
Why have so many American men given up on work?
CBSN
Many men in the U.S. leave the labor force when their earnings decline compared with their better-paid peers, new research shows. The study found that more men drop out when when workers' relative earnings fall.
The findings, from the Federal Reserve of Boston, help explain a trend economists have been puzzling over for decades: Why so many men have given up on the idea of holding down a job. Roughly one in nine men ages 25 to 54, an individual's prime working years, are out of the labor market today; that compared to one in 50 in the mid-1950s.
The trend has been driven chiefly by working-age men without college degrees who are exiting the labor force at higher rates, according to the study. Since 1980, workers without a four-year college degree have seen their earnings steadily erode relative to their college-educated peers, the findings show.

There have been 27 major disaster declarations issued by President Trump so far in 2025. The disasters range in size and scope, from the L.A. wildfires to Midwest tornadoes and the Texas flooding as well as several winter storms. Many of them have resulted infatalities and billions of dollars in damage to property and businesses, but one major deadly weather event that occurred in June hasn't been declared: an extreme heat wave.