1. Chapter Eleven
Work and the Economy

2. 11-1
Learning Objectives
Identify various ways in which our economy is changing.
Know how work and the workforce are changing, and how problems of work detract from people’s quality of life.
Understand the ways in which our economic system is detrimental to the well-being of many Americans.
Identify the ways in which the government and social roles contribute to the problems of work.
Discuss attitudes toward work and workers, as well as the ideology of the Protestant work ethic, as aspects of the work problem in America.
Suggest steps that can be taken to reduce the problems and make work more meaningful.

3. Focus Questions How have work and the economy changed?
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Focus Questions
How have work and the economy changed?
Does anyone really like work?
Can work make you sick or keep you well?
How have technology and bureaucracies affected work?
How can you become more satisfied with work?

4. Figure 11.1 United States Total Labor Force, 1800 to 1998
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Figure 11.1 United States Total Labor Force, to 1998
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 1919 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1980), p. 217; and the U.S. Bureau of the Census 1998d:403 and 1999e:411.

5. Figure 11.2 Distribution of Occupations
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Figure 11.2 Distribution of Occupations
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census 1999e:

6. 11-5
Figure 11.3 Membership in Labor Unions and Membership as a Proportion of the Labor Force, 1930 to 1998
Source: U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, Bulletin 1919 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1980); and U.S. Bureau of the Census 1998e:453.

7. 11-6
Table 11.1 Unemployment Rates, 1948 to (persons 16 years and over)
Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Report of the President (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1980), p. 249; and U.S. Bureau of the Census 1999e:430.

8. Table 11.2 Unemployment Rates, by Country, 1980 to 1998
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Table 11.2 Unemployment Rates, by Country, 1980 to 1998
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census 1995:862 and 1999e:848.

9. Table 11.3 Impact of a Sustained 1-Percent Rise in Unemployment
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Table 11.3 Impact of a Sustained 1-Percent Rise in Unemployment
Source: M. Harvey Brenner, Estimating the Social Cost of National Economic Policy: Implications for Mental and Physical Health and Criminal Aggression. (A study prepared for the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.) Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, October 26, 1976.