There are a lot of men between the ages of twenty five and fifty four who aren’t in the labor force. One of the reasons for this is that many men suffer from serious health conditions that represent major barriers to work. According to Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger, they sometimes suffer physical pain, but also frequently from sadness and stress.
As reported by writer Peter Coy, a recent Krueger paper entitled Where Have All the Workers Gone points out that nearly half of prime age not in the labor force males take pain medication on a daily basis. Among the mostly wealthy member nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Italy was the only country that had a lower labor force participation rate among prime age men than the U.S. in twenty fifteen.
From a policy standpoint, Krueger’s bottom line is that quote addressing the decades long slide in labor force participation by prime age men should be a national priority close quote. While prime age men seem rather unhappy to be out of the labor force, young men are less disturbed by the year according to Krueger’s research.
