Polls Show More Than Tea Party Anger Toward Government

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Meet the Unemployable Man

by David Wessel

Saturday, May 1, 2010

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The betting is that the Labor Department's Friday snapshot of the job market will show that employers added workers in April, perhaps even that the unemployment rate fell.

That would be good news, but not good enough. It's hard to exaggerate how bad the job market is. Here's one arresting fact: One of every five men 25 to 54 isn't working.

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Even more alarming, the jobs that many of these men, or those like them, once had in construction, factories and offices aren't coming back. "A good guess…is that when the economy recovers five years from now, one in six men who are 25 to 54 will not be working," Lawrence Summers, the president's economic adviser, said the other day.

This is not one of the many things that can be blamed on subprime lending, inept regulators or Goldman Sachs. "The Great Recession has reinforced prevailing labor market trends that were under way long before the recession," David Autor, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist, observed in a recent paper commissioned by two Democratic-leaning think tanks, the Center for American Progress and the Hamilton Project.

Demand for workers who haven't much education -- which includes many men, particularly minority-group men -- is waning. A shrinking fraction of them are working. Some are looking for work; some have given up. Some are collecting disability benefits or an early-retirement pension. Some are just idle. On average, surveys find, the unemployed in the U.S. spend 40 minutes a day looking for work and 3 hours and 20 minutes a day watching TV.

For 50 years, the fraction of men with jobs in what once were prime earning years has been trending down. Over the same decades, the share of women who work has been rising, a significant social change that lately has cushioned the blow of Dad's unemployment for many couples.

Women have suffered less in this recession. They were more likely to be in health care and other jobs that weren't hit as hard as construction and manufacturing. They are increasingly likely to have the education so often required to get or keep a good job these days.

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That's good for their families. But will there be good-paying jobs in the future for prime-age men, particularly the ones who don't go to college?

Americans have worried for decades that the economy won't produce enough jobs. But the economy always provided. As farm jobs were eliminated by mechanization, factories hired more. As factories increased productivity and moved work offshore, more Americans got jobs in health care and other services. And the economists said to all those who had been worried about perennial, persistent unemployment: We told you so!

Yet nothing in the textbooks says that the supply and demand for workers will intersect at a wage that is socially acceptable. At the high end, demand for skilled workers and those who rely on their brains will return when the economy does. At the other end, jobs in restaurants, nursing homes and health clubs -- the jobs that are hard to automate or outsource -- will come back, too.

In the middle, there will be some jobs for workers without much education, for the plumbers, electricians and software technicians. But not enough to go around.

Men who in an earlier era would have been making good money on the assembly line are, and will be, working security or greeting at Wal-Mart, jobs that almost anyone can do and thus jobs that don't pay well.

If they're working at all. Today, 6.5 million workers have been out of work for six months or more, and that includes only those who are still looking for work. History suggests the longer they're unemployed, the less likely they are ever to work again. Faster economic growth would help a lot, but won't suffice.

One way to resist these market forces is to reduce the supply of workers who aren't in demand and increase the supply of workers who are. That is, educate more and better: Fix K-12 schools, improve worker-training programs, strengthen community colleges, give more aid to college students. All this is wise, but most of it will take a long time.

Another option is on the demand side: Force employers to be less efficient so they have to hire more, or limit imports of goods that threaten jobs of less educated, prime-wage men -- solutions with unwelcome side effects.

The government, Mr. Summers said, can increase demand for labor in the short run. Spending more public money on infrastructure, he argued, will both strengthen the economy for the future and employ out-of-work construction workers.

A third option is surrender to market forces and tax the winners to subsidize the losers. Sending checks to idle men is unappealing, but the government could do more to supplement wages (or health insurance costs) for those who work at low wages.

Each approach has shortcomings. So does doing nothing. Sidelining a huge part of an entire generation of men would waste human potential, create economic misery for their families and fuel political discontent.

American fallen apart because there is no good leader to lead it a good country in a bad hand leader would never be good for it people or for the stinky whole world of CA 8:08PM May 06, 2010

I recommend an excellent article about the political context of the Tea party, its development, and likely evolution at:

http://funks2.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/the-trip-to-nowhere-on-the-tea-party-express/

FunkUniversity of IL 11:28PM May 05, 2010

There are millions more of fed up and good and mad Independent Voters,that are not tea party members that have had it with the

Barack Hussein Obama and Democrat Controlled Congress and Big

Government as well. And so,don't forget that many of them,are

newly minted independents that used to be Democrat or Republican

like myself and we strongly oppose many of the Socialist and out

of touch with reality disasterous policies of the pathetic total

failure out of touch with reality Barack Obama Administration and Liberal Socialist Democrat Controlled Congress as well...The

mainstream newsmedia and Democrats have totally underestimated the voter anger and will apparently only realize it on Election Days 2010 and 2012 when we throw the bums out and Democrats will

soon discover why the voters oppose Illegal Alien Amnesty,the

lack of Jobs and tanked Economy and our troops still being in

Afghanistan and Iraq on election day.

Ralph of AZ 9:05PM May 05, 2010

"The one word that fits us the best is NORMAL"

LOL. Have you seen those people with the signs railing against "socalism" and "amnety"?

I guess it's normal to them.

Sam of TX 6:50PM May 05, 2010

"The one word that fits us the best is NORMAL"

LOL. Have you seen those people with the signs railing against "socalism" and "amnety"?

