The number of American men in the workforce are at its lowest level in two decades — with about one in three American men having stopped working as of 2026, new labor statistics show.
Just 66% of men were employed or actively seeking a job as of April, a nearly 20-year low from 73% in 2006, according to data the US Bureau of Labor Statistics released earlier this month.
The current number — covering men aged 20 and over — is almost exactly as low as it was after the 2008 recession, when rates first plummeted by seven points in about a year.
Employment rates slowly eked up across the 2010s — before being gutted during the 2020 pandemic, when just 59% of men were employed.
Rates partially recovered within two years but then began a trickling decline that’s persisted into the current lows.
And trends are still pointing downward, with male employment dropping as of April by a full point year over year from 2025, the Labor Department showed.
Numerous labor trends are fueling the rates, including male-heavy industries like transportation, manufacturing and other labor-intensive fields shedding jobs in the last year, according to the Washington Post.
Increasing numbers of retirees and male students have also narrowed the working population.
But men who are no longer working because of a disability make up the majority who have left the labor force.
“If me and my mom weren’t living together, I would have a really hard time living a life,” said 51-year-old Andy Breedlove, who had to quit work as a gas station manager in 2018 because a bone condition kept him from staying on his feet for long periods of time.
The West Virginian now stays at home to care for his aging mother, and lives off about $1,000 a month from government assistance.
“I’d much rather be working,” he told the Washington Post. “I’d make a lot more money.”
Even some young folks have found themselves forced out over disability.
“I have a lot of trouble doing day-to-day stuff sometimes,” said Cordell Loll, a 25-year-old who’s never had a job because of chronic stomach problems and mental health struggles. Loll spends his time keeping his health in check and playing video games at home, while living off disability checks.
“The thought of working seems very impossible,” he said.
Rates of women leaving the workforce have followed roughly similar trends over the past two decades, though with much less severe ups and downs.
Employment among women dropped by just 2 points during the 2008 recession, as opposed to the 5-point drop men experienced.
There was also a fractional decline since female labor force numbers picked up after the 2020 pandemic, but they haven’t dropped below 56% point since 2022.
The raw numbers of women in the workforce have historically been lower than men.
But the current economy has begun to favor them, with female-dominated jobs like healthcare and education increasing in the last year.
Of the 369,000 jobs added to the US economy since 2025, a shocking 96% went to women and just 4% to men, the Washington Post reported.
And despite the low counts of men actively participating the workforce, male unemployment itself has remained between 3% and 4% since 2021.
