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When Labor’s Lost: Health, Family Life, Incarceration, and Education in a Time of Declining Economic Opportunity for Low-Skilled Men

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  • Courtney Coile
  • Mark Duggan
Abstract
The economic progress of U.S. men has stagnated in recent decades, with declining labor force participation and weak growth in real earnings, particularly for less educated and non-white men. In this paper, we illuminate the broader context in which prime-age men are experiencing economic stagnation. We explore changes for prime-age men over time in education, mortality, morbidity, disability program receipt, family structure, and incarceration rates, indicators that may be affected by men’s sluggish economic progress or play a role in explaining it, or both. While establishing causality for such a wide range of health and other outcomes is inherently difficult, we discuss clues provided by recent research.

Suggested Citation

  • Courtney Coile & Mark Duggan, 2019. "When Labor’s Lost: Health, Family Life, Incarceration, and Education in a Time of Declining Economic Opportunity for Low-Skilled Men," NBER Working Papers 25569, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:25569
    Note: LS
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    2. Akerlof, Robert & Rayo, Luis, 2020. "Narratives and the Economics of the Family," CEPR Discussion Papers 15152, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. Akerlof, Robert & Rayo, Luis, 2020. "Narratives and the Economics of the Family," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1299, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    4. Erin E. George & Jessica Milli & Sophie Tripp, 2022. "Worse than a double whammy: The intersectional causes of wage inequality between women of colour and White men over time," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(3), pages 302-341, September.
    5. Rodríguez-González, Ana, 2021. "The Impact of the Female Advantage in Education on the Marriage Market," Working Papers 2021:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    6. Leive, Adam A. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2021. "Has mortality risen disproportionately for the least educated?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    7. Delfino, Alexia, 2021. "Breaking Gender Barriers: Experimental Evidence on Men in Pink-Collar Jobs," IZA Discussion Papers 14083, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Joel Cuffey & Timothy K. M. Beatty & Elton Mykerezi, 2022. "Work Effort and Work Requirements for Food Assistance among U.S. Adults," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 294-317, January.
    9. O'Brien, Rourke & Bair, Elizabeth F. & Venkataramani, Atheendar S., 2022. "Death by Robots? Automation and Working-Age Mortality in the United States," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 607-628.
    10. Akerlof, Robert & Rayo, Luis, 2020. "Narratives and the Economics of the Family," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 503, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    11. Laura A Harvey & James Rockey, 2020. "The declining fortunes of (most) American workers," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2020-04, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

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