Shocking Report: 1 in 6 young men in U.S. unemployed or in jail

'Higher minimum wages may also have increased joblessness among young men.'

Since 1980, the unemployment and incarceration rate among young men in the United States has increased to the point where one in every six men was either jobless or incarcerated by 2014.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), one in every six young men, aged 18 to 34, was either incarcerated or unemployed by 2014.

The unemployment and incarceration rate among young men has been on the rise since 1980, when the CBO explains policy changes led to fewer men enlisting in the military, minimum wages increased, which left store owners unable to employ more people, and less educated men lost jobs to more educated women.

Specifically, policy changes at state and local levels combined with race to increase both the  incarceration and unemployment rates. Black men were more likely to be incarcerated than Whites or Hispanics, and men who stopped their education at or before the high school level were shown to be more likely to wind up in the prison system or unemployed.

While a lack of education and the color of their skin greatly affected young men attempting to enter the workforce, recessions played an even larger role in ensuring they were unable to find employment.

Crime increased between the 1980s and 90s, then began to decrease, but men were still imprisoned due to state and local policy changes that led to an astonishing 400 percent increase of inmates. Up to 90 percent of current inmates are being held due to those changes.

If a man has been in the prison system, his already low job prospects end up dropping further, leaving him dependent on either a life of crime or social services.

The high unemployment and incarceration rate go hand-in-hand, particularly when it comes to the federal budget. The budget pays for families to receive benefits such as Medicaid, unemployment insurance, WIC, etc., but if one in six men is unable to pay taxes, the ticket falls to those who are able to find work.

Unlike their male counterparts, the unemployment rate for women has increased by only four percent between 1980 and 2014.

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