I'm late to the commenting section, so maybe your situation has changed, but for what it's worth, here's my completely unsolicited advice based on what your life was like in February.
I read your post to my husband, who has done both blue collar and white collar jobs. His reaction: "Don't know what this guy looks like... but he should shave, get a haircut, and go out to worksites and say, 'I'm here and I'm ready to work.'"
That might sound nuts, but you've already proven that there is no point applying for jobs that require you to go through an HR department. The people working there (women and gay men, as far as I can tell) have all sold their souls to the DEI devil.
So go to worksites where you can just talk to whoever is in charge. Go to at least 10, or as many as you can find. See what happens.
You might think this does nothing to advance your writing career. Au contraire. Let me explain.
I hate almost all modern movies. The scripts are terrible - female action figures, non-whites filling roles they would never appear in IRL, miscengenated relationships. It's like paying to go to a DEI church service. And it's completely de-moralizing. (Which is the whole point.)
We (my husband and I) have found ourselves watching older and older films - because they are the only reliable, good ones left. We're not the only ones. Eventually, Hollywood will have to catch up.
Something I've noticed about older movies is that many of the best ones are about completely ordinary people. How to you write those kind of people? Be one. Be an ordinary person. Go to that worksite and say you are ready to work.
Treat the "ordinary job" as a way to learn more about people ("characters") that will fuel your writing.
And keep writing until the rest of the world is ready to catch up to you and give you a break.
Why would he do that? What would he actually gain? It makes more sense to try to get on welfare and food stamps than "just walk up to a worksite."
If he was that desperate, Amazon warehouses pay better than manual labor with less damage to your back and knees. Unless and until wages for labor rise, because we actually did deport all the third world willing to work for peanuts, you shouldn't be doing it.
i literally did that at the building site up the hill (small uk town), they of course told me to go through their job agency route, i did eventually get temporary labouring work there months later, and through their official channel after other sites they told me to go to, miles away.
it's pretty sparse and i have a better job now, it must be way worse for young people with no job history.
My parents had a saying when I was growing up: "There's no such thing as dishonourable work." They of course came from a generation of people who didn't have welfare or food stamps. And they understood they were better off for it.
I've never met anyone on welfare or food stamps who eventually got around to making a real go of their life. The guy who wrote this article obviously has some moxie - which is why I made the suggestion that I did.
For someone like you, welfare and food stamps may be just the ticket.
For someone who has self respect, yes it is much better to take free money than do manual labor. Thank your husband for paying out for my lifestyle! He can work and toil, I can read substack.
I read Eberstadt’s “Men Without Work” a decade ago and thought “this can’t go on.“ But the other day I was sitting with a couple of my peers, and I realized, yes, it has gone on. Three highly educated, middle-aged white men who haven’t worked in 10 years. I really appreciate the honesty of your insight in asking, am I just lazy? That’s what I was taught growing up—change myself, don’t blame the world. Now I wonder if “trying harder to get a job” has to go into the same bucket as “voting harder.” Despite what the existentialist philosophers have said, I find despair unhelpful; it vitiates my creativity. Yet there it is.
First, you've inspired me to write a substack article, "Why I refuse to give up." It will have nothing to do with the odds actually being in our favor and everything to do with stubborn, near-delusional pride and a refusal to stop until something kills me.
The other statement is that you need to advertise your substack more. I see you've been writing for years. Some of this on topics (like Analog Horror) that I'm actually quite interested in. I saw your post scroll across because someone (John Carter, he's a White knight for small substackers) restacked you.
Advertise your stuff to people. DM people and say, "Hey I wrote this, why don't you take a look?" I'll at least give someone one or two articles if they bother me in such a way. You and I have been posting on substack since 2024. I have a few thousand subs because I keep heckling larger channels to read my stuff. Mainly due to near delusional levels of optimism and my own self-importance. And you've actually written things I'm interested in reading, so now I'm going to have to go back through your bibliography.
If you're not subscribed to me already, please do and see if I've written anything you like. In particular, you might like the "Digital Neon" article I published a few weeks ago.
A variety of analog jobs. We tend to think of these as low status but they often hold their own rewards and an income is an income however small. Having something to do does wonders for mental health. Just a thought in any case.
Who cares about the status of a job? With the degeneracy of the current society, "high status" jobs are often the ones that require you to sell your soul. Work a "low status" job and keep your pride.
I'd suggest reading Knut Hamsun's Hunger (1890). It's about a poverty stricken young writer guy probably your age in Norway starving to death and going insane within a pitiless polite society. If you find it as I did--younger, poorer, and also stricken with spiritual starvation--you'll get a lot out of it.
To me, you write of things both unique to these times but also timeless. Robert Bly's Iron John (also a read you might get a kick out of) notes that Norse men during the Viking Age spent the difficult time between leaving mom and going on a first raid to become a real man as "Ash Biters". They had to sleep alone in the worst part of the longhouse right by the fires and they'd be covered with ash. They'd even eat the charcoal, hungry and forsaken.
But the day eventually came to raid and a chieftain would need men. The Ash Biters would clean up, grab an axe, and go raiding. Their real lives as men began.
Give these things a read. Maybe they'll contextualize things. Giving up is an emotional state you are in--not your fate.
A lot of this shit is precipitated by nobody getting married young. Getting married young was a boon to me. Both families chipping in. My FIL fronted the down payment for our house. It would have taken years for us to save up for that.
I don't know how to fix shit but as an elder millenial I feel like I caught the last chopper out of nam. Either that or I managed to snagbone of the few life jackets on a sinking ship and I get to tread water for awhile while others around me drown.
