A Good Man for U.S. Manufacturing Is Hard to Find

American factories are already having difficulty filling jobs, and not because of trade policy

By Allysia Finley. Excerpts:

"The labor force participation rate among working-age men is now about five percentage points lower than in the early 1980s. As a result, there are about 3.5 million fewer men between the ages of 25 and 54 in the workforce, and 1.3 million between the ages of 25 and 34, than there would have been were it not for this decline."

"So where have all the good working men gone? Some are subsisting on government benefits or living off their parents. About 17% of working-age men are on Medicaid, 7.4% on food stamps and 6.3% on Social Security (many claiming disability payouts), according to the Census Bureau. Many spend their days playing videogames and day-trading."

"Only about 41% of men complete a bachelor’s degree in four years, and about a quarter take more than six. Many high-paying vocations don’t require college degrees, but government subsidies and public K-12 schools nonetheless steer high-school students to that track."

"Federal student loans won’t pay for apprenticeships, but they will cover the cost (including living expenses) of worthless graduate degrees in community organizing, creative writing, tourism, dance and more. Rarely does one need an advanced degree to enter such fields"

"The unemployment rate among recent college grads with a sociology degree is 6.7% and their median wage is $45,000, according to the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Sociology grads could earn twice as much working on an auto assembly line, which pays on average $100,000 a year. Good gig, but not many want it."

"Only 31% of blue-collar workers feel that their type of work is respected"