[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
World News See other World News Articles Title: Marrying less and dying sooner — how the downward spiral of manufacturing is hurting American men As middle-income workers are pushed down the economic ladder — going from relatively higher-wage factory jobs to minimum-wage retail jobs — it's making it harder for lower-income workers to pull themselves up. Reuters The disappearance of good manufacturing jobs is pushing middle-income workers down the economic ladder. Trade is partly to blame, but it is not the only factor contributing to this and the government needs to look at the bigger picture. The permanent loss of these jobs is contributing to a deterioration in quality of life, and political polarization. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican candidate Donald Trump tapped into the anger over the loss of manufacturing and coal jobs. The culprit behind the misery of American workers, he said, was international trade. The message resonated, especially with male manufacturing workers who'd seen their job prospects dwindle over the past two decades. It's true that middle-income jobs have been drying up, and even if the loss of those jobs is not just explained by trade and the rise of manufacturing in China or Mexico, trade is a factor. What's also true is that this shortage of good manufacturing jobs is creating a kind of downward spiral. As middle-income workers are pushed down the economic ladder — going from relatively higher-wage factory jobs to, say, minimum-wage retail jobs — it's making it harder for lower-income workers to pull themselves up. All this is turning up in measures of quality of life. Studies have linked trade shocks, like the emergence of China as a manufacturing base, to drops in marriage rates, upticks in risky behaviors like drug and alcohol abuse, and rising numbers of children living in impoverished, single-parent homes. These trends have created a divide. While the majority of workers in America weren't severely affected by trade, either way, a concentrated minority saw a reversal of fortunes. Those most hurt by trade have grown more politically polarized. The Trump team has promised to make companies build factories at home and "hire American." The solution, though, is more complicated. Trade is just one part of the picture, and the administration's narrow focus doesn't address the bigger economic shift that's under way. High-school graduates see a reversal of fortunes American men have been dropping out of the workforce for over half a century. But even though participation has been falling for years, there's another, more recent trend that stands out: People who only have a high-school diploma are particularly worse off today compared to 40 years ago. The slump is particularly striking when comparing wages of high-school graduates to college graduates. In the 1970s, high-school graduates earned about 85% of what college graduates earned, but by about 2015 they earned about 55% of their college-educated counterparts. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
"It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men." -- Samuel Adams (1722-1803)‡ "Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." -- Thomas Jefferson
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||