I see a lot of myself in this article. I am blessed with a somewhat menial job and a family that won’t see me out on my ass, but I am also a writer with little prospect of that ever becoming a real profession. I have self published two books and will publish more over the coming months. I make silly YouTube videos reviewing movies and anime and playing guitar and singing. None of which I expect to ever be able to make money off of. And you’re right, one does wonder how much of my own lack of furtherance has to do with my own competence or lack thereof, or the system holding me back because of my race, gender or sexuality. I know I’m unlikely to be someone a big publisher is going to push for regardless of the quality of my writing.
But I persist. I MUST persist. And so must you. Whether it’s 1% the system holding you back or 100%, you cannot allow them to win. The best thing I can think of is to try and find other men who share your passion and work with them towards something, anything. People you can meet in real life too. This is what I’ve done and it’s the best thing in my life right now. It may not lead to anything profitable but I don’t much care at this point. It’s more about feeling fulfilled than it is about money.
I, like you, have trouble seeing a future for myself. But that doesn’t mean I stop looking for it. Please, do not allow the system to grind you to dust. I can’t see it happen to another.
Well I’m terribly sorry to read this and of course the knowledge that you are far from alone in this situation adds to the seriousness of the situation. However from the perspective of an old man (and not a US based old man either) it does seem to me that you might be overlooking one possibility. Have you considered taking a few hours a week to learn an actual physical trade? Perhaps something that does not require licensing or credentials. In my country that would be gardening, handyman work, masonry. There are perhaps different choices in your area. YouTube is packed with information on
In America the trades have been flooded by the 12 million immigrants let in during the Biden administration. You can’t work on most job sites, as some have suggested, unless you speak Spanish. For one example, the drywall business in Los Angeles was once dominated by blacks who made a good middle class living. Then they got replaced by Hispanic immigrants who drove down wages. On the upper end, Indian guest workers came to dominate hi-tech and formed insular caste-like enclaves in many large companies and drove down wages while openly discriminating against Americans, forcing out the average domestic IT worker. Anti-white male discrimination is an open secret in America.
All good areas to avoid then. Writers are now up against AI slop as well as all the other barriers that have been erected. It’s far from a complete list of possibilities though - particularly skills that require a bit of effort or creativity to shine at. Off the top of my head - cabinet making , chair making, and high end joinery. Wood turning, metal work from silver jewellery to blacksmithing. Knife making. Leather work including scroll decorations. Book arts (something I know a little about) everything from blank journals to full medieval tomes. Masonry, car mechanics, sewing machine repair (who knew), brewing, baking - particularly decent sourdoughs and bagels, cider making. Um, that would be hard cider to you I guess. Bonsai if you are young and have some patience, specialised watercolour painting botanical and architectural. Shirt making, hat making, sock making, shoe making is not just a load of old cobblers. Knitting - not just for the ladies and the Scandi stuff goes for a fortune. Bodging. Charcoal making. Cheese making. Soap making. After a bit of practice I could tell the difference between my soap and my cheese. Offset smoker construction if you have some space and have picked up some metalwork skills. Paper marbling, etc. etc. etc. Some of these can be started with minimal outlay, some may lead to a bit of income. Any of them will give some satisfaction and mental grounding away from a keyboard. These are not ‘jobs’ in the way I was brought to expect but they are all occupations that can help keep you grounded.
Take the jobs and keep working, it’s better than festering. I have been there, including a crash of my industry. 95$K to $13K take home. 18 months later back to where I was. In the interim 3-4 not so good jobs (that’s the $13-15K 18 months).
I feel this. Had managed to make freelance writing a reasonable career. AI has eaten much of my work in the last year. I have a kid to feed so the panic is real. No idea when or how the fog of the future will lift. Have sure figured out how to stretch grocery money at least.
This is absolutely fascinating! I am without words, well…..almost. As a recently retired executive level administrator I’ve seen this dynamic from the other side. The single and I mean single greatest challenge I had was finding not exceptional help….not “good” help ……..just adequate employees. I offered about 70 thousand a year starting, benefits, a retirement plan.. This was entry level no experience required. With growth opportunities.. …and no it wasn’t telemarketing or involved selling . The only downside was it is really really difficult work. The single most common conversation I had with my peers was about our challenges with finding and keeping descent employees . My successor still has the same problem. It was universal and the stories were almost comical. It wasn’t just my industry, in conversation with business owners, managers, supervisors in industries that supported my organization they lamented the same challenge. My friends in almost every business, government or organization you can imagine said the exact same thing., from waste management to health care.
Yet, amazingly, this young man can’t find a job and has given up looking. Absolutely amazing.
Where is the disconnect? As someone who used to hire, train, manage and far too often fire thousands of employees let me share some insight. People young and old need to understand the nature of work, the nature of employment. At its most fundamental, it’s most basic level it is a financial transaction. No different than getting a haircut or your lawn cut. While it’s oh so nice for the employees to be validated, “valued” as a person or given the space to let them find a “work/life” balance, that is the exception not the norm…….and it’s very very expensive. And it is not the organization’s purpose. Unfortunately, the business, agency or the organization has needs that the employee needs to fill is the imperative …that is why someone “ pays “ you for the effort. You are trading effort for money. The more valuable that effort is..the more money someone is willing to pay for it. That’s why it’s called a “ job” not a “ vacation “.
