Some are probably 'unemployable'. Around 10,000 (estimated) prefer to gamble on the stockmarket, instead of work.
Jobless men the new rising underclass April 17, 2006 - 5:34AM
Nearly a quarter of a million men in the prime of their lives are no longer looking for work - three times as many as a generation ago.
Bureau of Statistics figures show female employment has boomed in the past 25 years while the number of jobless men aged 25-44 has soared.
In 1978, more than 90 per cent of men aged 25 to 44 had a full-time job, whereas in the 12 months to March, that proportion dropped to 81 per cent, Fairfax newspapers reported.
The number in part-time jobs jumped from 2 to 7 per cent, while those with no work jumped from 7 to 12 per cent.
The sharpest growth was in those not looking for work, from just under 4 per cent of prime-aged males in 1978, to almost 9 per cent now - or nearly 250,000.
