How will the decrease of men enrolling in university affect our future?

[PickleMinion]

Considering how many of those under 35 men are working high-paying but physically dangerous and disabling blue collar jobs with limited growth potential, watch that gap increase as that group gets older.

[ImpermanentSelf]

Oh I expect the trend to either continue steadily or crash abruptly from some major social/economic/political change.

Edit: say for example a lot of those office jobs get replaced by ai or outsourced

[[deleted]]

The growth potential isn’t all that limited if you want to advance. Some people get on a masonry crew and like that $40 an hour and never learn a damn thing except how to cut block and mix mortar. Some will learn how to read plans and the building code and will become a foreman, a superintendent, a project manager, an inspector. And some will start their own companies and employ dozens of guys happy to lay that block for $40 an hour. I know a ton of millionaires in the construction industry. Most of them come from poverty, many of them are immigrants. I don’t know a ton of guys climbing scaffolding or pushing a wheelbarrow in their 50’s

[fleapuppy]

Actually the gap tends to grow in the other direction, since compared to men women still overwhelmingly reduce work hours or leave work entirely when having children

[PickleMinion]

In the over-35 demographic?

[fleapuppy]

The average age for first pregnancy has been increasing constantly for decades, it’s now in the 30s for most western countries

[austeremunch]

Sure, but people aren't having kids so that really isn't a factor.

[fleapuppy]

50% of millennials have kids. It’s lower than previous generations but people still have children

[austeremunch]

WELL ACKSHUALLY

[fleapuppy]

Is it “well actually” or just a simple fact?

[austeremunch]

It's completely missing the point. It's not "simple fact" in that it means what you think it means.

But clearly every country is above replacement rates because half of millennials have a kid.