I guess it's normal to them.

Sam of TX 6:50PM May 05, 2010

I am a member of Tea Party Nation; and I can tell you that most Americans don't understand Who the Tea Party is comprised of. They assume they know, without doing any research. But, by God, they know what their friends are saying!

Most members of the Tea Party are well educated. We are decent hard-working individuals who care about ourselves, our neighbors, and our friends. We are loyal to the state we live in and the USA as a whole. We get involved in our communities; our church; our schools; and we help support one another.

Our membership consists of Democrats; Republicans; independants; Christians; Muslims; the Jewish; and other religions (or none at all!). We're referred to as members of the general public here in the USA.

We've been called a lot of names by people who don't know any better. The one word that fits us the best is NORMAL.

Barry W. Shook of IN 4:23PM May 05, 2010

Us Teabaggers hate that whole "common good" thing in the constitution. We'll take that out because it just causes too many problems. Then we'll fix the part where the founding father's forgot to put Jesus in the Constitution, making sure that Christianity is the official religion of the U.S. How could they have left that part out in the first place? Then we'll get rid of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicade because that's just socialism and there's nothing we hate more than socialism. We will get rid of ALL regulations on corporation so they can do whatever they want to because we know that the markets work and solve EVERYTHING! So what if you can't get electricity, or water, or mail service in rural areas because it's not profitable enough? There's no RIGHT to electricity! That would be socialism and that's BAD!! We would never have intervened in the financial meltdown because stopping a depression is socialist! Letting all the banks and the domestic auto industry fail would be patriotic. Trying to stop Wall Street bankers from destroying the country to get rich would be, you guessed it, SOCIALISM! And NO MORE STATUES WITH BREASTS! We will put a stop to that nonsense right away! No one is allowe to have obscene breasts except Rush Limbaugh.

Sam of TX 3:21PM May 05, 2010

One of the biggest problems in history is mobs. Taking over businesses and some detect telling you that there is not enough evidence. Talking about politics is majorly fun. I am wanting to promote prolife christian liberal and moderate politicians. You saw very little promotion. Why? I am for Sam BownBack. Well thank you. Promote buses to smaller citys. Promote start up fund for poverty stricken. Some never was given help in life. Say no to abortion. A new cell, genetics, a new person!!! I loved your kids!! Rev 12:9kjv. 1 corinth 14:26 kjv. Gal 3:3. Consequences of sin. rom 12:2kjv. psa99:9-outside pray.Col 3:11kjv. Lord Jesus is coolest. Think on righteousness.

andy tucker Jesus 1 of IN 2:26PM May 05, 2010

Why are we arguing with Fools, the entire "Tea Party" protests are with-in the rights of the people of the United States. While I believe them to be misguided, confused and very dangerous in a lot of ways. It is not my job to decide who or what they are or believe. From what I have seen on all the radio and tv news, and I mean all, no bi-part here, I believe you must have all the puzzle pieces to solve the puzzle some times those pieces might come from FOX News. Even if the piece is something of a "What not to do" upside down piece.

The point is this, we all need to stop worrying about "Big" and "Small" the whole thing sounds like a penis measuring contest. Why don't we start worrying about right and wrong. Its Not Ok to let people die when you can help them, those people working at insurance companies denying claims on dying people. They already know where there heading at the end. There are a couple very simple ways to live your life, you can attach to a cause and live your life through it. You can devote yourself to another persons dreams, you can find religion, you can find true love, you can really help people, everyone should try it sometime its incredible medicine for your soul.

None of those things mention anything about Allowing your neighbor to die because he lost his job and insurance. I have seen the Tea Party interviews of hundreds of followers, there was one man dressed as the devil who made some valid points. And had he been wearing pants, a suit or even a trash bag I might have been more apt to listen. The vast majority after the guy in the devil suit could not pronounce their name, much less spell it. I'm not judging the overall intelligence of the Tea Party, my concern is this. Usually you hide the less than desirable people in the background, you don't let them on camera to effect the social impressions.

What I am saying is, if you want to be appreciated as a real party. Hire some people to consolidate your message and speak for you. So that you don't sound like a family of incest survivors on a long weekend. And if that is not in the cards, just select Palin as your candidate for President and everything will come to end pretty quick for you. People love the Idea of Palin, the reality of her might be very dangerous for the country.

Andrea Qync of NJ 1:58PM May 05, 2010

I notice your retort to my comment entitled "This is why" starts with "Guess we need to", followed by utter nonsense about shutting down everything under the sun. You have stated a perfectly clear example of so much of the Tea Party Talk that is filled with "guess" and devoid of thought.

Those of us who believe in sufficiently-sized (big) government do not wish in any way to shut down the private sector. We merely know that there is no other way to keep corporations from stealing the very "freedoms" that you think you can protect (but can't) by standing out on the street with a placard or by standing on your front porch with a shotgun. If you keep any money in a bank, you should be glad you have the FDIC.

Muser of NM 1:30PM May 05, 2010

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Jodie Allen

Jodie Allen

Jodie Allen is senior editor at the Pew Research Center. She joined the Pew Center from U.S. News & World Report where she was a managing editor and the business editor and also wrote a bi-weekly column on the political economy. She came to U.S. News from Slate Magazine, where she was the Washington bureau chief. Before joining Slate she was the editor of Outlook, the Sunday commentary section of the Washington Post. She has also been an editorial writer and business columnist with the Post.

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