Gen Z men are facing a surprise workforce crisis

Since the early 2000s, the participation of young men (ages 16-24)in the American workforce has dropped precipitously compared with other age and gender groups. Why is this happening, and why does it matter? There’s not a one-size-fits-all answer for every nonparticipant, but two main factors stand out: education and disability. Policies enabling even a small increase in male participation would mean millions more people entering the labor market and helping our economy flourish.

Before going further, it’s worth noting that men have always participated in the American workforce at much higher rates than women, regardless of age. Participation for men of “prime working age” (25-54) has declined slightly since the turn of the millennium (to just under 90%), but that is still much higher than among women (around 78%). The gap is almost exclusively related to women being more likely to undertake caregiving responsibilities. This barrier to working can be addressed by more funding for child care and elder caregiving programs.

While that gender gap persists for older workers, it has all but disappeared among young men and women, thanks to a steeper decline in participation rates among the former. Addressing that decline is more complicated. To begin with, being “out of the labor force” doesn’t mean Generation Z men are all sitting on their parents’ couch playing video games. Many are focusing more intensely on their education than generations past. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Current Population Survey, young men in their early to mid-20s were most likely to cite education as their reason for not looking for work. And Gen Z, more than previous generations, tends to treat school like a full-time job. Both Gen Z men and women are more likely than their elders to pursue four-year degrees, and Gen Z men in particular were less likely to be in the labor market while enrolled in school.