why are young men struggling to find work?

There are few traditionally ‘male’ jobs anymore with the decline of heavy industries and manufacturing, which was a good route for boys who didn’t go to university. There is a large cohort of boys and men that now has nowhere to go, and that needs addressing. — Lorelei174

Trust me, it will work out fine, but boys need a lot more pushing from parents to make it through school and finish an education. I have children of both genders, one girl and three boys, and all have good jobs now. Two of the boys dropped out of their theoretical studies for more hands-on mechanical schools. But it turned out well, the older one has advanced to a management position and earns a decent salary well in par with what my two university educated children earn. — Swede Wolf

At my mixed sex comprehensive school I was one of not that many boys who did their homework. Almost all the girls did theirs.

Come GCSEs it was at times embarrassing how bad the median boy was doing in mock exams in class compared to the girls. Come A-levels much more than half the boys had dropped out and got jobs ostensibly in low paying roles because they couldn’t see any point doing A-levels when they couldn’t hack GCSEs.

This story will be repeated all over the UK.

Has to be said about 15 years on most of those same men have turned things around and have professions, and thus can expect reasonable mid £30+40k salaries in their 30s and 40s. This is fine.

The wobbly bit is when they are too young to realise the bad choices they are making at the ages of 13 to 23. Young women don’t seem to make these bad choices in the same quantities.

Oh and here’s the kicker, some of the young men are dead, through suicide and car crashes and misadventure. That’s not included in these stats but is real. — Berkshire

This very much aligns with my experience of a northern comprehensive education in the mid 1990s. A startling number of the boys I knew then (including my own brother) basically rejected education in their mid to late teens, and had to work hard to get their lives on course in their mid twenties and early thirties. Lots of adult education. It sounds to me like this pattern hasn’t changed much for young men, though the structure of the labour market has become much less forgiving and a great deal has changed for their female competitors. — Tench

Now we’re into arguments about equity (equal outcomes rather than equal opportunity).

Many people who read the FT basically consider the word ‘equity’ a radical communist witching incantation. So, are policies that promote equity only ok when they address inequality of outcomes for men?

I can’t see how you could justify being against equity for women or other historically disadvantaged groups, but for it for historically advantaged groups. — Ecumenical

I am the father of two men who have both fallen below their academic capabilities. FIFA 2013 distracted one during A level and degree education, the second was knocked of course by hormones and adolescence running up to GCSE exams. Both regret their educational journeys but both are relatively successful today (healthy, working, rent their own homes and have partners). They both now have healthy enquiring minds and both read and engage in the arts. I think the current educational system doesn’t work for boys when compared to social and technological distractions and will be interested to see the results of banning smart phones in schools. I have a personal view about teaching methods but no data. — Richard James Taylor

As a mother of boys going through state secondary school I see similar differences between how teenage [boys] and girls relate to their studies. I suspect you are right that different rates of development and biology play a part but there is also the pervading socialisation that it’s not cool to be seen as academic or to be trying too hard which is definitely more common among boys. I experienced this as a bright kid going through the state system in Lancashire 30 years ago and thought it was a down to northern class hang ups. But for boys at least it’s something that is alive and well today even in the middle-class aspiring corner of north London where we live. Makes me wonder what is it about the British education system that needs to change to keep teenage boys engaged and curious and challenged. What would we build if that was the goal rather than the pressure to pass exams — and at an earlier age than in most developed countries. — Charliepea

Put another way, the UK is part of a growing list of countries where the answers to “who is doing most of the legwork raising children?”, “who is focused on getting a good education?” and “OK, but who is out working to bring home a good income?” are all: “Women.”

This is an interesting development but also an unintended consequence of only perhaps thinking of one side of achieving equality. Carrying the child/mental load as well as the earning load (in a heterosexual relationship) is a very large combined load for just one person — as single parents know. One answer is men taking on more of the child/mental load of family life. But another — given the growing need for both partners to earn — must be massively increased nursery/childcare provision through state subsidy. The UK still lags much of the developed world on childcare. — mandelstam