Do the values and expectations of American society overvalue work?
According to a study conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Americans are working longer than ever before. The OECD’s results clearly showed that Americans aged fifteen to sixty-four worked fifty percent more than the French, Germans, and Italians (Prescott 2). This inequality in work hours has been around for decades and is only becoming more noticeable as time rolls on. Many questions and arguments exist debating what should be done to correct the issue. Because American society values a strong work ethic, many Americans overwork themselves to meet society’s expectations. Currently there are several theories explaining why this trend
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For instance, one way is to either increase paid vacation hours or create a national standard. Increasing the number of vacation hours an employee receives would allot more time off of the job to the employee thus decreasing the number of hours the employee works. Creating a statutory minimum number of vacation days would similarly increase vacation and help start to decrease societal expectations of working long hours. However, the economic effects of this solution have not been researched in detail and will need more research before going into effect. In either case, the exact amount of vacation time would need to be ironed out; however, there are several countries in Europe which America could model its system after. By increasing vacation time, employees would be more productive because they would have time to recharge and may even be less stressed. Another method to decrease overworking would be to lower the income tax rate. By lowering the income tax rate, Americans would get more out of their income. Consequently, Americans will be able to work less hours in order to retain the same amount of money as before. This in turn will encourage Americans to work less. On the other hand, the government will receive less revenue and budget portions may suffer because of this. A decreased income tax may correspondingly decrease longer than recommended working hours but will also decrease government …show more content…
One of which is that Americans overvalue work and are therefore working much longer than many other countries. There are many different solutions which can be applied either individually or as a group to fix the American work schedule. By implementing flexible schedules, telecommuting, and longer vacation hours, the American economy will prosper due to increased productivity and healthier employees. Reducing the tax rate, however, will not fix this issue in the long run. Instead, it will only reduce government revenue which will cause some budget categories to be neglected. All in all, it will be difficult to change a societal value, but, to fix this issue, America must take it one step at a time and put its citizens before
In Niall Ferguson’s essay “America’s Oh Sh*t Moment,” he mentioned America’s newfound unemployment work ethic. The statement was quite interesting to me because from my perspective, it is accurate because the majority of Americans do not want to work. They would much rather sit at home all day and watch television. Unfortunately, most can not sacrifice their jobs due to financial circumstances. Furthermore, I will use the idea of work ethic to write my paper by comparing America’s work ethic to India’s. Despite the fact that India is a third world country, most Indians have a stronger work ethic than Americans. Therefore, I will develop an argumentative synthesis to support my thesis based on the information I discover after I conduct thorough research.
She uses various statistics to support her claims such as “Americans are sleeping on average 60-90 minutes less than other countries (Schor, 5)”. Not only are Americans spending more time working but because of their hectic work schedules they also get less time sleeping, which can lead to a variety of other problems. Schor continues throughout the book with different reasons to support her claim. She goes on to say that many of the white collar workers feel that is a need to “overwork” in order to meet the needs of their job. “Schor tells us that many overworked Americans-and she is not talking about the unemployed or underemployed but the overemployed professional, white collar management, and skilled workers-have lost any sense of autonomy over their jobs (Schor 4)”. The author clearly makes it obvious that American workers are working way more and as time goes on this trend will continue to
America is known for many things. It is famous for its sports, fast food, and of course Hollywood. Yet it is infamous for being the home to millions of workaholics. It is home to millions of people that literally work themselves to death . This country is plagued by nonstop work, and it is a disease that has no cure.
The American work ethic is something our country should be proud of. Since the days of George Washington Americans have worked hard for what they believe in, what they need, and what they want. It is our right as Americans to be able to work for these ideals. Without out a strong work ethic our country would crumble. From businessmen to politicians a strong work ethic is necessary to keep our country financially and politically stable.
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
In the 1870s, several Radical Republicans agitated for the eight hour day and improved conditions and treatment for the working people. But, with limited power and isolation in Congress, the Radical Republicans were unable to persuade Congress to pass legislation to protect the emerging trade union movement.
America was built around the idea that if you work hard and endure your hardships you will reap the benefits life has to offer you. As religious leader and author Gordon B. Hinckley said, “Without hard work nothing grows but weeds.” Many families in America continue to instill a hard work ethic within their children, and the prosperity of our country relies its citizens work. Although, living in a country where more vacation time is being offered sounds luxurious in the long run it only negatively affects problems concerning, obesity, less household funds, and increased feelings of stress.
High workloads, high stress and low wages are the norm, (Greenhouse, 2008) which translates into a lack of work/life balance. Consequently, the largest job growth sector in America is the low wage retail and food service sector. (Draut, 2005) Chain stores are everywhere, making jobs at places like Starbucks and Best Buy plentiful. Unfortunately, these types of jobs pay little above minimum wage. This puts the debt-strapped college grad in the impossible situation of having an income, but not earning enough to cover the basics. Further still, working in food service and retail guarantees an unpredictable schedule. Some retailers will post work schedules only a few days to a week in advance, (Draut, 2005) while others will call their employees at the last minute to fill shifts, thus making it difficult to plan or have a social life. And considering that many college grads work in these industries, it is understandable how this kind of work-stress coupled with financial stress is a recipe for disaster. In addition, employees often risk losing their jobs when they need to miss work to care for sick children. (Greenhouse,
Business owners could use incentives and gifts to encourage the workers. For instance, a store owner could initiate the idea that whoever brings ten new customers to the store this week will get a bonus in their pay check. Business owners could give raises, bonuses, and time off as incentives to work as hard as they can. By giving fun extras to the employees, they will feel compelled to do their best.
We are more knowledgeable than we were in the early 1900’s and yet we have given up our weekends willingly in exchange for stress, lack of sleep and possibly more money or a bigger or nicer house.
Probably, reducing the workweek to 30 hours have some benefits to. Some people work for money so financially independent and have some control their life. They like to spend their days with family, friend, some like to party, others choose to go to beaches, watch TV, go to the movies go shopping, read book, visit friends house and play sports. They enjoy all this thing when they enough time. They will like being a good productive citizen. According to Amna, “the Netherlands and Germ...
Shift Work: The introduction of shift work mainly depends on safety and productivity of the workers being maintained. However, evidence suggests that safety and productivity of workers may decline at night shifts with more hours on duty between breaks. The shift work system can be improved by introducing more rest breaks (Folkard & Tucker 2003).
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.
...cing the amount of traffic on the roads. The more that employers continue to stagger shifts the more likely that the amount of traffic will decrease. The less traffic on the roads means less potential for accidents and other slow downs.
In a recent article titled, Work: The Great Escape, author Arlie Russell Hochschild finds that more and more people are spending longer hours at work to escape from the work that awaits them at home.