Demographers
and economists say American men are facing an epidemic of epic proportions:
joblessness.
We’ve all
seen the signs on highways and other construction sites around the country:
“Men at Work.” Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, those signs are increasingly
out of date—and not because they’re politically incorrect. The fact is, more
and more men not only aren’t at work, they’re not even trying to
find a job.
Princeton
economist Alan Krueger counts 7 million men in America between the prime
working ages of 25 and 54 completely out of the workforce, supported by someone
else. That’s 11.4 percent of men in that demographic, about triplethe
share of men out of the workforce in the 1950s.
Besides
the loss of a paycheck, these 7 million men report all kinds of problems: 40
percent say they experience pain that keeps them from working. A third say they
cannot climb stairs or have some other disability. And get this—44 percent say
they take daily painkillers—and two-thirds of those say they’re on prescription
meds. Further, Krueger says, that they “experience notably low levels of
emotional well-being throughout their days and ... they derive relatively
little meaning from their daily activities.”
Demographer
Nicholas Eberstadt says in his new book “Men Without Work,” “We might say
those many millions of men without work constitute a sort of invisible army,
ghost soldiers lost in an overlooked, modern-day depression.”
How should
we respond? Well, for those who are able and for whatever reason choose not
to work, a biblical worldview teaches us that work is good. God
gave men and women work to do in the Garden before the Fall.
Work allows us to take care of God’s creation and bring glory to Him as His
stewards. Work is not optional for those able to do work, and
that’s most of us. There are to be no shirkers in the Lord’s
kingdom. As Paul said, “If a man will not work, neither let him eat.”
As for
those who want to work but cannot find a job, this demographic
disaster for men is a challenge to the Church to rediscover its calling to help
its neighbors—both Christian and non-Christian—find work that brings dignity
and pays the bills. The great evangelist John Wesley, for example, not only
preached the Gospel in the fields and among common working people, such as coal
miners, he urged the new believers to take their work seriously and support all
kinds of social reforms through it. Remember his famous maxim to “gain all you
can, save all you can, and give all you can”? It’s still true!
Today,
there are limitless ways that our churches can bless the neighbors in our
communities who struggle with unemployment and its effects. One, in eastern Wisconsin,
is called Project Joseph, a joint effort of U.S. Senator Ron Johnson, his
staff, and an inner-city congregation called the Greater Praise Church of God
in Christ. Near a Milwaukee neighborhood in which 62 percent of men have been
incarcerated at some point, Project Joseph teaches job interviewing and
punctuality skills to prospective employees. According to World magazine,
the first class had 14 vetted applicants. Kohler, the first participating
company, offered all 14 a job. Thirteen accepted offers and began work at
Kohler last October. The program is now in its 10th session.
Pastor Jerome Smith says, “God has used the Joseph Project to bring together
blacks, whites, Hispanics, even Indians.”
There are many
other examples of churches working with business and government to get people
back to work. Find out what’s being done in your community—and then find a way
to support it.
While there may not be as many “Men at Work” signs
out there as there used to be, the signs of God’s kingdom at
work are visible for anyone willing to look.
Eric
Metaxas is the host of the “Eric Metaxas Show,” a co-host of “BreakPoint” radio
and a New York Times #1 best-selling author whose works have been translated
into more than twenty languages.
Editor's
Note: This piece was originally published by BreakPoint.
