Working-Class Men Are Not Okay

Sometimes I think about the fifty-year-old man living in my mom’s garage.

Todd is an affable giant, his red beard and long hair giving him the air of a medieval Viking. But his life is far from a fairy tale. Since his divorce years ago, he’s floated between housing situations and minimum-wage jobs. At present, he cooks at a charming but dumpy diner that serves a local central Illinois delicacy known as the “horseshoe.” Because he only nets minimum wage, he has difficulty paying off debt and making ends meet as the cost of living increases. He doesn’t have health insurance, and his nagging physical ailments are worsening.

My brother, his former boss, took him in as an emergency measure to keep him off the streets. A year later, he’s still sleeping on a couch in the garage with little hope of a more independent arrangement.

Stories like Todd’s of life at the margins aren’t uncommon. Last month, the American Institute for Boys and Men published a study examining the state of working-class men in America, and its findings are bleak. The report offers a troubling snapshot of the issues afflicting them, including stagnant wages, dwindling job prospects, declining health, and shortened lifespans.

A wide swath of American men continue to thrive on the top perches of society. The C-suites are full of them. They’re wealthy, have access to capital and power, are relatively healthy and receive quality healthcare, are more likely than working-class men to be married with stable families, and have robust social networks. But what this study and others like it make increasingly evident is that the number of men at the bottom tier of society is growing, and life at the bottom is getting worse.

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