Table 5.

Family Structure Decompositions of Changes in the Male Labor-Force Participation Rate by Race, Education, and Age between 1970 and 2015 (percentage point changes, except last column )

					Change within
Race	Education	Age	Total change in labor-force participation rate	Change between	Unmarried with parent	Unmarried without parent	Married	Within married contribution to total change
All Men	Dropouts	25–34	−13.5	−4.7	−3.9	−1.4	−3.5	26%
		35–44	−11.0	−3.7	−2.1	−1.8	−3.5	32%
		45–54	−21.0	−5.5	−2.4	−4.7	−8.4	40%
	HS grads	25–34	−11.2	−3.5	−3.6	−1.3	−2.8	25%
		35–44	−11.0	−3.3	−2.2	−1.7	−3.9	35%
		45–54	−14.8	−3.6	−1.7	−3.8	−5.7	39%
Whites	Dropouts	25–34	−21.2	−6.3	−5.3	−3.7	−6.0	28%
		35–44	−23.3	−5.8	−3.5	−4.5	−9.5	41%
		45–54	−33.1	−6.5	−3.1	−8.6	−14.9	45%
	HS grads	25–34	−10.0	−2.8	−3.1	−1.5	−2.7	27%
		35–44	−10.8	−2.9	−2.4	−1.6	−3.9	36%
		45–54	−13.6	−3.2	−1.6	−3.5	−5.3	39%
Blacks	Dropouts	25–34	−31.6	−11.8	−9.9	−6.2	−3.6	11%
		35–44	−27.5	−8.1	−8.1	−6.5	−4.8	17%
		45–54	−35.5	−10.0	−4.4	−11.3	−9.8	28%
	HS grads	25–34	−18.8	−5.3	−7.0	−2.5	−4.0	21%
		35–44	−15.2	−4.2	−2.8	−3.4	−4.8	32%
		45–54	−20.5	−4.8	−2.2	−7.5	−5.9	29%

Source: Authors’ calculations based on the March Supplement to the Current Population Survey.

Note: “Dropouts” are high school dropouts. “HS grads” are high school graduates without college. See online Appendix for detail on how the within/between decomposition was executed. LFP rates were measured in 5-year windows around the beginning and endpoints: thus 1970 refers to 1968–72; 2015 refers to 2013–2017.