August 4, 2017

Labor participation of men continues 20 year decline

CNS - In testimony before Congress in mid-July, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the declining labor force participation rate among men of prime working age is a particular concern.

In July, BLS said the participation rate for men 16 and over was 68.9 percent, compared with 73.1 ten years ago and 75.0 percent 20 years ago.

Yellen said a skills gap and opioid addiction contribute to the problem:

"Well, we've had many decades of declining labor force participation by prime-age men, and I think this reflects a whole variety of adverse trends, related particularly to technological change, that's eliminated many middle-income jobs, those that can be replaced by technology, combined with global -- global outsourcing in production," Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee on July 13.

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