Description: Nicholas Eberstadt's landmark 2016 study, Men without Work, cast a spotlight on the collapse of work for men in modern America. Rosy reports of low unemployment rates and "full or near full employment" conditions, he contends, were overlooking a quiet, continuing crisis: Depression-era work rates for American men of "prime working age" (twenty-five to fifty-four).
Review Quotes:
"[A] searing indictment of contemporary America. It convinces me that economics cannot explain why 1 in 7 prime age men 25 to 54 are not working today amidst a massive labor shortage."
Lawrence H. Summers, 71st Secretary of the Treasury
"Nick Eberstadt is a political economist and Harvard grad with lots of accolades and many academic accomplishments. I won't list them all, but suffice it to say he's the real deal. Nick has also written a number of excellent books, one of which I was delighted to learn confirms my long-held views about America's flight from work. The book is called Men Without Work, and it was first published in 2016, when Nick first began to see a shocking number of healthy men in their prime working years, exit the workforce. He's just released an updated version of his book, and for good reason. Since the lockdown, the underlying problem has been exacerbated exponentially....Nick has the courage to spell it all out."
Mike Rowe, The Way I Heard It
"As Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute, the author of Men Without Work, has powerfully pointed out, we are suffering from an ongoing decline in the workforce participation rate of working-age men. There are, he reports, some four times as many prime working-age men (25 to 34) who have simply dropped out of the workforce as there are those formally unemployed and looking for work."
Howard Husock, New York Daily News
"Nicholas Eberstadt is one of America's most brilliant political economists."
James Bradshaw, Position Papers
"[A] timely warning to both sides of the aisle as to the challenges social policy still faces."
Charles Fain Lehman, Washington Free Beacon
"I really highly recommend this book."
Inez Stepman, Independent Women's Forum
"Nicholas Eberstadt has written a compelling book about what has happened to millions of men in America as a result of our cultural moment.
Tim Goeglein, The Federalist
"[Eberstadt] demonstrates that a trend that began in the 90s was accelerated by the pandemic, when government programs incentivized many men to go into a form of 'premature retirement' and drop out of the workforce."
Ralph Schoellhammer, Newsweek
"[Eberstadt] has done significant research on the phenomenon of 'men without work.' A new edition of that pioneering study just came out to account for the impact of COVID-19....The most disturbing aspect of Eberstadt's research is not men who want but can't find work. They're as real and common as unicorns. It's men who could but aren't looking for work, men who have bowed out of the workforce."
John Grondelski, National Catholic Register
"I think it's fantastic. It's a quick read and it's a powerful read."
Brian Buffini, It's A Good Life