This trend of work place drop-out has been evident since
the mid 1960’s. This trend of voluntary unemployment has followed a
persistently upward trend line not correlated with economic booms and
recessions, indicating that weak market demand is not driving this tendency. Again,
what is causing this exodus from the American work force?
This phenomenon in our culture may fairly be called a
“flight from work.” This situation of working-age men not working is not
because jobs are not available. As a matter of fact, manufacturers are finding
it difficult to fill job vacancies because qualified men do not apply for the
jobs.
No, I think we must look elsewhere for the cause of this
“flight from work.” In years gone by, working men were called “tradesmen,” men
who might rightly identify themselves as carpenters, plumbers, stone masons,
brick layers, cement and asphalt workers, etc. They had jobs that required the
application of hands and muscles. Those jobs gave these men their identities,
they had real concrete work to do. Those men could look at a house and say, “I
built that.” They could take satisfaction in a job they had done well.
Now, however, many of those jobs have been taken over by
machines or other kinds of technologies. The jobs that are left are on assembly
lines tightening a thousand bolts every day on automobile chasses as they pass
by the worker on a conveyer belt. That kind of work is humiliating and
demoralizing; few workers can tolerate it for long. The drop-out rate from that
kind of work is significant; and the drop-outs retreat to the couch or the soup
kitchen.
In 1913 when Henry Ford launched his first fully
automatic production line, he encountered something he had not expected. Every
time the company wanted to add 100 men to their factory personnel, it was
necessary to hire 963 men! The drop-out rate was huge.
The only part of this cohort of non-employed working-age
men who largely hold jobs are married men living with their families and recent
immigrants. The rest are lounging on the couch watching TV, binging on alcohol,
sugar, pornography, and pain killers. Three out of five of these men are
receiving at least one disability benefit from the government. It is conceded
by thoughtful observers that this government financial benefit may not be the
cause of all this unemployment, but it is certainly financing it!
Even though there may be reasons for the “flight from
work,” one may still suspect that government handouts might be part of the
cause for the phenomenon. A look at the numbers on government subsidy is
enlightening. At this time, approximately 275 million people are receiving
government financial support. Some people receive more than one kind of
subsidy. Let’s look at the figures taken from the U.S. census for 2013. When
looking at the figures below, bear in mind that we are considering a total
population in the United States of 307 million: (numbers in the table are given
in millions)
|
Food stamps
|
50
|
|
Medicaid
|
46
|
|
Women, infants, & children (WIC)
|
23
|
|
SSI (disability payments)
|
20
|
|
Subsidized housing
|
13
|
|
Unemployment
|
5
|
|
Veterans’ benefits
|
3
|
|
Medicare
|
61
|
|
Social Security
|
54
|
One category that is rapidly growing is the category of Medicaid.
In 1990 9% of the population was on Medicaid. By 2015, 19% of our population
was on Medicaid. The people on Social Security and Medicare are mostly retired
persons who have paid into those programs out of their working income from
earlier years; I do not consider them to be recipients of welfare spending.
These figures are alarming; and it can be seen that our
nation is fast becoming an entitlement organization. When one learns that Congressional
Democrats are pushing for more Medicaid spending, one might wonder where all
the money is coming from.
Think about it!
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