The Lost Young Male

George Will published an article titled; “The Basement Boys, The making of modern immaturity”.  The point of the article is that a large number of young men are living beneath our expectations of them and beneath their own potential. In the decades past, almost all men were expected to make their own way soon after their teenage years; they would either start their own careers or they would work their way through college in preparation for a future career. But in recent decades, many boys just are not maturing into men as they once were.

George Will lists the unfortunate facts:

• Although women are a majority of the workforce, perhaps as many as 80 percent of jobs lost were held by men.
• Women now receive almost 58 percent of bachelor’s degrees.
• Women are accepted to college at a higher rate, and of those accepted; women also graduate at a higher rate.
• A recent study found that 55 percent of men 18 to 24 are living in their parents’ homes, as are 13 percent of men 25 to 34, compared to 8 percent of women.
• Women are a majority or becoming a majority in law, medicine and in PhD programs.

Will’s article is definitely worth the read; it accurately points out the situations and problems of immature and unprepared men who are approaching middle age. However I believe that I can better explain some of the reasons for these problems. I believe that simply calling young men “immature” over simplifies the problem. The label isn’t wrong, just too general.

It is self evident that on average, the wiring of men’s brains is different than women’s brains. Generally, women have greater verbal abilities and greater abilities in organizing data and can sit patiently working for long periods.

This is obviously a generalization, but think of some of the boys that you know who are failing and think of their skill set.  Most of these boys aren’t meant for college but have other, nonacademic skills.

Now look at the unemployment rate by sector; I think that you will agree that these young men have no chance to be self sufficient in our current culture.

The traditionally male jobs are going away and they have been going away for a long time. Several decades ago, a man could support his family by working at the mill, by farming, by going into business by himself and using his hands and mechanical skills. That man wouldn’t get rich buy he would have a job.

You have probably heard many in the media utter the mantra; “Illegal immigrants are only taking jobs that others don’t want.” This statement is economic nonsense. Finding workers for these jobs is simply a supply and demand problem. If there wasn’t competition from illegal immigrants, then workers in industries such as roofing and restaurant work would be more valuable. And the workers in those industries would be able to charge more for their labor. In the past, these jobs are used to be stepping stones to further advancement; but now they are just dead end jobs reserved for illegal workers.

The traditional sectors that hired men in the past are also the ones that are the most punished with regulation. They have to deal with increasing labor regulation, energy regulation and consumer regulation and at the same time increased foreign competition. No wonder they are declining.

There are of course other problems in our culture. We celebrate the immature athlete and movie star. Fewer boys go through formal maturity processes such as scouting, confirmation or bar mitzvahs.  But if young men just aren’t wired for academics or for shuffling paper then they are just out of luck.