Posted on May 4, 2016

The Men America Has Left Behind

Tami Luhby, CNN, May 4, 2016

They don’t have college degrees. They have few job prospects. They feel left behind.

Nearly one-quarter of white men with only a high school diploma aren’t working. Many of these men, age 25 to 64, aren’t just unemployed . . . they aren’t even looking for a job, according to federal data.

Their college-educated peers, however, have fared much better. Only about one in 10 isn’t working.

The plight of these blue collar workers is now in the national spotlight. The 2016 presidential election has awakened their political power and reshaped the course of the campaign.

Their anger–which has brought millions to the polls, particularly on the Republican side–has prompted the candidates to focus heavily on manufacturing, trade and other issues of importance to this slice of America. Four years ago, the GOP nominee Mitt Romney dismissed the 47% of Americans who don’t pay taxes. Now, frontrunner Donald Trump proclaims that he loves “the poorly educated.”

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