What about prison? It's ~1% of the adult populaion.
~1% of the adult population? Whoa.
The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
21–30 of 147 posts
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#22The author doesn't even mention how many more women are in the workforce as compared to 1950. The main loss here is the exodus of manufacturing jobs. No simple way around it.
It would indeed be interesting to see the corresponding charts for female employment, and whether there are any correlations between the two. I'll bet there are, and further that any discussion of their possible significance would make someone deeply uncomfortable.
Why do you think that the presence of a correlation would be uncomfortable?
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#23You have to wonder which of those trends are "secular" (in the economics sense) and which are indirect causes of high unemployment. The article already hints at this: Apart from the young cohort (until mid-20s), the rise in men going to school is probably less about an increased desire for education and more about an inability to find work. More men caring for their families may be a good thing (increasing equality b…
You can be disabled and still be able to do some types of work. But if the only kind of work that is available requires a strong health body (no chronic health issues), then going on disability is appropriate.
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#24You have to wonder which of those trends are "secular" (in the economics sense) and which are indirect causes of high unemployment. The article already hints at this: Apart from the young cohort (until mid-20s), the rise in men going to school is probably less about an increased desire for education and more about an inability to find work. More men caring for their families may be a good thing (increasing equality b…
I think the article assumes too much that college is just a way to get a job. Culturally, it's also a luxury good--an extended bit of adolescence with lots of socializing. And it's something that as a society we have tried to make possible for larger swaths of society, through guaranteed student loans, etc.
You're right on the point about disability, though.
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#25It seems a lot more possible these days, both socially and economically, to go into "partial retirement" at around age 30.
Developers can pull this off without much effort. 2-20X the pay for our work, little expectation of company loyalty nor stigma for resume gaps or job hopping, crazy skewed market to ensure that a new contract is only a Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter update away. Why would anybody spend their 30s not taking several months a year off in that situation?
Naturally, I'm biased a bit, since that was me for a dozen years or so. But there aught to be a skinny little blue line on that chart for us. And I bet it's a lot less skinny today than it was back when I started doing it.
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#26anyone else spot the patriarchy hiding in the blank line between the first and second paragraph? (and through the rest of the article.) i.e. when the author goes from talking about people to talking about men?
like, shouldn't there be some transition, explanation, or...something? The first paragraph made perfect sense on it's own, and then it's off to talk to about men.
Anyway, seriously... "why male models" (why men)?
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#27It seems a lot more possible these days, both socially and economically, to go into "partial retirement" at around age 30. Developers can pull this off without much effort. 2-20X the pay for our work, little expectation of company loyalty nor stigma for resume gaps or job hopping, crazy skewed market to ensure that a new contract is only a Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter update away. Why would anybody spend their 30s not t…
There's a subreddit dedicated to this idea, although I warn you it's largely terrible.
http://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence
Basically the only reason most people struggle financially in the US is due to their own financial illiteracy and living above their means. If you manage not to fall victim to either of those then you can save a substantial portion of your income towards a very early retirement should you choose to do so.
Kids are pricey though, so this approach is most viable for those who've eschewed the traditional family.
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#28It seems a lot more possible these days, both socially and economically, to go into "partial retirement" at around age 30. Developers can pull this off without much effort. 2-20X the pay for our work, little expectation of company loyalty nor stigma for resume gaps or job hopping, crazy skewed market to ensure that a new contract is only a Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter update away. Why would anybody spend their 30s not t…
There's a subreddit dedicated to this idea, although I warn you it's largely terrible. http://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence Basically the only reason most people struggle financially in the US is due to their own financial illiteracy and living above their means. If you manage not to fall victim to either of those then you can save a substantial portion of your income towards a very early retirement should y…
Mr Money Mustache also also comes to mind. It's too late for my 30s being 31, but this stuff has really woken me up and I'm shooting for FIRE close to 40.
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#29anyone else spot the patriarchy hiding in the blank line between the first and second paragraph? (and through the rest of the article.) i.e. when the author goes from talking about people to talking about men? like, shouldn't there be some transition, explanation, or...something? The first paragraph made perfect sense on it's own, and then it's off to talk to about men. Anyway, seriously... "why male models" (why men…
Yes i agree there is an offensive undertone. Why should men work as much as they did? More women are now working thus men are resting more.
Re: The Rise of Men Who Don’t Work, and What They Do Instead
#30It seems a lot more possible these days, both socially and economically, to go into "partial retirement" at around age 30. Developers can pull this off without much effort. 2-20X the pay for our work, little expectation of company loyalty nor stigma for resume gaps or job hopping, crazy skewed market to ensure that a new contract is only a Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter update away. Why would anybody spend their 30s not t…
There's a subreddit dedicated to this idea, although I warn you it's largely terrible. http://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence Basically the only reason most people struggle financially in the US is due to their own financial illiteracy and living above their means. If you manage not to fall victim to either of those then you can save a substantial portion of your income towards a very early retirement should y…
> Basically the only reason most people struggle financially in the US is due to their own financial illiteracy and living above their means. If you manage not to fall victim to either of those then you can save a substantial portion of your income towards a very early retirement should you choose to do so.
That is really only true for households above the median income.
So "most" is not a factual statement. About half of the country can save [at most] a few thousand dollars a year unless they want to ruin their health and take other risks that are essentially gambling.
That is part of what pisses me off about /r/financialindependence. Alot of the "suggestions" those people make are essentially gambling. [e.g. going without proper insurance coverage, high risk investments if you cannot save much due to income, eat unhealthy to save money which will cost you later] Or they assume you are making $60k a year so you can save $20k/year. You can't save $20k/year if you are making $30k.