They Say Men Are Falling Behind, But Try Running The Country Without Them

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The decline of the American man is everywhere. One can’t scroll online or turn on a TV today without escaping the narrative that men are falling behind, opting out, and failing to launch. There are some underlying truths and selective data to back this up. But as someone who always challenges what he sees online by stepping out into the real world and applying some common sense, I’m not buying it. Men today certainly face modern challenges, but that’s not the most important part of the story. The headlines focus on their absence, but it is where they continue to show up that society still depends on them most.

The other morning in my driveway, I had a brief chat with the garbage collectors on our street. As one man drove the truck and two others hung off the back, loading the bags, it dawned on me. I’ve never seen a female trash collector. (It turns out that only 13% of garbage collectors are women.) This is a dirty and dangerous job. It is a man’s job. And it turns out, men are still carrying the load — literally and physically.

According to the National Safety Council, since 2011, males have accounted for more than nine in 10 workplace deaths each year. Truck driving is the deadliest job in the U.S., and men make up more than 90% of this profession. Men dominate the country’s most dangerous jobs across the military, construction, and agriculture. The same voices that preach the demise of men still rely on them to do the jobs that keep America running and to take risks others aren’t willing to do themselves.

Real men don’t go viral; they go to work. Rather than building their personal brands, they’re building roads, homes, power grids, and lives for their families.

It’s true that the economy has shifted in ways that favor women in the workforce. For only the third time ever, women comprise more of the U.S. workforce than men, dominated by growth in service industries, healthcare, and education-heavy jobs. But when the economy shifts, men don’t disappear; they adapt.

History backs this up. During the Industrial Revolution, men left farms and entered factories. After the post-WWII boom, men traded industrial manuals for suits and entered the corporate workforce. And after the pandemic cooled the manufacturing and construction markets, men moved into logistics, delivery, and infrastructure.

That’s not to say that men don’t experience interruptions in their careers. Right now, many are looking for meaningful work. Men are inherently prideful by nature, and not being able to provide for our families or make a meaningful contribution to society is a blow to our dignity. While men will adjust as they always have, societal institutions play pivotal roles, too. Vocational training should be expanded to close skills gaps. Occupational licensing has long needed reform to reduce the number of professional licenses required for low-skilled workers. And we need to make education a more attractive career path for men, both for them and the boys in the classrooms.

There is, however, one male crisis that social policies have made minimal progress on: absent fathers. But while men are experiencing a professional shift, they are committing to one vocation, fatherhood, at the highest rate in years. According to the Institute for Family Studies, fathers spend almost 13% more time caring for their children at home than they did two decades ago. Fathers are trading time in the office for a seat at the kitchen table. Social policies have attempted to fix the fatherhood crisis in America, but it appears the economy really had to shift.

Ultimately, though, to paraphrase Mark Twain, the death of the working American man is an exaggeration. We still ask men to take the hardest jobs and shoulder the most physical risk. And they are not only continuing to answer the call but also finding new ways to provide more than just financial support for their families.

The economic landscape will always change. But what won’t, what can’t, is the traditional role of the American man as provider and protector of his family. For centuries men have adapted to fill this role regardless of the circumstances.

If this is what decline looks like, then maybe we’re telling the wrong story. Men are continuing to do what they have always done — show up, build, and lay the foundation for the next generation. They don’t need to be fixed. They need to be recognized.

So, the next time you bring your garbage cans in, or notice the pothole on your highway has been filled, or, like my fellow Floridians and me, watch the electric trucks driving the opposite direction on the highway during hurricane season, thank a man.

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Gates Garcia is the host of the YouTube show and podcast We The People with Gates Garcia. Follow him on X and Instagram @GatesGarciaFL.