Worldwide, the life-span gap between the sexes is shrinking (Except USA)

[AnUser]

Which lean left on average and are for more diversity, etc.

[Neo]

@Jonas

Because being white and male is hard in the US.

I think it’s more that it’s hard to be in the less well of portions of the US population independently of what race one has.

At the macro level the US data is still by far that non-whites (and non-Asians) have higher unemployment, live shorter than whites.

Here is the most recent unemployment rates which are definitely still significantly worse for blacks (49% worse) and Hispanics (43% worse) compared to whites.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (3.5 percent), adult women (3.3 percent), teenagers (11.9 percent), Whites (3.5 percent), Blacks (5.2 percent), Asians (3.1 percent), and Hispanics (5.0 percent) showed little change in December.

You can look in all the different breakdowns and data here:

https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2024/unemployment-rate-at-3-7-percent-in-december-2023.htm

[Neo]

And here are the government data on life expectancy

White male and female life expectancy is 76.7 and 77.5 years, while black male and female life expectancy is only 71.2 and 72.8 years.

vsrr031.pdf

[Neo]

@Jonas

Source: Washington Post

Hi Jonas, Can you please share the link - would love to read it.

[RapAdmin]

I think Jonas is really addressing challenges in two areas - lifespan and economic / academic opportunity (they are pretty much the same thing in many respects).

It reminds me of a universal human trait - we fear / and feel , “losses” much more than we enjoy “benefits”. For the first time white males are really on the “losing” side of economic progress and lifespan. We all feel losses strongly - so this is a huge issue, irrespective of whether others are in a worse situation or losing more.

White males are a huge part of the population and for the first time that category is suffering a great deal. This isn’t to take away from anyone else’s suffering - but it means that its a big issue for a large part of the US population.

Blacks and Native Americans have it much, much worse… but thats nothing new really from an economic perspective. And those groups are a much smaller part of the entire population. I’m just talking from a political / societal perspective here… just trying to convey why this is such a big issue in the USA these days.

We are all concerned (reasonably so), about our own economic, social, health opportunities. Each group is rightfully concerned when they see significant losses in these areas.

Sadly, I don’t see either political party in the US doing much to address the issue.

Source: The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years’ Worth of Progress on Life Expectancy (Scientific American)

The issue is “loss”… many groups are losing right now, but the incentive system in politics is seriously misaligned with the goal of helping improve the lives of most people; US politicians really get “paid” by companies / lobbyists, and 1% give them the they need to get re-elected, so they are going to do what is best to help the donors, not the electorate.

Loss aversion

Loss aversion in behavioral economics refers to a phenomenon where a real or potential loss is perceived by individuals as psychologically or emotionally more severe than an equivalent gain. For instance, the pain of losing $100 is often far greater than the joy gained in finding the same amount.

The psychological effects of experiencing a loss or even facing the possibility of a loss might even induce risk-taking behavior that could make realized losses even more likely or more severe.

Loss Aversion: Definition, Risks in Trading, and How to Minimize.

[Jonas]

Here is https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/10/07/jobs-racial-groups-gender-biden

All things being equal, economics has the strongest positive relationships with lifespans.

[AnUser]

Native Americans seem to have it really bad, that’s concerning, and there is high rates of alcoholism, similarly for inuits in Canada and Greenland Alcohol and Native Americans - Wikipedia

[Neo]

@Jonas

Here is

Thanks. An interesting read. I saw different versions of this figure only

but not the figure in your post above. Do you have the link the one you actually posted?

(I tried to find it myself via google but failed)

[scta123]

The graph Jonas shared is from a Bloomberg media article, but the statistics is really misleading in sense of diversity. Basically a company starts with 10 employees, 9 white, two leave, replaced by 1 person of color and one white person. A new position is created and filled with white person. Number of employees has increased by 1, and the number of non-white employees has increased by 1. By the logic of this article, 100% of the headcount increase is accounted for by non-white people. Looks like no-one is hiring white people? Despite the fact that in this example, 66.6% of the company’s hires were white.

