It’s not your imagination—more men are now married to female breadwinners than in decades past. If you look at a school carpool line, more men are present during hours that would have traditionally been reserved for work. In general, men aren’t working as much as they used to. Based on data from March 2024, there has been a significant drop in male employment. 96% of men were working full-time or part-time in the 1950s, while 86% of men ages 25–54 are working in 2024.
But as with any cultural phenomenon, the reasons for this occurrence are complex and multifaceted and can’t be solely attributed to an increased number of women financially supporting their families.
“As a business leader, I’ve had the privilege of working with numerous entrepreneurs and innovators, and I believe the trend of men working less than previous generations is a complex issue with multiple factors at play,” says Jon Morgan, CEO and editor-in-chief of Venture Smarter, a business consulting firm specializing in helping startups and small businesses grow in San Francisco.
“A significant reason [for this] is the shifting economic landscape,” he adds. “Manufacturing and traditionally male-dominated industries have seen a decline, leading to fewer stable, well-paying jobs that require long hours. As these sectors shrink, men are increasingly exploring careers in fields that offer better work-life balance, such as technology and services, which may not demand the same time investment.”
Here is a look at this new reality, where men might be taking a walk around the neighborhood midafternoon, buying groceries while their partner jumps on a work call or chaperoning their child’s school field trip—all during typical nine-to-five office job hours.
1. The pursuit of balance
Gone are the days of 80-plus hour workweeks for some men, with an eye toward work-life balance and sharing the physical and mental task load of managing a home, a family and other obligations with their partner. “Younger generations in particular prioritize flexible work schedules and the ability to spend time with family and pursue personal interests,” Morgan says. “This shift is partly driven by the desire to avoid the burnout experienced by their predecessors, who often worked long hours at the expense of their personal lives.”
In a 2024 survey conducted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, 57% of men between the ages of 20 and 54 said the main reason they weren’t working was due to a personal health issue.
2. Alternate ways of making a living
The pandemic ushered in a new era of work, far from the cubicle and tediously long workdays.
“The rise of remote work and the gig economy has enabled men to find alternative ways of earning a living without adhering to traditional full-time job structures,” Morgan says. “Freelancing, contracting and part-time work provide more control over work hours and allow individuals to tailor their professional lives to their personal needs.”
“Corporate loyalty is a thing of the past (in both directions),” adds Robert Longley, a business consultant in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. “The days of 30 years and a pension are gone. The average person today will have eight different jobs over their career, and they are likely to be more of a portfolio than a linear path within a single company.”
3. Normalizing involvement in family life
“I remember the days of senior staff bragging about how many vacation days they had lost that year,” Longley says. “You don’t see that anymore. People are taking advantage of their vacation time, and I think post-COVID, [they] are valuing their time with family and friends more.” Men no longer have to choose between their job and their family. In fact, men from recent generations are more involved in parenting than their fathers and grandfathers were.
“Men are increasingly accepted as the primary caregivers or stay-at-home fathers, prompting some men to leave the profession to focus on family obligations,” says Harrison Tang, CEO and co-founder of Spokeo, a reverse phone lookup search engine, in Pasadena, California.
Amanda Augustine, a career expert at TopResume, certified professional career coach and certified professional resume writer in New York City, says that our culture is redefining masculinity.
“Traditional notions of masculinity—especially those tied to being the primary breadwinner of a family—are evolving, with more acceptance of varying roles and contributions within households. While still not the norm, there is less of a stigma associated with women becoming the primary breadwinner than in previous generations,” she says.
4. More successful women in the workforce
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women made up the majority of college-educated workers in the American workforce in 2022. More women in the workforce can mean fewer job opportunities and, in some cases, lower salary options for men—which seems to be a barrier for them. A 2022 study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that men were more likely to leave the workforce “when their expected earnings fall relative to the earnings of other workers in their labor market.”
Augustine shares that her friend and his wife moved out of the metropolitan area to start a family and had to make some tough calls as a result. “They collectively decided that the wife would maintain her demanding finance career—which allowed her to work remotely on a regular basis—while the husband would become the full-time caregiver during their son’s infancy and toddlerhood,” she says. “This made sense because his wife’s job was more flexible and could be retained during their move to another part of the state, while the transition would have required him to change jobs. Additionally, his wife’s position, while demanding, is also very lucrative.”
5. Economic factors
“Economic factors also play a significant role, with government assistance programs sometimes disincentivizing work and stagnant wages making employment less financially attractive,” says Dakota Brown, licensed marriage and family therapist at the Los Angeles Centers for Alcohol and Drug Abuse. “The rise of the gig economy offers flexibility but often lacks stability and benefits, [which is more] appealing to some men [than] traditional employment. These trends have significant implications, including the need for retraining and education, healthcare support and policies that promote work-life balance and address wage stagnation.”
6. Mental health and addiction issues on the rise
The Association of American Medical Colleges published an article called “Men and mental health: What are we missing?” which pointed to higher rates of mental health conditions in men than in women but showed that fewer men accessed care. According to the article, “at one point in 2020, the rates of men seeking mental health care services in the United States increased more than five-fold over the prior year. These rates were greater than the rates of women seeking mental health care services during this time. Yet, by 2021, just 40% of men with a reported mental illness received mental health care services in the past year, compared with 52% of women with a reported mental illness.”
No single issue is behind the decrease in men’s participation in the workforce. Likewise, to make the workforce a healthy, lucrative and successful place for men—and all people—systemic changes might be the only path to increased engagement.
“Without comprehensive strategies to address these issues,” Brown adds, “there could be long-term negative impacts on economic growth and social stability.”
Photo by Evgeny Atamanenko/Shutterstock
