Are Generational Categories Meaningful Distinctions for Workforce Management? (2020) / Chapter Skim
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2 The Changing World of Work and Workers
2 The Changing World of Work and Workers
Pages 23-38
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Chapter 6 builds on the broad changes to work outlined here, and reviews specific challenges faced by employers in some job sectors and implications for workforce management.
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Scholars in numerous social science disciplines, including sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, and history, have contributed to understanding the main macrostructural trends behind changes in the terms and nature of work and the characteristics of workers. Some of the significant macrostructural forces that have influenced changes in the economy, employer–employee relations, and the labor force are summarized below.
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economy has been changing over time. Historically, jobs have been classified by three major sectors defined by the nature of the work: extracting raw materials (e.g., agriculture, mining, and fishing)
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Bureau of Labor Statistics, QECW SIC-Based Data Files, CSVs, by Area, Annual Averages, 1975, https://www.bls.gov/cew/ downloadable-data-files.htm and Employment Projections: Employment by Major Industry Sector, 2018, https://www.bls.gov/emp/tables/employment-by-major-industry-sector.htm. of Labor Statistics projects continuing declines in manufacturing employment and further growth in service employment through 2026.3 The service sector covers a range of employment in professional, personal, and public service, including but not limited to government, transportation, education, health care, and hospitality.
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The U.S. budget deficit reflects a low rate of national saving, which, together with increasingly global financial markets, contributes to rising trade deficits (Cooper, 2008)
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In turn, the weakening of worker power has facilitated the e expansion of the macrostructural forces discussed above, such as globalization and changes in corporate governance. Moreover, the decline of worker power has helped accelerate the post-World War II reduction in institutional worker protections, which provided job security and contributed to the expansion of the middle class (see Greenhouse, 2019; Rosenfeld, 2014)
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The share of the labor force consisting of those with college plus postcollege education increased from 12 to 39 percent, and the share of those with some college education from 13 to 28 percent; at the same time, the share of those with a high school degree or less declined from 75 to 33 percent. During this period, there was also a rise in the number of children growing up with a parent holding at least a bachelor's degree and the number of young adults pursuing a college degree after high school.
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. The rising rate of women's employment has not only transformed family structures but also affected the way people think about their jobs and consider what they need and want from paid employment, such as greater flexibility and control over work schedules
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. This change has in turn created greater interdependencies between work and family; thus one cannot understand the consequences of changes in work environments without also taking into account family structures, and vice versa (Cherlin, 2014)
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SOURCE: Pew Research Center, 2015. THE DISCRETE CONTEXT OF WORK The macrostructural changes reviewed above have led to changes in the discrete context of work -- the social and technical environments in which work is done, which include such aspects of a worker's immediate
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. At the same time that the demand for high-skill labor has increased, advances in technology, among other macrostructural changes discussed above, have replaced many middle-skill jobs, resulting in an increase in the proportion of low-skill jobs in the economy.5 The growth of the service sector has yielded continued demand for personal service jobs that are often low-paying.
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Rising Income Inequality The macrostructural forces described above -- especially greater globalization, rapid technological change, the financialization of the economy, and the decline of unions and institutional labor law and other protections -- have led to the highest levels of income inequality seen in the United States since the early 20th century. The United States has seen declining average earnings across all education levels since 2000 even as the incomes of the highest-earning workers have risen markedly (Haskel et al., 2012)
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Organizational Structure and Autonomy The 1980s was an era of downsizing in which, when faced with increasing economic pressure from global competition and a shift to shareholder-focused business, organizations eliminated layers of midlevel management. To compete in the global marketplace, organizations also have restructured to decentralize decision making, thereby facilitating more agile responses to a turbulent business environment.
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77) summarize the literature on the topic: "Most empirical research in both the USA and Europe suggests that the rise of the networked firm and outsourcing of production has led to a deterioration in the jobs and pay of workers and to a growth in wage inequality." Nonstandard Work The "standard" employment relationship that was normative during most of the post-World War II period -- in which employees worked for employers on a full-time, "permanent" basis at the employer's place of business and received regular pay and benefits -- has been replaced as the employment norm in many cases by "nonstandard" work arrangements, such as temporary work, contract work, and independent contracting.
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. These macrostructural changes have been accompanied by changes in the discrete contexts of organizations and occupations.
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To remain competitive, organizations are facing the need to align their workforce management policies and practices with the changing world of work.
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