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Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

nytimes.com

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Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#141

Post by vrtx0 »

e40 wrote: post #134
vrtx0 wrote: post #114

I'm one of these missing men. I'm currently 35, and have been working as a software engineer since I was 19. Two years ago, I started experiencing excruciating, unrelenting low back pain that eventually required me to leave my job and go on long term disability. I loved my job. I worked at MongoDB in Palo Alto for 3 years, contributing to the core database (C++) and designed a performance testing platform (among othe…

There is research suggesting medical marijuana is a good replacement for opioids, in some cases. Too bad FL isn't a state that gives you that option, so you could at least try it. In CO, the deaths by opioids have gone down significantly.

I could not agree more. I had a medical marijuana note in CA, and it turned my stabbing pain into more of a pins-and-needles feeling (sorry, pain is difficult to describe in words). It also drastically reduced the tremor in my right hand.

But since moving to Florida, I have to take a drug test every month before my pain management doctor will prescribe anything. It's on the ballot in Florida next month.

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#144

Post by [deleted] »

muse900 wrote: post #32

What I'll write might sound stupid to some but well... There needs to be a re-configuration of the global economy and its system. People like me late 20's and younger might be feeling that they have no future. At least I do. I am working full-time and thats fine. That only pays my day to day expenses, coming the end of the month am always out of money waiting for the next paycheck. Me buying my own house? That sounds…

[deleted]

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#145

Post by carlmcqueen »

jliptzin wrote: post #79

I don't dispute the numbers in the article and can't speak to the tragedy of opioid addiction, but whenever I see something like this I am reminded of a friend of mine who never had a job, and never looked, from ages 18-30. He came from an upper-middle class family and his parents basically supported him all those years and he was fine with that. He knows he's lazy and embraced that as long as he could. To outsiders…

I don't doubt you know someone who has affluenza, I'd just advise you to be careful about writing off studies where they go past 'I know a guy who' into sampling and research because you know someone who is lazy.

There is massive mental illness stigma in our society at large, there are many hard working people who remain employed who are suffering long before they go unemployed and that suffering is never voiced and is discredited when they drop out of the unemployed market to become 'no longer looking'.

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#146

Post by sparrish »

bandrami wrote: post #51
sailfast wrote: post #29

Not pointed out in the article, but perhaps in the study(?) - the United States has been engaged in an active war for the past 15 years that likely contributes to an increased number of those taking painkillers for injuries or having some sort of psychological disorder. In my mind I liken it to shellshock and after-effects felt in societies post WWI / WWII. I don't have specifics on the number of wounded / in treatme…

There are two crucial differences between the wars of the past decade and a half and WWII/Vietnam, though: 1. The number of veterans is very small 2. Veterans are overwhelmingly from the richer half of the population About 0.5% of the cohort currently between the ages of 20 and 40 had any military service (compare to 12% of the WWII cohort and 6% of the Vietnam cohort), and only about half of that population saw serv…

I think you missed one other important difference. Unlike WWII/Vietnam, recent wars are being fought by volunteers (those who, knowing the risks, willing signed up to fight), not working men forced to be soldiers as in the drafts.

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#147

Post by ythl »

jliptzin wrote: post #79

I don't dispute the numbers in the article and can't speak to the tragedy of opioid addiction, but whenever I see something like this I am reminded of a friend of mine who never had a job, and never looked, from ages 18-30. He came from an upper-middle class family and his parents basically supported him all those years and he was fine with that. He knows he's lazy and embraced that as long as he could. To outsiders…

> So, I always wonder when reading this stuff, what portion of the sample just has "affluenza"

People don't like being held accountable for their own situation. The blame will always be shifted to society where possible. You see it everywhere. One's circumstances in a given study are rarely, if ever, blamed on the individual. People are generally assumed to be doing everything right but are simply victims of "the system"

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#148

Post by vrtx0 »

cableshaft wrote: post #137
vrtx0 wrote: post #114

I'm one of these missing men. I'm currently 35, and have been working as a software engineer since I was 19. Two years ago, I started experiencing excruciating, unrelenting low back pain that eventually required me to leave my job and go on long term disability. I loved my job. I worked at MongoDB in Palo Alto for 3 years, contributing to the core database (C++) and designed a performance testing platform (among othe…

I went through something similar the past couple of years, and was letting my back determine job prospects (i.e. I didn't want to take a train downtown and walk five blocks to work, hell I didn't want to walk to the parking garage next to my building). For me (and possibly only me, I don't know your situation), what worked better than anything was to start eating a keto (low carb, and incidentally no wheat) diet, whi…

Thanks for the suggestion. I've tried various diets, including Keto, LCHF, etc. I try to stick with LCHF just to slow down my weight gain, but it doesn't impact my pain or neurological symptoms.

For anybody else reading this I'm a similar situation, please do follow cableshaft's advice and try new diets. I also recommend physical therapy.

The cause(s) of MS and many similar diseases are not well understood. At all. FWIW, I lived a pretty healthy lifestyle before my symptoms started.

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#149

Post by contingencies »

maxerickson wrote: post #94
contingencies wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did not say that, and I agree with you. However, I disagree that any majority has the right to force others to 'engage with society' on their own terms or be excluded, which is often basically what allegations of 'mental illness' are.

The exclusion can happen without any use of force, and a lot of outreach programs focus on reducing the exclusion, not on forcing normative behaviors.

Just because I give you a hug and a cup of coffee doesn't mean I don't want to enslave you to do my bidding. Society kind of acts like this, although individual human actors don't necessarily perceive themselves as contributing.

Re: Millions of Men Are Missing from the Job Market

#150

Post by jokoon »

andrepd wrote: post #41
jokoon wrote: post #27

I'm not even american, I'm french, 31, I have skills in programming (C++, php, python, and some math), did not obtain my degree, and I have never worked more than a month during all my life. I currently have the disability status, and I will soon train to be an army reservist. I regularly see a psychiatrist for therapy and took anti depressant for 4 years. The inactivity and the feeling of exclusion is soul-killing (…

>The simple idea of idleness and staying at home to paint or draw seems to drive people crazy. It kinda does, because for you to be able to idle and sit in your home painting, somebody else has to go on the "giant treadmill" to feed you, house you, and clothe you. Do you think I wouldn't like to idle at home as I please, and paint and write and read and laze about? Only if everybody did that we would all starve to de…

> somebody else has to go on the "giant treadmill" to feed you, house you, and clothe you

This is becoming less and less true, as there are less and less demand for labor, because of automation.

You only look at the physics aspect of the economy. Meanwhile, labor is changing. A job is privilege, not a right. People consent to work. They decide that they want to get that money. The concept of "contributing to society" belongs to communism, not capitalism. The world works with self interest. I don't think people can really pretend they go to work to help others.

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