Here is the most important bit of advice I can give from the other side. No one and I mean no one pays anyone to work. Just showing up and “doing what you think is a good job” doesn’t make you a good employee. I paid people for “ outcomes” not effort. Success comes not from what you do , but from what you get done. Realize that….create more value than what it costs to employ you and you will have employers bidding for you. As a young man, I had a manager tell me that job security was having the names of three people who would hire you tomorrow. Give more than you get and that won’t be a problem. Bonus advice…….the same principle applies to every aspect of life
Exactly. However let me provide another option. I am retired from local government and I can tell you from experience that qualified employment acquisition is at crisis levels in that industry. In the early 2000s there was an article in a magazine called Governing (an industry magazine focusing on local/state government) that highlighted that because almost all mid to senior management level governmental employees were baby boomers ( of which I was one) and because governmental workers could retire relatively early there was going to a crisis in public sector employment by the 20teens and the 2020s. They were right. A motivated person could find a job with ease, as a result of that crisis the salaries have increased dramatically in the last 15 years and the jobs have great benefits with high levels of security. Just saying.
Bravo. But the author is an artist, and young, white men have been shut out of that job market, whether they are actors, musicians, writers, set designers, journalists (do they even exist any longer?), etc. The discrimination is real, but the reality is that artists, like athletes, have always had extremely limited income opportunities. Ask Vincent Van Gogh.
As for the zero job growth in 2025, all of the federal government jobs lost in 2025 were offset with the growth in the private sector. The one career that young white men have no chance of entering are those that rely on H1-B visas--highly-skilled technology, academia, NGOs. That's the reality. Like the wagon wheel repairman of early 20th century America, you better look for a different job or you'll starve.
Entry level jobs--by definition a job that can lead to a career--are the opportunity to show off your work ethic by working hard and working smart. My entry level job in 1980 paid $12,000 annually. Adjusted for official inflation of 3.1% compounded over 45 years that would be $46,000 today. (That includes the official inflation of 13.5% and 10.3% in my first two years, and I have the Social Security payment history to show I received no such pay increases.) Today, my firm offers entry level positions for $60,000 annually that are in reality secretarial in scope. Many in that position are content to thrive in a 9-5 job and pursue their hobbies on their time. Many have moved on to other career opportunities within the company and have been rewarded appropriately.
My advice to young men is stop doomscrolling and get out there and take advantage of whatever job openings are available and give it your best effort, even if it is not your dream job. Doors will open in the most amazing ways.
"Where is the disconnect?" Well, personally I am always biased against HR, the people managing the hiring process who I doubt are honestly reviewing applications, but instead searching for or inventing reasons to reject. (Let's just say I found the article quite familiar.)
Something less born of bad experiences, I think it is an actual community disconnect. Please, do not interpret this as an insult or anything negative, but you have identified yourself as a high level retired employee who had and likely still has connections across multiple industries. In theory, you are in a position to interview this man directly about his experiences, interests, and willingness to work, and then put him in contact with people who can pressure an honest review of his application within their businesses. It doesn't need to be thought of as a reference but an introduction, in both directions. Introducing potential employers to him, but also him to potential employers. Something I wonder about when I look for jobs is if there might be some good ones in my area I am unaware of just because they either do not put listings where I look or where I look prioritizes others.
Again, I do not mean to be insulting, so please forgive me if I came off that way.
No offense taken, I appreciate the sentiment, thank you. And yes, I am, shall we say…….experienced. The disconnect is one quite frankly of expectation. While I wasn’t HR professional I had a few who worked for me and as I designed the organizational structure they were my direct reports ( as was finance). I can absolutely assure you no HR professional I am aware of approaches their business that way. The pressure these people are under is too great. “Talent Acquisition “ is too vital and to be honest, as I said almost impossible. What I mean is this……as a younger man I had an interest in archeology and anthropology. It was what I wanted to do. I originally studied it in college. Until after a few semester and talking with my advisor I discovered just how few people make a living in that field. How important it was that you went to the right college (my school wasn’t one of them). I learned that just a bachelors wasn’t going to do it. Neither was a graduate degree. To actually make a living in the field it would require a doctorate. But more importantly the competition for employment was STAGGERING. As I was paying for my education that wasn’t likely. The best I could have hoped for would be a history teacher in a high school. A position I am uniquely psychologically unqualified for. So in a moment of clarity, everything changed. I got a bachelor degree in criminal justice with a subsequent MBA. Did I want a criminal justice degree…no. An MBA …..no. It was where the jobs were, so that is where I went. And I just didn’t go there …..I REALLY went there and made a successful career of it. Here it is…I am not saying nothing about “following your dreams”, but I will say this ….nothing is free. I am reminded of my mentor. A subject matter expert he taught me a great deal. But what no one knew but his close friends was that he was a “Harley” guy. He loved motorcycles. Covered in tattoos…the whole persona. But you couldn’t tell it. Never wore jeans, never wore short sleeve shirts. Just a shirts, ties and suit. No beard, hair all business. Not because he wanted to but because that is what was expected…what was required. He retired 15 years before I did. Today, his hair is down his back, a full fu Manchu beard, shows every tat he has. That is what I am talking about. Somehow we taught or learned that we are the center of the universe and for most of us we’re not. We can try to be and some of us might make it. But the price is high and you have to be really really really just that good. I think Sheryl Crow once sang…it’s not getting what you want…it’s wanting what you get.
The concept of "job" is disappearing. In an inflationary environment it's highly unlikely most wages and salaries are going to keep up. Don't think about it as waiting for the good times to return, but rather getting through the next stair step of decline. At some point things will stabilize for a few years before the inevitable next leg down.
