The book Jobs in America, which is edited by David Ramm, is a series of articles put together by different authors describing many different aspects in the jobs in America. It describes the importance of good jobs, education related to wages, population size for a market, the relevance of people wanting to be their own boss, different classes in America, diversity in the workplace, gender differences, the biggest financial decision known as retirement, as well as many other factors. This book covers basically all the aspects of jobs in America. It gives many different views from different authors around the U.S on the factors that affect and are related to jobs in America. Jobs are very important everywhere you go. Working is the only way to make sure a person will have food on the table and a place to live. In some aspects, work is more than just a job. In fact, a job defines a person socially and economically. This book is about the many different ways work meets our needs.
The first chapter describes employment growth in America. This particular article is written by Christopher H. Wheeler and it looks at the life of the American worker. It talks about the issues of salaries, wages, benefits, as well as outsourcing, and the age of the work place. Job growth is very important for America and is a concern of everyone. Wheeler states that “Job growth ranks near the top of the issues that Americans deem as important” (pg 50.) There are over “200 different industries” which include jobs like: “business management and consulting which pays about $26.04 per hour, computer and data processing which pays $26. 10 per hour, security commodity broker-age-investment companies paying $26.22”, and there is the other end of the ...
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...hoose to not work at all, and be able to travel the world and vacation as much as they want. Milton Charles explained his view best through this statement, “I envisioned just she and I hitting the road at our leisure. I’d like to feel I have that freedom” (pg 129).
This book was very interesting because it explained many factors of jobs in America that are otherwise disregarded. A person never thinks about all these factors when choosing their occupation, but after reading this book I have realized just how much it goes into jobs in America. “The fluid paths many Americans follow over the course of their career also sets us apart from others” (pg vii). Our occupations define us as individuals so it is important to understand all these different aspects in jobs in America.
Works Cited
Ramm, David, ed. Jobs in America. Bronx, NY: H.W. Wilson, 2006. Print.
...hored, individuals, families, and communities suffer the negative economic consequences due to limited job availability. Most people who work in these industry sectors are blue collars, who are not professional or academically qualified to work in other fields, as a result their job choices are limited, especially when the main industry in that community is to work in the stage of manufacturing. When there is massive unemployment within a single community the loss of manufacturing jobs can threaten consumers, creating other problems in the society that result in economic costs. Such problems may spiral into the loss of one's car or home, personal debt, and the lack of economical means to afford a child's education, thus continuing the cycle of economic poverty. These aforementioned consequences are indirect and important economic effects of offshoring American jobs.
The same article showed other factors that play into the overworked life of an average American, and one of them is the 67% increase in cost of living since 1990(Gilson). Or, the fact that one’s annual salary at minimum wage is merely $15,080. In addition to that, one must have a $30,000 income in order to say that they genuinely have econmic security. So, maybe this is the reason why Americans find themselves having to work longer hours and having to work harder. It is because our economy is relentless, and in order to make a living, things like vacation and days off have to sometimes be put on ho...
Employment is hard to find and hard to keep and a job isn’t always what one hoped for. Sometimes jobs do not sufficiently support our lifestyles, and all too frequently we’re convinced that our boss’s real job is to make us miserable. However, every now and then there are reprieves such as company holiday parties or bonuses, raises, promotions and even a half hour or hour to eat lunch that allows escape from monotonous workloads. Aside from our complaints, employment today for majority of American’s isn’t totally dreadful, and there always lies opportunity for promotion. American’s did not always experience this reality in their work places though, and not long past are days of abysmal and disgusting work conditions. In 1906 Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” was published. His novel drastically transformed the way Americans felt about the unmitigated power corporations wielded in the ‘free’ market economy that was heavily propagandized at the turn of the century. Corporations do not have the same unscrupulous practices today because of actions taken by former President Theodore Roosevelt who felt deeply impacted by Sinclair’s famous novel. Back in early 1900’s in the meatpacking plants of Chicago the incarnation of greed ruled over the working man and dictated his role as a simple cog within an enormous insatiable industrial machine. Executives of the 1900’s meatpacking industry in Chicago, IL, conspired to work men to death, obliterate worker’s unions and lie to American citizens about what they were actually consuming in order to simply acquire more money.
