More men than women are leaving US labour force

Article here. Excerpt:

'This pattern has emerged in a growing number of American households lately. During each recession for the last 40 years, a sizable number of men — more than women — have left the labor force and not come back. So far, this has been true for the pandemic too, despite rising wages and the best job market in decades. The male prime-age labor force participation rate — the share of men age 25 to 54 who are either working or looking for work — has fallen over the years from 96% in 1970 to about 89% in 2020 before the pandemic.

And despite plentiful opportunities now, the numbers haven’t recovered to pre-pandemic levels. As of the last estimate in November 2021, only 88.2% of prime age men are participating in the U.S. labor force. Which makes it clear we need a new approach to jobs.

Less-educated men are the most likely to drop out; the rate of prime-age male high school graduates in the labor force is still 1.37 percentage points lower than before the pandemic, and only 84% of men without college degrees are in the labor force. Some women left the labor force too, but not as many. Women’s participation rate dropped 0.62% — even while bearing the brunt of irregular schooling. The numbers look worse in some areas: in November only 83% of prime age men were in the labor force in West Virginia and Vermont, and just 79% in Mississippi, while 92% of prime age men were engaged in the job market in Utah.'