I don’t know your age, I’m in my mid 40s, and I feel that if I would have gone the route you did, I might have ended up the same way.
I say that because I worked on cars for 10 years, instead of going to college. Most of my friends went to college, I went from being a mechanic to building electronic control panels for $9.50 an hour, this was in 1999. The panel job was fun, and I learned a TON about AC electrical theory, but I couldn’t stay there, because most of the employees were retired military, with fat pensions, and were working -- just to have something to do. I had zero leverage in that shop wage-wise.
I went from that back to working on cars again, then to working on building automation systems. I made less money going from cars to that, but in the end I was making a pretty good paycheck. I had a company vehicle -- before everyone started putting GPS on their fleet vehicles.
Now I do more project management type work. But still in a related industry.
I don’t know, I always felt like college was a scam. I saw all these people wrack up debt, some did really well, others ended up doing something that was not at all related to what they went to college for, but most did well enough.
I’m self-taught. If I needed to learn something, I would. I would go talk with experienced people, pick their brains, and come out an SME in no time flat. I enjoy learning, and I especially enjoy learning about things that can advance me in my line of work.
I remember when my wife and I were living in our first apartment. We were so broke that we went fishing in St. Augustine, FL to get our food. It was that, or run up credit on a gas station credit card eating hot dogs and crap food. Old guys on the pier taught us how to fish using sinker slides, which is exactly what I do still.
But that was pretty cool looking back, both of us remember being broke and not feeling “poor” because were actually able to pull it off. We struggled, but it was fun, and adventurous. We still had family in town, so it’s not like we really would have starved or ended up on the street.
But it was worth the experience to do what was necessary, or at least to see if we could do what was necessary if we were 100% without any fallback.
Back to the job stuff. The mechanic job, I bagged because my brother-in-law worked at that shop. I always did all my own work on my car, and used the factory manual my dad had and knew my way around a car pretty well. But I don’t know if I would have bagged the mechanic job if it weren’t for my brother-in-law.
When I was fed up working on cars, I decided I wanted to do something with electronics, so I began experimenting in the job market.
I looked through news papers, at the job listings. This was in the late 90s. I found lots of jobs that required 4-year degrees, and 5+ years experience. Yes it was just as stupid back then. 4-year degree and ridiculous experience. 🙄
So, I started calling places and lying to them -- just to see what they would say. It was hit or miss. Some places were stuck on the degree (usually corporate-type jobs) while other places wanted more experience and didn’t care as much about the degree.
It’s like getting credit when you’re young. You can’t get a credit card because you don’t have a long enough credit history, but you can’t build a credit history without a credit card. 🤣😂🤣 I know there are other ways to do it, but it’s a similar situation. Where are you expected to get experience when nobody will hire you in that field?
The panel job I did get on my own. That place had an aptitude test they gave potential employees. It wasn’t too hard, but you did have to know what you were doing to pass it. Because I studied up, I did well and got the job.
I went back to working on cars, because the money at the panel shop was too little to do anything with. I left the automotive repair industry for the same reason I left it the first time, It was full of bad people, and I spent too much time making sure I was paid correctly.
My point is, all throughout my employment history it was a mix of luck and abilities.
The problem now is that you can’t get in front of anyone for them to judge what your capabilities are.
I suppose the idea is efficiency, but I can’t see where it helps the employer when people can just lie (not like I was doing for experimentation)😉👉 but lying to get a job that they’re not qualified for. Wasting the employers time, and their own.
Oh, I forgot, I went for an in-person interview at one place that manufactures sheet rock. It was a pretty cool interview because they took me through the hole plant, and showed me the process.
The plant manager was super impressed with me, and wanted to hire me on the spot -- as an engineer -- for WAY more than I was making at the building automation place. But he couldn’t -- because I didn’t have a degree. My salary would have been capped at $60k, which was around what I was making at the automation place. The job posting was for $88k. The plant manager even went in with me to the HR person from the new owners (the company had just been bought out) and pushed for them to hire me anyway, but they couldn’t because *it was all about checking the box.*
To make things even more annoying, the plant manager told me that if I would have been there a few months earlier, I would have had that job at $88k and been grandfathered in. The corporation that bought them is who set the rules for college requirements. 🙄
Even if you get a job that you don’t really want, it might allow you to meet more possible employers. You’d be surprised who you can run into. Sometimes you can run into someone that just takes a liking to you, and might hire you out from under your current employer.
I was offered an IT job by one of my customers while installing a card access system. I helped their IT guy fix some issues with VMWare. I ran VMWare ESXi at home (back when it was free). Their issue was something that I ran into a few months before, and I documented the fix. He was impressed with me, and told me that if I ever want a job at his company, I’ve got it, and he gave me his card. His company created some kind of software that was used in the health care industry by a lot of doctor’s offices.
Only bad thing was that the company was based out of Portland Maine, and they were moving back to Maine eventually. Moving wasn’t an option for me at the time.
I don’t have any specific advice on what to do to get a job, because if I lost my job, *I’m not sure what I would do* -- because things are not as they were. Not even a little. I could probably go back to the building automation place, I didn’t leave there on bad terms. But there’s no way they would pay me what I make now.
I “gave up” too on my white collar path after I was fired and couldn’t find new work. Now I also write and look to build an acting portfolio. People find me entertaining locally but it may be a big fish little pond effect. I don’t know yet.
Don't give up.
I'm late to the commenting section, so maybe your situation has changed, but for what it's worth, here's my completely unsolicited advice based on what your life was like in February.
