If we want to fix the massive shortage of care workers, we need to start explicitly recruiting men for those jobs.
March 26, 2026
Original Paper
Affirmative Action for Men on the Economic Margins
SSRN · 6465178
The Takeaway
Most people view affirmative action as a tool to help women enter male-dominated fields. This paper argues that the 'masculinizing' of nursing and teaching is the only way to break the cultural stigma and labor shortage that harms both men (who are unemployed) and women (who bear the unpaid care burden).
From the abstract
<p>Male workers are falling behind. Whether measured by earnings, labor-force participation, or educational outcomes, men have experienced steep declines over the last several decades. Global competition and deindustrialization have gutted male-dominated fields. Until men at the bottom of the labor market adjust their job-seeking behaviors to these larger economic forces, they will continue to experience lower earnings, higher unemployment rates, and the negative social costs that come with thes