There is a five-alarm fire in American culture, and we need to start treating it like one.
On a recent episode of At the Core, I shared a statistic that should get everyone’s attention: American women now hold 176,000 more payroll jobs than American men. Three decades ago, men held nearly 7 million more jobs than women. But the concern isn’t that women are working; it’s what is happening to American men.
According to the report we discussed on the episode, more than 7 million working-age men are sitting on the sidelines – not working and not even looking for work. At the same time, the number of unmarried men ages 20 to 39 has climbed from 20 million in 2000 to 30 million in 2025. These are prime years for working, marrying, becoming fathers, and building families – and millions of men are checking out.
Now put those numbers alongside another troubling reality: America’s birth rate has been below replacement level since the 1970s.
Seven million working-age men are outside the workforce. There are 30 million unmarried men ages 20 to 39. Birth rates are at historic lows.
These aren’t isolated statistics. They point to something much bigger: the degradation of the American family.
We cannot have strong families without men who are willing to work, marry, lead, provide, and become fathers. And we cannot expect marriage and birth rates to recover while millions of young men are increasingly disconnected from the responsibilities that once marked adulthood.
This is not a partisan issue. It isn’t ideological. This is about the survival of a civilization. We need a culture-wide emphasis on marriage, family, fatherhood, and raising the next generation. We need young men to understand that their lives have purpose and that their families, communities, churches, and country need them engaged – not sitting on the sidelines.
If we lose the family, we lose more than a statistic. We lose the foundation that holds a nation together.
Listen to the full episode here.
Sincerely,