I read your post to my husband, who has done both blue collar and white collar jobs. His reaction: "Don't know what this guy looks like... but he should shave, get a haircut, and go out to worksites and say, 'I'm here and I'm ready to work.'"
That might sound nuts, but you've already proven that there is no point applying for jobs that require you to go through an HR department. The people working there (women and gay men, as far as I can tell) have all sold their souls to the DEI devil.
So go to worksites where you can just talk to whoever is in charge. Go to at least 10, or as many as you can find. See what happens.
You might think this does nothing to advance your writing career. Au contraire. Let me explain.
I hate almost all modern movies. The scripts are terrible - female action figures, non-whites filling roles they would never appear in IRL, miscengenated relationships. It's like paying to go to a DEI church service. And it's completely de-moralizing. (Which is the whole point.)
We (my husband and I) have found ourselves watching older and older films - because they are the only reliable, good ones left. We're not the only ones. Eventually, Hollywood will have to catch up.
Something I've noticed about older movies is that many of the best ones are about completely ordinary people. How to you write those kind of people? Be one. Be an ordinary person. Go to that worksite and say you are ready to work.
Treat the "ordinary job" as a way to learn more about people ("characters") that will fuel your writing.
And keep writing until the rest of the world is ready to catch up to you and give you a break.
And above all, don't give up.
Why would he do that? What would he actually gain? It makes more sense to try to get on welfare and food stamps than "just walk up to a worksite."
If he was that desperate, Amazon warehouses pay better than manual labor with less damage to your back and knees. Unless and until wages for labor rise, because we actually did deport all the third world willing to work for peanuts, you shouldn't be doing it.
"just walk up to a worksite."
i literally did that at the building site up the hill (small uk town), they of course told me to go through their job agency route, i did eventually get temporary labouring work there months later, and through their official channel after other sites they told me to go to, miles away.
it's pretty sparse and i have a better job now, it must be way worse for young people with no job history.
Good thing you're nameless.
My parents had a saying when I was growing up: "There's no such thing as dishonourable work." They of course came from a generation of people who didn't have welfare or food stamps. And they understood they were better off for it.
I've never met anyone on welfare or food stamps who eventually got around to making a real go of their life. The guy who wrote this article obviously has some moxie - which is why I made the suggestion that I did.
For someone like you, welfare and food stamps may be just the ticket.
For someone who has self respect, yes it is much better to take free money than do manual labor. Thank your husband for paying out for my lifestyle! He can work and toil, I can read substack.
I read Eberstadt’s “Men Without Work” a decade ago and thought “this can’t go on.“ But the other day I was sitting with a couple of my peers, and I realized, yes, it has gone on. Three highly educated, middle-aged white men who haven’t worked in 10 years. I really appreciate the honesty of your insight in asking, am I just lazy? That’s what I was taught growing up—change myself, don’t blame the world. Now I wonder if “trying harder to get a job” has to go into the same bucket as “voting harder.” Despite what the existentialist philosophers have said, I find despair unhelpful; it vitiates my creativity. Yet there it is.
Two statements.
First, you've inspired me to write a substack article, "Why I refuse to give up." It will have nothing to do with the odds actually being in our favor and everything to do with stubborn, near-delusional pride and a refusal to stop until something kills me.
The other statement is that you need to advertise your substack more. I see you've been writing for years. Some of this on topics (like Analog Horror) that I'm actually quite interested in. I saw your post scroll across because someone (John Carter, he's a White knight for small substackers) restacked you.
Advertise your stuff to people. DM people and say, "Hey I wrote this, why don't you take a look?" I'll at least give someone one or two articles if they bother me in such a way. You and I have been posting on substack since 2024. I have a few thousand subs because I keep heckling larger channels to read my stuff. Mainly due to near delusional levels of optimism and my own self-importance. And you've actually written things I'm interested in reading, so now I'm going to have to go back through your bibliography.
If you're not subscribed to me already, please do and see if I've written anything you like. In particular, you might like the "Digital Neon" article I published a few weeks ago.
A variety of analog jobs. We tend to think of these as low status but they often hold their own rewards and an income is an income however small. Having something to do does wonders for mental health. Just a thought in any case.
Who cares about the status of a job? With the degeneracy of the current society, "high status" jobs are often the ones that require you to sell your soul. Work a "low status" job and keep your pride.
I'd suggest reading Knut Hamsun's Hunger (1890). It's about a poverty stricken young writer guy probably your age in Norway starving to death and going insane within a pitiless polite society. If you find it as I did--younger, poorer, and also stricken with spiritual starvation--you'll get a lot out of it.
To me, you write of things both unique to these times but also timeless. Robert Bly's Iron John (also a read you might get a kick out of) notes that Norse men during the Viking Age spent the difficult time between leaving mom and going on a first raid to become a real man as "Ash Biters". They had to sleep alone in the worst part of the longhouse right by the fires and they'd be covered with ash. They'd even eat the charcoal, hungry and forsaken.
But the day eventually came to raid and a chieftain would need men. The Ash Biters would clean up, grab an axe, and go raiding. Their real lives as men began.
Give these things a read. Maybe they'll contextualize things. Giving up is an emotional state you are in--not your fate.
A fantastic essay encapsulating what so many of us are feeling in this wretched anti-white, anti-male system - may it burn to the ground soon!
A lot of this shit is precipitated by nobody getting married young. Getting married young was a boon to me. Both families chipping in. My FIL fronted the down payment for our house. It would have taken years for us to save up for that.
I don't know how to fix shit but as an elder millenial I feel like I caught the last chopper out of nam. Either that or I managed to snagbone of the few life jackets on a sinking ship and I get to tread water for awhile while others around me drown.
