PAUL SOLMAN:

And, in fact, the share of working men ages 25 to 54 has fallen dramatically since 1957, fully 12 percent having dropped out of the work force entirely.

So, why aren't there more Jamie Browders?

Betsey Stevenson has a wry answer: Manly men don't want to do girly jobs.

BETSEY STEVENSON, Former Member, Council of Economic Advisers Member: So, if you look over the last 20 years, we have lost five million jobs in manufacturing and gained nine million jobs in education and health services.

So we're more than making up for the jobs we're losing, but the characteristics of those jobs, the identity associated with a worker who holds one of those jobs, the pay associated with those jobs are different.