Traditional Roles of Work

and the changing composition of the labor force

What Does Work Look Like?

The process of Socialization continues into adulthood, focusing in the workplace

Compare and contrast these two scenes:

The Office

Mad Men

Composition of the Workplace

Male and Female

Women went from holding 37% to 47% of jobs over the last 40 years

Increasingly Multicultural

Chinese student enrollment in U.S. universities up 21% in 2012-2013

22% of U.S. businesses owned by minorities

By 2050 there will be no racial or ethnic majority in the United States

The Role of Work

Americans value hard work

The Protestant Work Ethic

We began as an Agrarian society (Agricultural)

Technological advancements in food production and industry allowed the shift of agricultural workers from farms to factories (Industrial Revolution)

People moved to cities (Urbanization)

Manufacturing exploded at the end of WW2

Fueled by discoveries in computer science and their application to new technologies, the U.S. economy moved from a manufacturing to a knowledge, or information, focus (1980’s and 1990’s)

How Does It Affect Me?

Global Markets

The increasing connectedness of the global economy means that it has become easier for U.S. companies to move their manufacturing overseas where it is less expensive

3.8 million U.S. manufacturing jobs were eliminated between 2000 and 2008 (one in five)

Downsizing

Increases in technology mean companies require less employees to operate

Contingent Employment

Reducing employees to part-time employment

How Does It Affect Me?

Middle-Class Jobs

Bureaucracy

An administrative or policy-making group

Hierarchy aka all of your bosses and their bosses

Inefficient

300,000+ office and administrative jobs disappeared from 2004 to 2008

Loss of higher paying jobs has caused what is called ‘downwaging’

Replaced by lower paying jobs, many at or below poverty level

30 years ago one American worker could support a household, now a two-income family is the norm

Working in the USA

About half of all U.S. workers currently feel satisfied with their salary and job security

60-80% feel very loyal to their company

That’s a gap of 18-33% between a worker feeling loyal to their company and feeling their company is loyal to them

Employee trust is eroding

“Good luck with the firings”

Think About It

Think about a job that you or a family member hold. Write a paragraph explaining why it might be subject to downsizing or contingent employment and how that would affect you and your family.