The Blubber

The Wall Street Journal has added yet another piece to the growing collection of articles discussing the struggles of young men in America. I've addressed this topic extensively in the past, so I won't rehash everything here. But at its core, I always come back to a basic point:

Yes, young men faced challenges in the 2000s, likely due to the impact of globalization, specifically the China shock. However, for over a decade now, they've been doing fairly well. Today's 20-year-olds were in middle school the last time you could argue young men were facing significant difficulties. Most of them have grown up in an era where young men have been generally successful.

But something struck me: the anecdotes in the Journal's story seem to focus on a specific group—men who went to college but dropped out after a semester or two. So, how are they doing?

Interestingly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has a category for people with "some college, no degree." Although the data only goes back a few years and isn’t broken down by age, it could still offer some insights. Could this particular demographic be struggling? Let’s take a look:

Surprisingly, those with "some college" actually perform better than most groups. I wouldn’t overstate this because the growth rates are small, and the data is limited, but it does suggest that these men, who didn't stick with college, aren't necessarily doing worse than their peers.

The same can be said for many other areas. When you examine employment, living arrangements, education, friendships, drug use, and other aspects of life, young men are often doing just fine, or their issues are ones that affect people of all ages and genders. It's hard to find concrete data pointing to any severe problems specific to this group.