i think that the two primary potential culprits are labor demand and labor supply. Once upon a time, america had an abundant amount of demand for men who were strong but perhaps not particularly well educated in terms of formal schooling. And over the course of the past 50 years, the demand for less well educated men have has plummeted. The main story for that is that we've made joblessness less awful right? Have benefit programmes like disability insurance that actually make it possible to be a to be jobless and to survive. That's pulled back the the labor supply. But te other two, we see labor supplied being pulled back, at the same time we have both the welfare system
Why are fewer men working over the last few decades? Is a universal basic income a good policy for coping with the loss of employment? Economist Edward Glaeser of Harvard University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what Glaeser calls the war on work--the policy changes that have reduced employment among prime-aged men. Glaeser does not see the universal basic income as a viable solution to the decrease in work especially if technology ends up reducing employment opportunities more dramatically in the future. The conversation also includes a discussion of the role of cities and the reduction in geographic mobility in the United States.