Unskilled workers are dropping out of the workforce. According to Brookings, “around 7 million American men between the ages of 25 and 54 ““ mostly too old to be in school and too young to retire ““ are neither working nor looking for work. That amounts to 12% of all men in those prime working ages ““ and that doesn’t count another 2 million who are looking for work but haven’t found it.”
For the most part, these are people with “few skills and little education” who have given up on looking for work–or, more accurately, who feel that the workforce has given up on them.
These currently unskilled workers could hold the key to replacing retiring Baby Boomers, authors say. Giving unskilled workers the training they need to get back into the workforce helps them and their families both economically and emotionally.