Precarious employment is work that is not secure, generally does not include any type of benefits, and is paid so lowly that it generally does not meet the living wage. This type of employment is unfortunately a growing trend in today’s societies due to many factors such as outsourcing, globalization, a saturated job market, shifts from manufacturing to the service sector and jobs also being replaced by computerized units. When speaking on precariousness these trends also affect European societies due to the fact that the outsourcing is generally to places where labour is extremely cheap in order to lower the costs of goods such as Asia and South America. This growing trend is also resulting in negative effects on the economy such as the bottoming out of the middle class and a large amount of citizens living below the poverty line and not able to earn a livable wage. Minimum Wage is on the incline, however, it is still not enough to live on practically and there are many other factors that make precarious work disadvantageous other than the wages such as job security and room for growth and promotion within the company. The negative changes to the job market brought on by the changes to it have resulted in higher expectations and demands from the employers which reduce the amount of people which are eligible for what are now known as “good jobs”. These good jobs generally entail a livable wage, benefits, more flexibility and better job security. Precarious work is categorized and gendered as women and immigrants make up the vast majority of employees in this type of work. Since precarious work affects citizens on a global scale, in this essay, there will be comparisons and contrasts drawn between precarious work in Canada ...
People will argue that having a low-paying job and freedom is better than a high-paying job and a 60-hour workweek. However many including myself, don’t share the views of Hal Niedzviecki’s essay’s “Stupid Jobs Are Good to Relax With”. Having a higher paying and longer hours provides much more income and allows for a lot more financial freedom. This freedom can help bring much more happiness into your life compared to the lower paying workweek. Hal Niedzviecki mentions many benefits to the easy jobs with low-paying workweeks in the following statement
One of the major problems Lewis and Zaidane’s argue in their piece is that fifty-three percent of graduates are unemployed (587). People are attending college, accumulating debt, and are not able to start careers. Recently, a student graduated with a degree in marketing and because of low unemployment rate he had to work as a bartender. More people will have degrees than jobs in the next ten years.
In recessions of the past the American worker was laid off with the impression they would be rehired as soon as demand for goods and services were presented again. Now people in jobs from computer programmers to telephone operators are losing their jobs and never returning to the same field again. The big issue here is that if we continue outsourcing specific jobs overseas we could erase a whole industry of job opportunity from the American people. Economists say the framework of the U.S. labor force has been changed due to past outsourcing of jobs by this country. The more outsourcing that continues the more our job force’s structure will change. As a result, the American worker can no longer wait to be rehired into the same job or profession. Using their time while unemployed, Americans are retraining themselves and attempt to step into an entirely different career.
Colorado State University-Global Campus. (2013). Module 1 – Evolution of American labor [Blackboard ecourse]. In MGT 516 – Employee and labor relations (p. 1-3). Greenwood Village, CO: Author.
In America, if Americans do not work for what they want, they will not get that thing. The daily life of an American is either school or work. There isn’t really any time to do anything else. If Americans don’t work they won’t get their necessities. So as an immigrant coming into America you should take any opportunities that are available. In the short story, “America and I”, by Anzia Yezierska that is what she did. “In the golden land of flowing opportunity I was to find my work that was denied me in the sterile village of my forefathers.” She sees all of the opportunities that are in America so she is going to take advantage of that. “Once I thought that in America everybody works for love, Nobody has to worry for a living.” Sooner or later she realizes that that was completely wrong. But as the strong woman that she is, she proves that she has good workmanship and willing to work for what wasn’t given or allowed for her. She came from a country that didn’t allow women to work. Also is the poem “I Hear America Singing” by Walt Whitman, he says “The mason is singing as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,” Working is an everyday thing like stated before. If you do not you will not survive in this cold world, people who do not work get looked down upon and they try to rely on everybody that’s around them. Somebody will let you to rely on them for so long until they tell you to get a job.
For what has been a very, very long time, our elected representatives have sought to achieve “full employment” as a national goal….but full employment has been suspect as a possible cause of inflation, and is therefore weakened by decisions of the Federal Reserve, in an attempt to retard inflation. In terms of causes, unemployment has changed; the character, degree of severity, possible solutions of unemployment over the last ten years or so have been reduced, and has morphed in terms of just who is experiencing the unemployment and the suggestions for answering the problem. It has been the traditional fundamental trades, like manufacturing, viewed as part of the shift in the economy towards the new information age model, as workers transition from a manufacturing economy to a service economy, all the while over-coming the obstacles set forth by our own government.
