Work, employment and unemployment in the US

Thèmes abordés

Hec, prépa, ecs, ece, ect, anglais, english, emploi, travail, US, Etats-Unis, salaire, syndicat, work, employment, labor unions

Résumé du document

The working population is an aging population, becoming increasingly diversified ethnically and racially, increasingly female (women now represent 3/5 of all new entrants in the workplace)
- women often work in pink collar jobs, i.e., they are teachers, salespersons, nurses, cashiers, etc. Many of them also work part time and their wages are lower (it is worse for Hispanic and African-American women). Even if advances have been made, women still seldom reach the top
- existence of glass ceiling for corporate women, i.e., while they have reached middle management jobs, they are stuck there and cannot reach top level positions (in 2000, only 3 of the top 500 companies were managed by women). That's why more and more women start their own businesses.
- the average work week is around 42 to 45 hours for a full time worker and people on average take off 2 weeks a year. Americans are often described as workaholics
- in the 1990s, economists spoke of the Great American Job Machine which kept unemployment down to a minimum => dynamism due to the confidence in the economy and the flexibility of the American job market

Extraits

[...] Many of them are also part time and their wages are lower (it worse for Hispanic and African-Americans women). Even if advances have been made, women are still seldom at the top - pb of glass ceiling for corporate women = while they have reached middle managements jobs, they are stuck there and cannot reach top level positions (in 2000 only 3 of the largest 500 first companies were managed by women). That's why more and more women start out on their own business - the average work week is around 42 to 45 hours for a full time worker and people take on average 2 weeks off a year. [...]

[...] - Americans seem to think unions are still needed - unions still have a role to play in securiting workers' conditions especially regarding health coverage. [...]

[...] - on the one hand, there are low skilled and unstable jobs ; on the other hand there are high-skilled and well-paid jobs - 30 to 40 years ago, well paid and reliable blue-collar jobs in traditional industries were numerous but with the shift from an industrial economy to an economy of services they have been replaced by low skilled jobs or very well paid and highly skilled jobs - therefore, there will be a polarization between those able to master the new technologies and the others. [...]

[...] Women are a majority in this sector but "hamburger flipper" is often used to characterize those ojbs because they are precarious and they offer few career prospects Unemployment and contingency work * Unemployment - unemployment is lower than in Europe = it hovered around but it hides the fact that the workplace has become much less stable than in the past. - in the US, a worker can receive a pink slip the paper which notices him that he has been dismissed) requiring him to leave the next day - in the 1970s and the 1980s, lay-offs were a necessity because firms (such IBM, Apple, Boeing . [...]

[...] - in service sector, the aim is to match customer expectations and adapt to demand fluctuations having a flexible workforce is the best way to meet those requirements - part time or temporary workers are cost effective. Moreover a part timer cannot join a union for expl - new pb related to those multiple job-holders = workers have no loyalty to the firm, are unmotivated, and leave as soon as they can find a better job. It has also been proved that contingent work does not improve efficiency and could even drag down productivity because the cost for training short term workers is pretty high Challenges for the future * Toward a two-tiered job market ? [...]