I see a lot of myself in this article. I am blessed with a somewhat menial job and a family that won’t see me out on my ass, but I am also a writer with little prospect of that ever becoming a real profession. I have self published two books and will publish more over the coming months. I make silly YouTube videos reviewing movies and anime and playing guitar and singing. None of which I expect to ever be able to make money off of. And you’re right, one does wonder how much of my own lack of furtherance has to do with my own competence or lack thereof, or the system holding me back because of my race, gender or sexuality. I know I’m unlikely to be someone a big publisher is going to push for regardless of the quality of my writing.
But I persist. I MUST persist. And so must you. Whether it’s 1% the system holding you back or 100%, you cannot allow them to win. The best thing I can think of is to try and find other men who share your passion and work with them towards something, anything. People you can meet in real life too. This is what I’ve done and it’s the best thing in my life right now. It may not lead to anything profitable but I don’t much care at this point. It’s more about feeling fulfilled than it is about money.
I, like you, have trouble seeing a future for myself. But that doesn’t mean I stop looking for it. Please, do not allow the system to grind you to dust. I can’t see it happen to another.
Well I’m terribly sorry to read this and of course the knowledge that you are far from alone in this situation adds to the seriousness of the situation. However from the perspective of an old man (and not a US based old man either) it does seem to me that you might be overlooking one possibility. Have you considered taking a few hours a week to learn an actual physical trade? Perhaps something that does not require licensing or credentials. In my country that would be gardening, handyman work, masonry. There are perhaps different choices in your area. YouTube is packed with information on
In America the trades have been flooded by the 12 million immigrants let in during the Biden administration. You can’t work on most job sites, as some have suggested, unless you speak Spanish. For one example, the drywall business in Los Angeles was once dominated by blacks who made a good middle class living. Then they got replaced by Hispanic immigrants who drove down wages. On the upper end, Indian guest workers came to dominate hi-tech and formed insular caste-like enclaves in many large companies and drove down wages while openly discriminating against Americans, forcing out the average domestic IT worker. Anti-white male discrimination is an open secret in America.
All good areas to avoid then. Writers are now up against AI slop as well as all the other barriers that have been erected. It’s far from a complete list of possibilities though - particularly skills that require a bit of effort or creativity to shine at. Off the top of my head - cabinet making , chair making, and high end joinery. Wood turning, metal work from silver jewellery to blacksmithing. Knife making. Leather work including scroll decorations. Book arts (something I know a little about) everything from blank journals to full medieval tomes. Masonry, car mechanics, sewing machine repair (who knew), brewing, baking - particularly decent sourdoughs and bagels, cider making. Um, that would be hard cider to you I guess. Bonsai if you are young and have some patience, specialised watercolour painting botanical and architectural. Shirt making, hat making, sock making, shoe making is not just a load of old cobblers. Knitting - not just for the ladies and the Scandi stuff goes for a fortune. Bodging. Charcoal making. Cheese making. Soap making. After a bit of practice I could tell the difference between my soap and my cheese. Offset smoker construction if you have some space and have picked up some metalwork skills. Paper marbling, etc. etc. etc. Some of these can be started with minimal outlay, some may lead to a bit of income. Any of them will give some satisfaction and mental grounding away from a keyboard. These are not ‘jobs’ in the way I was brought to expect but they are all occupations that can help keep you grounded.
Take the jobs and keep working, it’s better than festering. I have been there, including a crash of my industry. 95$K to $13K take home. 18 months later back to where I was. In the interim 3-4 not so good jobs (that’s the $13-15K 18 months).
I feel this. Had managed to make freelance writing a reasonable career. AI has eaten much of my work in the last year. I have a kid to feed so the panic is real. No idea when or how the fog of the future will lift. Have sure figured out how to stretch grocery money at least.
This is absolutely fascinating! I am without words, well…..almost. As a recently retired executive level administrator I’ve seen this dynamic from the other side. The single and I mean single greatest challenge I had was finding not exceptional help….not “good” help ……..just adequate employees. I offered about 70 thousand a year starting, benefits, a retirement plan.. This was entry level no experience required. With growth opportunities.. …and no it wasn’t telemarketing or involved selling . The only downside was it is really really difficult work. The single most common conversation I had with my peers was about our challenges with finding and keeping descent employees . My successor still has the same problem. It was universal and the stories were almost comical. It wasn’t just my industry, in conversation with business owners, managers, supervisors in industries that supported my organization they lamented the same challenge. My friends in almost every business, government or organization you can imagine said the exact same thing., from waste management to health care.
Yet, amazingly, this young man can’t find a job and has given up looking. Absolutely amazing.
Where is the disconnect? As someone who used to hire, train, manage and far too often fire thousands of employees let me share some insight. People young and old need to understand the nature of work, the nature of employment. At its most fundamental, it’s most basic level it is a financial transaction. No different than getting a haircut or your lawn cut. While it’s oh so nice for the employees to be validated, “valued” as a person or given the space to let them find a “work/life” balance, that is the exception not the norm…….and it’s very very expensive. And it is not the organization’s purpose. Unfortunately, the business, agency or the organization has needs that the employee needs to fill is the imperative …that is why someone “ pays “ you for the effort. You are trading effort for money. The more valuable that effort is..the more money someone is willing to pay for it. That’s why it’s called a “ job” not a “ vacation “.
