American Enterprise Institute - AEI

What Do Prime-age 'NILF' Men Do All Day?

The portrait of daily life that emerges from time-use surveys for grown men who are entirely disconnected from the world of work is sobering.

NILF = Not in Labor Force

NEET = Not employed nor in education & training

NILF is millions of people in the United States of America (USA) between the age of 21-54 years old who are voluntarily unemployed.

NILF are not people who cannot get a job. They simply refuse to seek gainful employment. Most of their time is spent in socializing, relaxing & leisure activities.

NEET was coined in the UK but it's essentially the same thing as NILF. Again, people who aren't actively in the labor force nor in the classroom.

in the USA, there's a million vacant, well-paying blue-collar jobs. Yet, people aren't interested in the work.

The push for college education from the 1960s up to present led many folks to believe white-collar jobs would be abundant & exist forever.

While people could see out-sourcing labor to other countries & technology replacing blue-collar labor, apparently they didn't foresee it happening to white-collar jobs.

Now, there's a huge population of people who were raised to look down on working with their hands but whose education does not provide skills to do real work.

NILF/NEET people have a support system of family & friends in place allowing them to live a life of leisure while unemployed.

Baby Boomers & Gen-Xers are taking care of adult offspring & grandchildren too. They provide the housing & food, the basic necessities that enable NILF/NEET people to survive.

IMO, any form of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) will increase the NILF/NEET population too.

There's no shortage of manufacturing & building & maintenence that needs to be done all over the planet. Therefore, no excuse for people being unemployed.

Also IMO, the normalization of laziness & acceptance of it especially among able-bodied men does not bode well for the human population.

I hope these dudes will turn off their video games & stop scrolling on their phones & get off the couch to seek employment. Put in 40+ hours a week doing real work.

In addition tp getting paid, I believe gainful employment makes people more interesting & well-rounded from a social perspective.

The labor force also gives men & women a chance to meet & make positive connections too.

There are far more benefits to working rather than sitting around all day doing little or nothing.😎

It's funny that you're posting this right now, because JUST THIS MORNING I was reading this article and thought about our discussion about young and middle aged men not working....................

Voices: The silent shame of fiftysomethings looking for work is a huge problem

We are all familiar with Neets. We usually take the term to mean younger people not in education, employment or training. But should we be broadening the term to include an older cohort?

Voices: The silent shame of fiftysomethings looking for work is a huge problem


It seems as if this society tries TO shame people who are over 50 looking for work, as if being middle aged guarantees a steady source of income.
I remember just a few years ago I had to find a new job because I wouldn't accept the vaccine my old job wanted us to take.
Different things come up in life.

NEET was coined in the UK but it's essentially the same thing as NILF. Again, people who aren't actively in the labor force nor in the classroom.

Which explains why I hadn't heard of the term, despite the article claiming "we've all" heard of the term before....lol.

Now, there's a huge population of people who were raised to look down on working with their hands but whose education does not provide skills to do real work.

Facts.

NILF/NEET people have a support system of family & friends in place allowing them to live a life of leisure while unemployed.

Many of them are mooching off of friends, lovers, and relatives....but that type of strategy rarely lasts over a decade.

Your parents eventually die, your friends get tired of supporting you, and your lover finds somebody else to love.

With the exceptions of your parents...depending on how long they live....those other options rarely last over 5 years.

Which means these people MUST either find a source of income or end up homeless, in prison, or dead.

Baby Boomers & Gen-Xers are taking care of adult offspring & grandchildren too. They provide the housing & food, the basic necessities that enable NILF/NEET people to survive.

More facts.
You don't know how many 50 and 60 year olds I know who's grown ass 30 year old kids.....SONS....are still living with them.
And some of these dudes have the NERVE to sit up and argue with their parents and not like being told what to do!

IMO, any form of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) will increase the NILF/NEET population too.

No doubt.

There's no shortage of manufacturing & building & maintenence that needs to be done all over the planet. Therefore, no excuse for people being unemployed.

The excuse is THEY aren't fit for those jobs, no matter how many are available....lol.

You can't hold a job if you're constantly high, have ADHD, or otherwise anti-social.

Would YOU want to live in a house some red-eyed mumble mouthed nigga with only a half a brain (because the other half got shot out back when he was living a gansta lifestyle) and a chronic weed addiction?

In addition tp getting paid, I believe gainful employment makes people more interesting & well-rounded from a social perspective.

The labor force also gives men & women a chance to meet & make positive connections too.

There are far more benefits to working rather than sitting around all day doing little or nothing.

MAN, you took the words right out of my....fingers??....lol.

Work has always been a GREAT place to meet people, even in today's politically correct environment.

You'd even work for low pay, if you enjoy what you do and the people you're doing it around.

Most jobs I've been on I liked because of the people.

I looked forward to seeing what kind of drama will unfold that day.

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

We are all familiar with Neets.

I don't know any off the top of my head. I guess Neets and I travel in different circles.

3 hours ago, Pioneer1 said:

wouldn't accept the vaccine my old job wanted us to take.

Wait, what? You're an anti-vaccer too? Surely I knew this, and you fit the profile, but I guess I just forgot.

7 hours ago, ProfD said:

IMO, any form of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) will increase the NILF/NEET population too.

I don't know about that.

The NEET lifestyle -- the dependency of an able-bodied-adult on someone else -- requires a child-like mentality. Mature adults can support themselves and take pride in doing it.

Adults are not going to just opt into the NEET mentality because the government is passing out checks. It will be used for temporary support for whatever reason, illness, education...