Penna Dexter

Last year, to coincide with Labor Day, Senator Marco Rubio’s office issued a report entitled, “The State of the Working (and Non-Working) Man.” Labor Day 2024 comes amidst presidential campaigns in which the American working class is a key constituency.

Senator Rubio’s report lays some groundwork by stating that “prime age men who are not in the labor force report feeling sad and purposeless at much higher rates than men with jobs.” These men spend more time alone than those who are working. More than two thirds of these non-working men “have never married” and nearly “a third live with their parents.” Almost half of them take painkillers daily. “And they are more likely to take their own lives.”

The report points out that “working men face a crisis of their own: their outcomes and prospects in work, education and family life are dimmer than their fathers" because “they face an economy and society that no longer rewards their efforts the way they once did.”

The report cites several contributing factors: One is “mass immigration.” Another is deindustrialization with manufacturing being replaced by a “service economy.” Writer and consultant Aaron Renn publishes a Substack newsletter which tackles challenges unique to men in our society. Mr. Renn says that although Senator Rubio supports working to reindustrialize America, it’s not a panacea. He says this report wisely avoids overpromising what can be accomplished by reindustrialization.

We need more men in what the report calls “protector” professions like policing, border patrol, and the military — areas where, arguably, expansion is needed anyway.

The report recommends eliminating the marriage penalty in federal assistance programs. And it wisely recommends making it mandatory that able-bodied men be actively looking for work in order to receive any public benefits.

Some of the report’s recommendations unwisely expand government. We must adopt common-sense policies that encourage men to work — and to become independent, marry, and form families.