This will give you more realist look into diversity of American companies:

Diversify.fyi - Diversity data tracker for USA companies

[Jonas]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/07/09/employment-black-immigrant-workers-recession/ th8

This one?

My apology, this first chart is from Bloomberg

[scta123]

I think @Neo meant this one:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2023-09-26/corporate-america-kept-its-promise-to-hire-more-people-of-color

[Neo]

@scta123

The graph Jonas shared is from a Bloomberg media article, but the statistics is really misleading in sense of diversity. Basically a company starts with 10 employees, 9 white, two leave, replaced by 1 person of color and one white person. A new position is created and filled with white person. Number of employees has increased by 1, and the number of non-white employees has increased by 1. By the logic of this article, 100% of the headcount increase is accounted for by non-white people. Looks like no-one is hiring white people? Despite the fact that in this example, 66.6% of the company’s hires were white.

Yes, that seems to describe it accurately. I finally was able to read the piece (and the source of Washington Post was incorrect - and as you say it was actually Bloomberg).

@Jonas - I think I see the point that @RapAdmin was conjecturing was at the core of your feeling.

As the same time, I have to say that I think it

(A) is important that we correctly attribute the real sources in accurate ways

(B) is it important to in a balanced way represent what a source is saying and not cherry picking from it

In this case the analysis that the figure you posted came from is sensational inline with how @scta123 just summarized. And beyond that, the article actually explained the more holistic situation including the fundamental, underlying inequities, including having key data along the lines of this figure:

Btw, my mother is Swedish and I grew up there, is that where “Jonas” comes from in your case?

[Jonas]

There are lies, damned lies, and statistics, We see what we want to see. This applies to all social sciences /analysis/forecast, and sadly today in science too to some extent.

[anon16510610]

Nope - definitely the white people (like myself) living longer…

As of 2020, Hispanics had a life expectancy at birth of 78.8 years, followed by non-Hispanic Whites at 77.6 years and non-Hispanic blacks at 71.8 Years.[17] In 2021, life expectancy for Native Americans was 65 years. For black Americans, 71; for white Americans, 76; for Hispanic Americans, 78; and 84 for Asian Americans.[

The statistics you quoted don’t support your assertion.

[anon16510610]

The most competent, elite human capital, probably want to work in diverse organizations. Else your company is just Russia

Thanks, I didn’t know that.

[AnUser]

It’s a good argument @RapAdmin put forth, what about legacy admissions? Why doesn’t the Intellectual Dark Web talk about that?

[RapAdmin]

You are correct, my bad. I was looking at African Americans (non-hispanic blacks) who live much shorter lives, as that seemed to be the focus of the posts, but yes, typically hispanics and asians live longer than whites, on average. Asians are typically much lower BMI than whites and hispanics, so that is easily understood why they live longer. As far as hispanics, I have no idea why they live longer. Perhaps less processed food?

[LaraPo]

There are so many advices to gain weight at a certain age (after 60+) to increase BMI to support longevity (avoid frailty), but Asians with their lower bmi live longer!

[RapAdmin]

@Jonas

Another example is just looking at Harvard’s admission rate.

So, simple question. Which do you think is a bigger issue (for white (non-alumni families) getting into Harvard… the 43% of whites that are getting in because they have wealthy parents who went to Harvard, or who did Crew / rowing, Lacrosse or Fencing, etc.,

and note:

The study also found that roughly 75 percent of the white students admitted from those four categories, labeled ‘ALDCs’ in the study, “would have been rejected if they had been treated as white non-ALDCs,” the study said.

or the 9.3% of the class that is African American (some percent of which got in due to diversity specifications)?

Study finds 43 percent of Harvard's white students are legacy, athletes,...

[DeStrider]

The Asians are most likely foreign students so they can charge international rates which are outrageous. That’s the bread and butter for universities. And they have plausible deniability as Asian students are usually very academic.