At times, working mothers are expected to do more than they think they can. A spouse may have lost a job or have an illness. We may have to hold off on purchases or reassess daycare expenditures for two children in this uncertain economy. These are the times we live in.

Did you know that 20 percent of American men between the ages of 25 and 54 are unemployed now? New York Times columnist David Brooks addressed the unemployment problem last week, focusing in particular on the one-fifth of working-age American men who are currently unemployed (“The Missing Fifth“).

According to stats from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States has a smaller share of prime age men in the work force than any other G-7 nation.

Brooks writes that part of the problem has to do with structural changes in the economy. Sectors like government, health care and leisure have been growing. Sectors like manufacturing, agriculture and energy have been getting more productive, but companies are using machines or foreign workers to fill these jobs.

The bottom line: There are more idle men now than at any time since the Great Depression.

A man in his mid-30s I know recently took a 25 percent pay cut to get back in the workforce again. It took a friend’s husband three years to find a job. You hear these stories over and over again today.

What will it take to get “the missing fifth” back into the workforce, and what is President Obama’s administration doing to stimulate job growth?