Whether you love it or hate it, work is a major part of most people鈥檚 lives everywhere in the
world. Americans are no exception. Americans might complain about 鈥渂lue Monday,鈥?nbsp;when they
have to go back to work after the weekend, but most of them put a lot of importance on their job,
not only in terms of money but also in terms of identity. In fact, when Americans are introduced
to a new person, they almost always ask each other, 鈥淲hat do you do?鈥?nbsp;They are really asking,
鈥淲hat is your job or profession?鈥?nbsp;Today, however, we won鈥檛 look at work in terms of what work
means socially or psychologically. Rather, um, we鈥檙e going to take a look at work in the United
States today in three different ways. First, we鈥檒l take a historical look at work in America. Uh, we
鈥?/p>
ll do that by looking at how things changed for the American worker from the year 1900 to the
year of the latest statistics, 2010. That is, from the beginning of the twentieth century to recent
times. Then we鈥檒l look at how U.S. workers are doing today. And after that, we鈥檒l take a look at
some possible reasons for the current economic situation. And finally, we鈥檒l look at what people
are
saying
about
what
the
government
should
and
should
not
do
in
order
to
improve
the
country鈥檚 economy.
As we look at
the changes over the last century or so, we鈥檙e going to use a lot of statistics to
describe
these
changes.
First,
let鈥檚
consider
how
the
type
of
work
people
were
involved
in
changed. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1900, about 38 percent of the workforce
was
involved
in
agriculture;
that
is,
they
worked
on
a
farm.
By
the
end
of
the
century,
only
3
percent still worked on farms, and by 2010, only about 1 percent worked in agriculture. There
was
also
a
large
decrease
in
the
number
of
people
working
in
industry,
that
is,
in
making,
or
manufacturing,
things
in
factories.
The
number
of
workers
in
industry
is
down
from
over
30
percent in 1900 to just over 22 percent in 2010.
While
the
number
of
people
in
agriculture
and
manufacturing
industries
went
down,
the
number
of
people
in
the
services
went
up.
As
you
may
know,
services,
rather
than
goods
or
products, provide other less concrete things that people need. A few examples include education,
health care, transportation, tourism, banking, advertising, and legal services. Cafes, restaurants,
and fast-
food outlets like McDonald鈥檚 are part of the service sector, as are retail sales jobs, driving
taxis, and pumping gas. The services workforce jumped from 31 percent of the workforce in 1900
to 77 percent in 2010.
Let鈥檚 recap the numbers: in 1900, 38 percent in agriculture; 31 percent in industry; and 31
percent
in
services.
In
2010,
about
1
percent
in
agriculture;
22
percent
in
industry;
and
77
percent in services.
To put things into perspect
ive, let鈥檚 compare the United States today to China, where the
picture is very different. From your experience, would you expect China to have more workers in
agriculture or in industry? Well, it may or may not surprise you, but in China, agriculture takes up
only 10 percent of the workforce, industry a huge 47 percent, and services 43 percent. Figures for
the entire world are somewhere between China鈥檚 and the United States鈥?nbsp;figures: 6 percent, 31
percent, and 63 percent for agriculture, industry, and servi
ces, respectively. Let鈥檚 get back to the
changes in the U.S. workforce in the last century or so.