The labor force of the United States comprises all people aged 16 years or older who are not in the mil i tary and who are employed or seeking work. As of 2009 there were over 154 million Americans in the workforce; by 2018, the labor force is projected to be over 167 million. 25 These data suggest a slowing in the growth rate of the labor force in the next decade. Other changes projected by the Bureau of Labor St a tistics (BLS) are reported in the Monthly Labor Review , which carefully tracks trends in the available l a bor supply. 26 Exhibit 2–3 presents an overall view of the civilian labor force in terms of sex, age, race, and Hispanic origin from 2010 to 2018.
Chapter 2 A Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management 39
Women
In 2010 about 47 percent of the full-time U.S. workforce consisted of women. In 2009, ap- proximately 60 percent of women participated in the labor force and represent 51 percent of those employed in management, professional, and related jobs. 27
Level
Group 2010 2018
Total, 16 years and older 157,081 166,911
Men 83,824 88,682
Women 73,257 78,229
One race
White 133,915 132,490
Black or African American 18,334 20,244
Asian 7,496 9,345
Hispanic origin 23,166 29,304
EXHIBIT 2–3 Civilian Labor Force by Sex, Age, Race from 2010 to 2018
Source: http://www.bls.gov/
news.release/ecopro.t01.htm (accessed on April 7, 2011).
In spite of glass ceilings, outright hostility, and discrimi- nation, women are making progress and climbing cor- porate ladders. The pressures on women to succeed in careers as mothers, and as spouses, is significant. The lure of enterpreneurship is strong among women be- cause instead of fighting their way to the top they can establish and operate their own business.
Sally Heigesen, author of Everyday Revolutionaries:
Working Women and the Transformation of American Life (Doubleday, 1998), may have come up with the best way yet to make sense of the pressures on working women. Heigesen’s book explains the twin effects of women’s widespread entry into the workplace over the last 30 years: first it transformed the economy and soci- ety; then it transformed the women. To show just how much the world has changed, Heigesen juxtaposes her thoughts with William Whyte’s Organization Man, Whyte’s celebrated 1956 study of the wing-tipped, gray-suited archetype of corporate conformity homed in on junior executives living in the bedroom community of Park Forest, Illinois. For her look at everyday revolu- tionaries, Heigesen conducted hundreds of interviews with the inhabitants of nearby Naperville, Illinois. The residents of Whyte’s Park Forest were mostly married, Republican, and Protestant; they bought the same cars, watched the same television shows, and subscribed to the same magazines. Naperville residents form a “post- modern pastiche” marked by demographic variety, ethnic diversity, and a profusion of niche lifestyles.
In almost every respect, the 1950s Organization Man is a perfect foil for the 2000s Hyperkinetic Woman. He embodied an absolute faith in large organizations, an overriding homogeneity, and a sense of leisure and
unhurried ease. His paradigm—life as a progression through predictable stages—has no relevance in a com- munity where only 18 percent of households feature a dad at work and a mom at home with the children.
Faced with increasing complexity and a squeeze on their time, the women of Naperville lead every trend of new- economy work—from entrepreneurialism to project work to careers punctuated by periods of education.
What makes the book compelling is Heigesen’s abil- ity to convey a sociologist’s argument in a storyteller’s voice. In Everyday Revolutionaries, Heigesen mixes the real-life pathos of Naperville’s “improvising chorus” with a clear-eyed analysis of how the experiences of these women fit into a larger cultural landscape. In so doing, she breathes life into the now-standard themes of work and life in the new economy.
In addition, she avoids predictability. Heigesen’s answer to the book’s implicit question—What are these women revolutionaries after?—is remarkable and unex- pected. What they are looking for, she suggests, are
“new vernaculars of work and life that seek to reconcile the demands of personal ambition with the need for embeddedness in family and community.” In other words, these revolutionaries part company with the women warriors of the last generation. Instead, their real kinship is with the bloomer girls, suffragettes, and immigrant women of the late 19th century. Their ulti- mate quest, according to Heigeson, is to “make the whole world homelike.”
Sources: Susan J. Wells (June 2001), “A Female Executive Is Hard to Find,” HR Managers, pp. 41–49; and Polly LaBarre (February 1998), “The Starbucks Sisterhood,” Fast Company, p. 66.
HR Journal Women: A New Revolution
Although women are supposed to have equal job opportunities, it is difficult to argue with the facts of discrimination against women in the workplace. In 2009, women earned approximately 80 percent of what their male counterparts earned. Also, working wives contributed 36 percent of their families’ income. 28
Minorities
The situation for racial and ethnic minorities in the United States is similar to that for women. Large nu m bers of Hispanics, African Americans, and Native Americans are employed in low-skill, low-paying jobs, and few are in high-status, high-paying jobs. 29
Historically, the most recent immigrant groups took the lowest-level jobs offered. In the early 1900s this was true of the Irish, Polish, Serbs, Croatians, Italians, and Jews. One difference between immigrant groups and other minorities, like African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans, is that the minority groups were living in the United States long before the immigrants arrived. Native Americans have been in the United States before the time of “discovery,” as were many of the Hispanics in the Southwest, and African Americans since the mid-1700s. They have not advanced to the degree that the immigrants have, however. Native Americans were kept on reservations, and Hispanics remained in the areas that once b e longed to the Mexican Republic (except for the Cuban and Puerto Rican immigrants, who came much later). These minorities represent about one-third of the population of the United States. They have been less educated than the majority, although recent programs have attempted to improve this situation. These education efforts are important given that ethnic and racial minorities will occupy approximately half of all jobs in the United States by 2050. 30
Older Employees
About 14 percent of the labor force currently is 55 years or older. In 2007 about 17 percent, or over 26 million, of the workforce was 55 or older. By 2050, there will be nearly 45 million of these older workers. 31
Probably one of the most difficult employment problems today is the older employee who loses a job through no personal fault. In some cases, employers assume that be- cause a person is older he or she is less qualified to work and less able to adapt to changes. Also, benefit plans (which may amount to one-third of base compensation) are set up in such a way that it costs more to employ older people (the cost of insu r ance premiums is higher). 32
An important fact to remember is that each person ages at a different rate. As we grow older, we lose some of our faculties. This process is ongoing. The key then is to match employees with jobs. Older workers may be less efficient on some jobs requiring quick physical response rates, but speed or response is more important for a race driver or airline pilot than for a stock analyst, teacher or social worker.
Most studies indicate that even for jobs requiring physical work, employees over 45 do not have more accidents than younger employees. Older employees also have the same or lower rates of absenteeism—at least until age 55. The worst accident rate observed in one study was for employees under 35 years old. 33 When total performance is considered (including factors such as speed, accuracy, judgment, and loyalty), the older employee has been found to be at least as effective as the younger one.
Employment Projection
The fastest-growing occupations for an increasingly diverse workforce are presented in Exhibit 2–4. Technology-based occupations will have the greatest growth in opportunities for well-educated and well-trained applicants.
Chapter 2 A Strategic Approach to Human Resource Management 41