Here is the most important bit of advice I can give from the other side. No one and I mean no one pays anyone to work. Just showing up and “doing what you think is a good job” doesn’t make you a good employee. I paid people for “ outcomes” not effort. Success comes not from what you do , but from what you get done. Realize that….create more value than what it costs to employ you and you will have employers bidding for you. As a young man, I had a manager tell me that job security was having the names of three people who would hire you tomorrow. Give more than you get and that won’t be a problem. Bonus advice…….the same principle applies to every aspect of life
Exactly. However let me provide another option. I am retired from local government and I can tell you from experience that qualified employment acquisition is at crisis levels in that industry. In the early 2000s there was an article in a magazine called Governing (an industry magazine focusing on local/state government) that highlighted that because almost all mid to senior management level governmental employees were baby boomers ( of which I was one) and because governmental workers could retire relatively early there was going to a crisis in public sector employment by the 20teens and the 2020s. They were right. A motivated person could find a job with ease, as a result of that crisis the salaries have increased dramatically in the last 15 years and the jobs have great benefits with high levels of security. Just saying.
Bravo. But the author is an artist, and young, white men have been shut out of that job market, whether they are actors, musicians, writers, set designers, journalists (do they even exist any longer?), etc. The discrimination is real, but the reality is that artists, like athletes, have always had extremely limited income opportunities. Ask Vincent Van Gogh.
As for the zero job growth in 2025, all of the federal government jobs lost in 2025 were offset with the growth in the private sector. The one career that young white men have no chance of entering are those that rely on H1-B visas--highly-skilled technology, academia, NGOs. That's the reality. Like the wagon wheel repairman of early 20th century America, you better look for a different job or you'll starve.
Entry level jobs--by definition a job that can lead to a career--are the opportunity to show off your work ethic by working hard and working smart. My entry level job in 1980 paid $12,000 annually. Adjusted for official inflation of 3.1% compounded over 45 years that would be $46,000 today. (That includes the official inflation of 13.5% and 10.3% in my first two years, and I have the Social Security payment history to show I received no such pay increases.) Today, my firm offers entry level positions for $60,000 annually that are in reality secretarial in scope. Many in that position are content to thrive in a 9-5 job and pursue their hobbies on their time. Many have moved on to other career opportunities within the company and have been rewarded appropriately.
My advice to young men is stop doomscrolling and get out there and take advantage of whatever job openings are available and give it your best effort, even if it is not your dream job. Doors will open in the most amazing ways.
"Where is the disconnect?" Well, personally I am always biased against HR, the people managing the hiring process who I doubt are honestly reviewing applications, but instead searching for or inventing reasons to reject. (Let's just say I found the article quite familiar.)
Something less born of bad experiences, I think it is an actual community disconnect. Please, do not interpret this as an insult or anything negative, but you have identified yourself as a high level retired employee who had and likely still has connections across multiple industries. In theory, you are in a position to interview this man directly about his experiences, interests, and willingness to work, and then put him in contact with people who can pressure an honest review of his application within their businesses. It doesn't need to be thought of as a reference but an introduction, in both directions. Introducing potential employers to him, but also him to potential employers. Something I wonder about when I look for jobs is if there might be some good ones in my area I am unaware of just because they either do not put listings where I look or where I look prioritizes others.
Again, I do not mean to be insulting, so please forgive me if I came off that way.
No offense taken, I appreciate the sentiment, thank you. And yes, I am, shall we say…….experienced. The disconnect is one quite frankly of expectation. While I wasn’t HR professional I had a few who worked for me and as I designed the organizational structure they were my direct reports ( as was finance). I can absolutely assure you no HR professional I am aware of approaches their business that way. The pressure these people are under is too great. “Talent Acquisition “ is too vital and to be honest, as I said almost impossible. What I mean is this……as a younger man I had an interest in archeology and anthropology. It was what I wanted to do. I originally studied it in college. Until after a few semester and talking with my advisor I discovered just how few people make a living in that field. How important it was that you went to the right college (my school wasn’t one of them). I learned that just a bachelors wasn’t going to do it. Neither was a graduate degree. To actually make a living in the field it would require a doctorate. But more importantly the competition for employment was STAGGERING. As I was paying for my education that wasn’t likely. The best I could have hoped for would be a history teacher in a high school. A position I am uniquely psychologically unqualified for. So in a moment of clarity, everything changed. I got a bachelor degree in criminal justice with a subsequent MBA. Did I want a criminal justice degree…no. An MBA …..no. It was where the jobs were, so that is where I went. And I just didn’t go there …..I REALLY went there and made a successful career of it. Here it is…I am not saying nothing about “following your dreams”, but I will say this ….nothing is free. I am reminded of my mentor. A subject matter expert he taught me a great deal. But what no one knew but his close friends was that he was a “Harley” guy. He loved motorcycles. Covered in tattoos…the whole persona. But you couldn’t tell it. Never wore jeans, never wore short sleeve shirts. Just a shirts, ties and suit. No beard, hair all business. Not because he wanted to but because that is what was expected…what was required. He retired 15 years before I did. Today, his hair is down his back, a full fu Manchu beard, shows every tat he has. That is what I am talking about. Somehow we taught or learned that we are the center of the universe and for most of us we’re not. We can try to be and some of us might make it. But the price is high and you have to be really really really just that good. I think Sheryl Crow once sang…it’s not getting what you want…it’s wanting what you get.
There was a time, it feels like pre-history, but really its only pre-20th century, when a man make his own way. They have made that illegal.
The concept of "job" is disappearing. In an inflationary environment it's highly unlikely most wages and salaries are going to keep up. Don't think about it as waiting for the good times to return, but rather getting through the next stair step of decline. At some point things will stabilize for a few years before the inevitable next leg down.