The report of Robert Reich: “Why the Rich are getting Richer and the Poor, Poorer,” is an eye opener and a warning for society regarding unemployment that it will be facing and is currently facing due to a lack of technology and education. It clearly articulates that the jobs of routine producers and in-person servers have vanished totally as modern techniques have replaced them. The author has stated that the only people whose jobs are on the rise are symbol analysts. As stated in the report, symbol analysts are the real problem solvers. Their skills are highly in demand worldwide because they are the ones who first analyze the problem and then solve it. The Hart Report, on the other hand, also states the same problem of unemployment and the global recession which has left employers focusing on employees not only with specialists’ skills but also a “broader range of skills and knowledge” (page 6-7). The Hart Report clearly reflects what the needs of contemporary employers are, but the question is whether it is the universities or the students themselves who fail to cope with the requirements of the contemporary world which is filled with technological advancement and critical thinking. The Texas Work Source has also played an important role in examining what is actually missing in today’s generation and the reasons behind such a great decline in employment. The central
The structural-functional analysis of jobs in the U.S. is governed by the workforce stratification and technology. The more educated and diverse a society is the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class has been both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job also is an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change. This is to say that even if one’s field of expertise is needed today it may not be tomorrow. This type of ever-changing job market leads many to believe that another socio-economic change may occur at any time. This change was apparent with the transition into the industrial age and again in the information age. These concerns caused stress, various health issues, a...
Secondly, the American work ethic can work against those that hold it, causing them to burn out from exhaustion. This is obviously wrong. No job should motivate someone to work to exhaustion everyday so that the administration can meet its profit margins. Thirdly and most importantly, while thinking that the job market and the economy are zero-sum games is morally wrong, it is factually wrong. While money and jobs do not appear automatically as a part of life, such things can be made with some effort. Enter the Free Trade Agreement, or FTA for short. While FTA’s can hurt home country production advantage and the prospects of native workers through the process of outsourcing, it brings in many benefits including economic boons such as increased trade with foreign countries, cheaper products for consumers, and decreasing the US trade
But as many societies modernized and grew much larger then working class became more educated, gaining specific job skills and achieving the kind of finical well-being jobs Marx would of never thought possible. As we see in today era in the year of 2016, workers are no longer getting exploited. Workers are now working under the protection of a union and a labor law. In a recent, New York Time article published on September 13, 2016, titled "Americans Inequality Problems: Real Income Gains Are Brief and Hard to Find". American 's income increasion was presented. A recent count by the Census Bureau provided good news for a beleaguered set of working class. A typical American working class income had increased by a heavy 5.2 percent in 2015. The first sky high jump since 2007, the year right before the economy had sank into a hard recession. The average income for the poorest population increased by a 6.6 percent after three back to back consecutive years of decline, the American economy has began to lift, the fellow ruse of the minimum wage across many states and municipalities. But what many American 's ask is what "why now why after so many years after the increase of labor income?" The answer to this question has many factors that can imply but one cause was mainly on distribution.Most agreed that the only way Americans were going to make it ahead would be through a paycheck. But the question still stands
Unfortunately, there are many Americans out of work in today’s current declining economy. Unemployment can be defined as a person who is out of work involuntary, not by choice. These people are looking jobs and available to start work. Being unemployed can be disheartening and deciding what the next step is can be challenging. Underemployed can be described as being inadequately employed, such as a low-paying job that requires fewer skills than one possess. (Daly, Hobijn, and Kwok 2015) Making ends meet can be difficult for one who has been affected by this economy over the past few years. America still has a high unemployment rate since the decline of the current job market. And many Americans are struggling to establish the skills needed for employment, or the underemployed are force to lower they skill to make a profit. America’s economic status has force the underemployed and unemployed to make ends meet with the current jobs available. And last but not least some have also utilized these difficult times to venture into new discoveries to make life hassle free. So, we wonder is Americans giving up in today’s economy or do they settle for lower end job to establish a steady income to make ends.