits rather than look for work. If I'm not mistaken recipients of Social Security disability benefits automatically qualify for Medicaid. Getting a job that pays more, possibly much more, than one receives in disability benefits can be a downright bad idea if it doesn't come with health insurance.

[spungen]

"I expect this article to be followed with an outcry against these 'parasites'."

I don't know, the two guys the story focused on are pretty easy to sympathize with. Both are over 50; no dependent children; one quit working to care for a disabled kid (the sort of job gap that drags down a lot of women). Both had long histories of full-time employment at good jobs in industries once considered stable. They become jobless involuntarily, and have looked for other jobs but can't find anything decent. They seem to be making the best of a situation neither chose.

Maybe disability payments can be thought of as that "inheritance dividend" HS proposed.

The story kind of tacked on the less sympathetic example of the two-time felon at the end. Although the group at issue was supposed to be as young as 30, there were no examples of guys in their 30s or early 40s, or guys who, unlike the lead sources, actually disdained work. But, those are the male non-workers with which I'm familiar. Stunted guys who just don't ever move forward as they age, like that Kyle Huff guy who shot up the rave in Seattle. (The non-working women usually get stuck chasing around kids at least.) I'm all for lifestyle choice, but I worry how we'll deal with these people as they age. A lot of them don't even seem happy now, because they can't take that society's expectations are different for 35 or 40 than they are for 22. I don't know if it's the shrinking job market, or just unrealistic expectations about the workforce. I expected this story to deal with some of those issues, but instead it was mainly about older guys who have clearly been screwed by the economy.

[Jack]

I'm 28 and thinking about quitting my job. Work sucks.