by In the USA there is an amusing discussion going on about the decline of the participation rate of (young) men. some people state that this might be caused by digital amusement. Dean Baker rightly points out that we should not restrict this discussion to American not yet dad’s. I want to make the case that we should not even restrict this discussion to the USA. Below three graphs (source: Eurostat) which show that: A) The average participation rate in Europe increased, even after 2008 (the participation rate is not the employment rate, the difference is unemployment; the second graph shows the non-participation rate which declines, which means that the participation rate increases). B) But there is a problem with the participation rate of young people (the third graph, more remarkable is however the increase in the 54+ participation rate…) C) Differences between countries with regard to the level of young adult participation overwhelm this decline (the first graph) which means that digital amusement can not be held responsible for low participation rates. Remarkably Iceland (Is in graph 3), which has very low overall unemployment, does best.
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In the USA there is an amusing discussion going on about the decline of the participation rate of (young) men. some people state that this might be caused by digital amusement. Dean Baker rightly points out that we should not restrict this discussion to American not yet dad’s. I want to make the case that we should not even restrict this discussion to the USA. Below three graphs (source: Eurostat) which show that:
A) The average participation rate in Europe increased, even after 2008 (the participation rate is not the employment rate, the difference is unemployment; the second graph shows the non-participation rate which declines, which means that the participation rate increases).
B) But there is a problem with the participation rate of young people (the third graph, more remarkable is however the increase in the 54+ participation rate…)
C) Differences between countries with regard to the level of young adult participation overwhelm this decline (the first graph) which means that digital amusement can not be held responsible for low participation rates. Remarkably Iceland (Is in graph 3), which has very low overall unemployment, does best. Or is this in fact not remarkable at all…? Why did for instance, after 1939, all the hobo’s in the USA suddenly disappear? Where did they come from in the first place!
