The episode was laying out how to bring young men back into the labor force. Workforce analyst Drew McCaskill argues the idea of 'men's work' needs to widen to include fast-growing, well-paid fields like nursing.
The point is, there is room to grow the pie. And Drew says bringing more young men back into the labor force requires a multi-pronged approach. One would be promoting career paths beyond traditional college. We spend so much time talking to boys about college when we really should talk to them about
work instead. Apprenticeships, community college, certifications, skilled trades, right? The objective is fewer dead ends between school and work.
Two, Drew says, our traditional notions of what constitutes men's work need to expand. As a society, we've gotten better about encouraging Tina, she can grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer. We're less good at telling Timothy he can also be a teacher or a nurse.
Those are jobs that we spend a century telling boys that were not necessarily for them. And why not? If you look at some of the fastest growing jobs, take nurse practitioners, demand is expected to grow for them over 40% over the next decade. And currently, the median pay is around $132,000 a year.…
But that means working to change our own cultural biases, something Laura admits can be difficult.
Being a female who was going to get my PhD, like everybody in economics, everybody was cheering me on, right? Like, you can do this. Like, go be one of the only women in your class, no problem. But even today, if a male is enrolled in an early childhood education program or other educational…