Analysis: NYT Article on Unemployed Males 30-55

I've already been directed to the article by a number of well intentioned friends and family members.

The article, ultimately, sheds little light on this purported 'trend'. What I did find interesting what how little I have in common with the demographic the article attempts to illuminate. The first point however, does apply to me,

Millions of men like Mr. Beggerow -- men in the prime of their lives, between 30 and 55 -- have dropped out of regular work. They are turning down jobs they think beneath them or are unable to find work for which they are qualified, even as an expanding economy offers opportunities to work.

From there, it seems I diverge from the 'herd' of middle-aged unemployed males.

1. I am not a blue collar worker.
2. I have higher than a high-school education. [Note: For clarification - and in the spirit of blowing my own horn while hurling meaningless academic names at you, I did receive a Master's degree from the Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, specifically from the Interactive Telecommunications Program]
3. Accumulated savings have not made it more 'affordable' for me to be out of work.
4. "Many of these men could find work if they had to, but with lower pay and fewer benefits than they once earned, and they have decided they prefer the alternative." I wouldn't know about this yet as I haven't been able to procure a single job offer since coming to Los Angeles, save the one that paid $10/hour + gas to teach adults how to use a computer (3 hours a day) and was a 45 minute drive away.
   
5. I receive neither unemployment reimbursement nor disability payments.
6. I don't live alone.
7. I am not emerging from prison with a felony record.
8. I get less sleep than either these unemployed men who have stopped looking for work or their employed counterparts.
   

The rest of the article is equally boring and depressing, simultaneously. The bitter electrical engineer in Los Angeles whose dress was "out of place in the upscale Beverly Hills restaurant where he was interviewed for this article. But his education and skill were not out of place" hit too close to home for me to read comfortably.

I'd argue one point though: an advanced degree and some serious intellectual capacity is indeed out of place in the Los Angeles metro area job market.