最新研究显示，男性因对社会地位不满拒绝工作
尽管美联储（Federal Reserve）竭力降温，但今年美国就业市场依然火爆，失业率仅为3.7%，接近50年来最低。
但过去几十年里，部分人群一直在默默离开劳动力市场，早在新冠疫情爆发前就已开始。
离开劳动力市场的人当中，年龄在25岁至54岁之间，没有大学本科学历的男性人数最多。波士顿联邦储备银行（Federal Reserve Bank of Boston）一项最新研究显示，这群人之所以不再工作，是因为他们认为自身的社会地位不如年龄相仿且受过良好教育的男性。
1980年以来，未接受大学教育的男性收入比其他壮年劳动力的平均收入低了30%以上。经通胀调增后，他们的周薪下降了17%，而受过大学教育的男性周薪增加了20%。该研究作者吴平晖（音译）写道，收入损失导致他们社会地位下降，从而彻底离开劳动力市场。
“对很多员工来说，工作不仅提供经济保障，也能肯定其社会地位，最终关系到他们跟同龄人的相对地位和很多社会结果，” 吴平晖写道。
研究发现，过去40年里未接受大学教育的男性收入下降，导致其离开劳动力市场的可能性增加了近半个百分点。算起来这群男性退出劳动力市场的几率增加了44%。
男性退出劳动力市场其实几年前已有迹象，近年来随着疫情期间很多男性选择不再工作，这一趋势愈发明显。
截至11月，35岁至44岁的男性中近89.7%正在找工作或在职。据《纽约时报》报道，疫情之前找工作或在职的男性占比为90.9%。
根据美联储研究，年轻白人男性预期工资相对于受教育程度更高的同龄人减少时，退出劳动力市场的可能性更高。与男性不一样，女性并未出现因受教育程度更低导致工资偏少。女性群体无论学历如何周薪均增加了32%。
过去40年里，多项研究调查了无大学学历壮年男性在劳动力市场中下降的现象。有些研究认为男性劳动力参与率下降与美国制造业工作岗位萎缩有关，因为制造业中男性比例极高。然而吴平晖表示，该结论并不能解释壮年男性劳动力参与率为何持续下降。
“如果高收入者和低收入者收入差距不断增加已直接或间接影响到男性劳动力供应，那么收入不平等对经济的影响可能比设想中更大，” 吴平晖写道。（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
尽管美联储（Federal Reserve）竭力降温，但今年美国就业市场依然火爆，失业率仅为3.7%，接近50年来最低。
但过去几十年里，部分人群一直在默默离开劳动力市场，早在新冠疫情爆发前就已开始。
离开劳动力市场的人当中，年龄在25岁至54岁之间，没有大学本科学历的男性人数最多。波士顿联邦储备银行（Federal Reserve Bank of Boston）一项最新研究显示，这群人之所以不再工作，是因为他们认为自身的社会地位不如年龄相仿且受过良好教育的男性。
1980年以来，未接受大学教育的男性收入比其他壮年劳动力的平均收入低了30%以上。经通胀调增后，他们的周薪下降了17%，而受过大学教育的男性周薪增加了20%。该研究作者吴平晖（音译）写道，收入损失导致他们社会地位下降，从而彻底离开劳动力市场。
“对很多员工来说，工作不仅提供经济保障，也能肯定其社会地位，最终关系到他们跟同龄人的相对地位和很多社会结果，” 吴平晖写道。
研究发现，过去40年里未接受大学教育的男性收入下降，导致其离开劳动力市场的可能性增加了近半个百分点。算起来这群男性退出劳动力市场的几率增加了44%。
男性退出劳动力市场其实几年前已有迹象，近年来随着疫情期间很多男性选择不再工作，这一趋势愈发明显。
截至11月，35岁至44岁的男性中近89.7%正在找工作或在职。据《纽约时报》报道，疫情之前找工作或在职的男性占比为90.9%。
根据美联储研究，年轻白人男性预期工资相对于受教育程度更高的同龄人减少时，退出劳动力市场的可能性更高。与男性不一样，女性并未出现因受教育程度更低导致工资偏少。女性群体无论学历如何周薪均增加了32%。
过去40年里，多项研究调查了无大学学历壮年男性在劳动力市场中下降的现象。有些研究认为男性劳动力参与率下降与美国制造业工作岗位萎缩有关，因为制造业中男性比例极高。然而吴平晖表示，该结论并不能解释壮年男性劳动力参与率为何持续下降。
“如果高收入者和低收入者收入差距不断增加已直接或间接影响到男性劳动力供应，那么收入不平等对经济的影响可能比设想中更大，” 吴平晖写道。（财富中文网）
译者：梁宇
审校：夏林
Depressed worker.
The job market in the U.S. has remained hot this year despite the Federal Reserve’s best efforts to cool it down, and unemployment is at just 3.7%, close to a 50-year low.
But part of the population has been silently walking away from work for several decades—well before the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Men without four-year college degrees, between the ages of 25 and 54, have left the workforce in higher numbers than other groups. And they’re leaving because of their perceived social status relative to better-educated men of similar age, according to a new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
Non-college-educated men have seen their pay shrink by more than 30% since 1980 compared to the average earnings of all other prime-age workers. Their weekly earnings have declined 17%, while those of college-educated men rose by 20%, adjusting for inflation. That earnings loss has caused a decline in their social status, prompting them to walk away from work entirely, Pinghui Wu, the author of the study, wrote.
“For many workers, a job not only offers financial security, it also affirms their status, which is tied to their position relative to their age peers and many social outcomes,” Wu wrote.
The study found that the decline in earnings for non-college-educated men over the last four decades has increased their likelihood of leaving the labor force by nearly half a percentage point. That also accounts for 44% of the increase in their exit rate.
Even though the pattern of men withdrawing from the labor force dates back several years, it has been more pronounced in recent years, as a number of men who the workforce during the pandemic chose not to return.
Nearly 89.7% of men between 35 to 44 years were looking for jobs or already working as of November. That’s down from 90.9% compared to the time period before the pandemic, according to the New York Times.
Younger white men in particular were more likely to leave when their expected wages fell relative to their more educated peers, according to the Fed study. Unlike men, women have not seen the same level of decline in their wages based on education. That group has seen a 32% increase in weekly earnings, irrespective of their educational qualifications.
There have been numerous studies investigating the decline of non-college prime-age men in the labor force over the past 40 years. Some have linked the decline in male labor force participation to the contraction of manufacturing jobs in the U.S., since men were disproportionately represented in the manufacturing sector. However, Wu says that explanation does not explain the persistence of the decline in prime-age men’s labor participation over several years.
“If the increasing wage gap between high and low earners directly or indirectly affects men’s aggregate labor supply, wage inequality might have carried wider implications to the economy than previously believed,” Wu wrote.