Very interesting piece!
I don’t know your age, I’m in my mid 40s, and I feel that if I would have gone the route you did, I might have ended up the same way.
I say that because I worked on cars for 10 years, instead of going to college. Most of my friends went to college, I went from being a mechanic to building electronic control panels for $9.50 an hour, this was in 1999. The panel job was fun, and I learned a TON about AC electrical theory, but I couldn’t stay there, because most of the employees were retired military, with fat pensions, and were working -- just to have something to do. I had zero leverage in that shop wage-wise.
I went from that back to working on cars again, then to working on building automation systems. I made less money going from cars to that, but in the end I was making a pretty good paycheck. I had a company vehicle -- before everyone started putting GPS on their fleet vehicles.
Now I do more project management type work. But still in a related industry.
I don’t know, I always felt like college was a scam. I saw all these people wrack up debt, some did really well, others ended up doing something that was not at all related to what they went to college for, but most did well enough.
I’m self-taught. If I needed to learn something, I would. I would go talk with experienced people, pick their brains, and come out an SME in no time flat. I enjoy learning, and I especially enjoy learning about things that can advance me in my line of work.
I remember when my wife and I were living in our first apartment. We were so broke that we went fishing in St. Augustine, FL to get our food. It was that, or run up credit on a gas station credit card eating hot dogs and crap food. Old guys on the pier taught us how to fish using sinker slides, which is exactly what I do still.
But that was pretty cool looking back, both of us remember being broke and not feeling “poor” because were actually able to pull it off. We struggled, but it was fun, and adventurous. We still had family in town, so it’s not like we really would have starved or ended up on the street.
But it was worth the experience to do what was necessary, or at least to see if we could do what was necessary if we were 100% without any fallback.
Back to the job stuff. The mechanic job, I bagged because my brother-in-law worked at that shop. I always did all my own work on my car, and used the factory manual my dad had and knew my way around a car pretty well. But I don’t know if I would have bagged the mechanic job if it weren’t for my brother-in-law.
When I was fed up working on cars, I decided I wanted to do something with electronics, so I began experimenting in the job market.
I looked through news papers, at the job listings. This was in the late 90s. I found lots of jobs that required 4-year degrees, and 5+ years experience. Yes it was just as stupid back then. 4-year degree and ridiculous experience. 🙄
So, I started calling places and lying to them -- just to see what they would say. It was hit or miss. Some places were stuck on the degree (usually corporate-type jobs) while other places wanted more experience and didn’t care as much about the degree.
It’s like getting credit when you’re young. You can’t get a credit card because you don’t have a long enough credit history, but you can’t build a credit history without a credit card. 🤣😂🤣 I know there are other ways to do it, but it’s a similar situation. Where are you expected to get experience when nobody will hire you in that field?
The panel job I did get on my own. That place had an aptitude test they gave potential employees. It wasn’t too hard, but you did have to know what you were doing to pass it. Because I studied up, I did well and got the job.
I went back to working on cars, because the money at the panel shop was too little to do anything with. I left the automotive repair industry for the same reason I left it the first time, It was full of bad people, and I spent too much time making sure I was paid correctly.
My point is, all throughout my employment history it was a mix of luck and abilities.
The problem now is that you can’t get in front of anyone for them to judge what your capabilities are.
I suppose the idea is efficiency, but I can’t see where it helps the employer when people can just lie (not like I was doing for experimentation)😉👉 but lying to get a job that they’re not qualified for. Wasting the employers time, and their own.
Oh, I forgot, I went for an in-person interview at one place that manufactures sheet rock. It was a pretty cool interview because they took me through the hole plant, and showed me the process.
The plant manager was super impressed with me, and wanted to hire me on the spot -- as an engineer -- for WAY more than I was making at the building automation place. But he couldn’t -- because I didn’t have a degree. My salary would have been capped at $60k, which was around what I was making at the automation place. The job posting was for $88k. The plant manager even went in with me to the HR person from the new owners (the company had just been bought out) and pushed for them to hire me anyway, but they couldn’t because *it was all about checking the box.*
To make things even more annoying, the plant manager told me that if I would have been there a few months earlier, I would have had that job at $88k and been grandfathered in. The corporation that bought them is who set the rules for college requirements. 🙄
Even if you get a job that you don’t really want, it might allow you to meet more possible employers. You’d be surprised who you can run into. Sometimes you can run into someone that just takes a liking to you, and might hire you out from under your current employer.
I was offered an IT job by one of my customers while installing a card access system. I helped their IT guy fix some issues with VMWare. I ran VMWare ESXi at home (back when it was free). Their issue was something that I ran into a few months before, and I documented the fix. He was impressed with me, and told me that if I ever want a job at his company, I’ve got it, and he gave me his card. His company created some kind of software that was used in the health care industry by a lot of doctor’s offices.
Only bad thing was that the company was based out of Portland Maine, and they were moving back to Maine eventually. Moving wasn’t an option for me at the time.
I don’t have any specific advice on what to do to get a job, because if I lost my job, *I’m not sure what I would do* -- because things are not as they were. Not even a little. I could probably go back to the building automation place, I didn’t leave there on bad terms. But there’s no way they would pay me what I make now.
But don’t give up!
You’ll never find what you’re not looking for.
I “gave up” too on my white collar path after I was fired and couldn’t find new work. Now I also write and look to build an acting portfolio. People find me entertaining locally but it may be a big fish little pond effect. I don’t know yet.