, Columnist
Out of Prison, Out of Work
Mass incarceration, not robots, is to blame for the surge in men who've left the labor force.
Lock-up nation.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
About 7 million American men of prime working age (25 through 54) are not in the labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means they don't have a paid job and haven't been actively looking for one.
This figure does not include those in jail or prison.1475503794048 It does include students and men staying home to take care of children or other family members -- but, as Nicholas Eberstadt estimates in his important new book, "Men Without Work," these two categories seem to account for less than 15 percent of what he calls the NILFs (for not in labor force). And the NILF share of the U.S. prime-age male population has been growing and growing.