Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.
Men Without Work  By  cover art

Men Without Work

By: Nicholas Eberstadt
Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.75

Buy for $13.75

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

By one reading, things look pretty good for Americans today: The country is richer than ever before, and the unemployment rate is down by half since the Great Recession.

But a closer look shows that something is going seriously wrong. This is the collapse of work - especially among America's men. Political economist Nicholas Eberstadt shows that while "unemployment" has gone down, America's work rate is also lower today than a generation ago - and that the work rate for US men has been spiraling downward for half a century. Astonishingly, the work rate for American males aged 25-54 - or "men of prime working age" - was actually slightly lower in 2015 than it had been in 1940, before the war and at the tail end of the Great Depression.

Today, nearly one in six prime working-age men has no paid work at all - and nearly one in eight is out of the labor force entirely, neither working nor even looking for work. This new normal of "men without work", argues Eberstadt, is "America's invisible crisis".

So who are these men? How did they get there? What are they doing with their time? And what are the implications of this exit from work for American society?

©2016 Nicholas Eberstadt (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

“An unsettling portrait not just of male unemployment, but also of lives deeply alienated from civil society.” ( The New York Times)

What listeners say about Men Without Work

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    72
  • 4 Stars
    39
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    83
  • 4 Stars
    24
  • 3 Stars
    12
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    62
  • 4 Stars
    38
  • 3 Stars
    18
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great breakdown of issue

The book creates a solid path providing reasoning as why an issue such as men leaving the workforce is a larger issue than previous conversations have lead on about.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Informative

Great book, Looking forward to seeing the updates in the most recent release of the book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Eye opening.

Unique points, back with statistics and It’s good to be Latino and the work force

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Perspective

I enjoyed the perspective presented in this book. Discovered this listing to the Modern Wisdom Podcast. I fully enjoyed the book lots to think about and very well presented and backed up data.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Stong finish

Lots of data for those of us that care for it. The critique and response at the end is excellent and provides balance and strength.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Informative and objective

The author does an incredible job of of presenting the fact and keeping his personal opinions out of it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great information not suited to audio

Love the book. The information is important and well documented. But the audiobook version can have you listening to a list of numbers. I highly recommend the kindle or printed version. The audio, not so much.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A war for hearts and minds

Government subsidies during the pandemic, devastated the workplace and workforce. This inspired many companies to embrace automation much more quickly than planned. As an elder millennial and military veteran I saw my peers with college degrees accept work at a lower wage than expected, further displacing those “without”degrees. The “overqualified” replacing the “qualified” and acting as blockers. In a post, pandemic world, where nearly everything is being automated. Where would you have our young men and women find purpose and value?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good information, but very academic

There is a lot of good information in this book. It's interesting, but you may get overwhelmed or find yourself tuning out when the text becomes page after page of Labor Bureau Statistics. This is really an academic journal paper published as a book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

too many stats for audiobook

i think info of the book was just too dry to listen too. listening endlessly to statics being repeatedly spoken makes it hard to stay focus on audiobook. probably reading actual book w graphs would be more engaging.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful