Start at the Bottom, Stay at the Bottom: Hard choices in hard times for young men

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

I read a news article the other day about NEETs — young men not in employment, education, or training. The tone of the article was pretty critical of young men who were holding out for good paying jobs with some degree of status and security.

The article was dismissive of these young men, criticizing them for “holding out for a unicorn” while young women, are making the right choice by taking whatever job they can get and establishing themselves in the labor force.

I thought the article was disrespectful of these young men They are doing exactly what young men are expected to do — find a job that allows them to support a family in some degree of security and possibly even upward mobility. After, what women would want to start a life with a man who will never be able to provide for them and their children?

But that was passed by in a rush to pillory these young men for attempting to establish themselves as dependable breadwinners and desirable partners for the young women who had taken far less lucrative jobs.

These young women will eventually find that the first job defines a workers identity in the eyes of employers — and everyone else. It’s the idea of “anchoring”. The next job they apply to will be seen as relative to the first…