This chapter highlights trends in employment. We try to answer the question, Where do people work? And, under what institutional arrangements? The first question is a focus on "sectors" of the economy, rather than physical location of jobs. The second examines such things as the subdivisions of the sectors — private and public, profit-making and not-for-profit, unionized and non-union. The g…
This chapter discusses the changing workforce. The workforce is continuing to grow older and become more ethnically diverse and women are increasing their share of the workforce. In the next 20 years, 76 million Baby Boomers will be retiring. At the same time, growth is expected to add a little over 22 million jobs to the economy in just the first 10 years alone. Will succeeding generations be abl…
Our society is changing. The types of jobs of the future are changing as well. Advances in technology have fueled a tremendous increase in the need for computer professionals. The population of those 65 years old and older is expected to double from 35 million in 2000 to 70.3 million in 20301. As the population ages and more and more elderly are staying in their homes, there will be a greater need…
In this chapter we attempt to describe the complicated subject of income in 11 panels. The first three look at household income, examining how each fifth of households has fared during the last 30 years. The first panel deals with share of income — and we see that while the richest fifth or quintile has gained in share of the wealth, the other groups have all seen their shares erode. We offe…
In the following six panels, we present information on productivity. The conventional view of productivity is that personal income rises with productivity. And productivity rises because technology enables us to do more in less time. With better tools we can do more. And the more we automate — and let machines do all the work — the wealthier we become. Productivity has had a remarkable…
Employer provided benefits are an important component of total compensation. This chapter looks at trends in both benefits and retirement. Over the last 20 years employers' costs for employee benefits have remained reasonably constant as a percentage of total compensation. However, the cost of providing health care insurance has risen. The analysis presented will show that health care coverage is …
The workplace has changed greatly over the last quarter century. As we have seen in earlier chapters, the demographic makeup of the workforce has changed. Computers are ubiquitous in the workplace and were not so common just 25 years ago. The very nature of the work that is done has shifted from being slightly weighted towards production to being slightly weighted towards services. How have these …
This chapter serves as an introduction to the second half of this book: leisure in America. The opening panels in this section will address fundamental questions: how long are we at work and how often do we relax? The common belief is that we are working longer hours. Is this true? Another belief is that we have less free time to enjoy. Recent data suggest that time for recreation has been consist…
We all look forward to "getting away from it all." But how do we do it? Where do we do it? Many changes have taken place in the travel industry in recent years, and the following panels will address some of the more intriguing trends. The first panel presents an overview of the two major types of travel: business and pleasure. The image of the executive who is "just in town for business" may be a …
Sports is certainly one of the leading leisure activities. In this chapter, we look at amateur and professional sports and examine some of the trends that shape the world of sports. The first panel presents a look at the fastest growing fitness activities over recent years. Some sports, of course, will always be popular. But have new ones captured our imagination? What does this say about us? In t…
The panels in this chapter will take a look at some of the major changes in the field of arts and culture. The first charts will offer a general look at the cultural events that we enjoy. How do we spend our free time? Some of us write poetry on the side, have discovered ballroom dancing, or enjoy taking a stroll through a park on a Saturday afternoon. We'll see that some activities still exist &m…
Our community. It can be our neighborhood, our city, or the world-at-large. How do we spend our leisure time in our communities? Do we take advantage of the resources offered to us? Do we offer our time and talents to our community? This chapter discusses some of the ways in which people spend their time (and in some cases money) within their communities. The first panel presents data on charitabl…
In December 1969, ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) went online, connecting four major universities. It was for research, education, and government purposes, and provided a communications network in the event of a national emergency. This research and communications network would soon be known as the Internet. As the technology became more advanced, the system rapidly developed. According t…
