Abstract
The working population is an aging population, becoming increasingly diversified ethnically and racially, increasingly female (women now represent 3/5 of all new entrants in the workplace)
- women often work in pink collar jobs, i.e., they are teachers, salespersons, nurses, cashiers, etc. Many of them also work part time and their wages are lower (it is worse for Hispanic and African-American women). Even if advances have been made, women still seldom reach the top
- existence of glass ceiling for corporate women, i.e., while they have reached middle management jobs, they are stuck there and cannot reach top level positions (in 2000, only 3 of the top 500 companies were managed by women). That's why more and more women start their own businesses.
- the average work week is around 42 to 45 hours for a full time worker and people on average take off 2 weeks a year. Americans are often described as workaholics
- in the 1990s, economists spoke of the Great American Job Machine which kept unemployment down to a minimum => dynamism due to the confidence in the economy and the flexibility of the American job market
