To coincide with the online publication of “Working the American Way” – a book about working with Americans – HowTo.co.uk takes a look at the downfalls of American business culture.
With a GDP of almost $14bn, the US is the world’s largest economy. However, this prosperity hasn’t been achieved with quite the level of opportunity and security in the workplace that one would expect from the figurehead of the First World.
In recent years, American business culture has taken a turn for the worse with employees having to endure poorer working conditions, freezing or falling wages, lower safety standards, longer working hours, deunionisation and derisory insurance coverage.
Paying the Bills
For the majority of Americans, real wages have been declining or stagnating since the 1970s. Low-end workers have had their weekly wages reduced by 2.7% between 2000 and 2005, despite the cost of living rising. Obviously this means that families struggle to afford the basics of life, such as healthcare, in a country whose welfare state is considerably smaller than its Western European counterparts.
Going Postal
It is telling that cases of employees wandering into their ‘McJobs’ and shooting people have become so regular that the term ‘going postal’ – referring to the typically soul-destroying jobs available in the postal service – has entered into common parlance. Between 1986 and 1997 there were 40 such incidents in the US, with 20 people losing their lives. Analysts ascribe these crimes to a number of factors that don’t paint a pretty picture of the American workplace: bullying, sexual harassment, contractual insecurity, fatigue and poor training have been cited, amongst other issues.
Working Late
Couples with children now work, on average, 10 hours more today than they did in the 1970s… which can’t be very good news for the children. And these longer days don’t make economic sense either – $300bn a year is a paid out to those who have become sick, fatigued or mentally distressed because of their ‘dedication’ to the job.
Not All Doom and Gloom
Although the labour unions are less influential than they used to be, they are making efforts to redress the imbalances outlined above. For example, last August, a major labour practices case was won against an auto parts company in California who sacked one of its employees for founding a union. The employee was rehired and the company judged to have broken labour laws surrounding pay increases.
Aside from all this, there are still very exciting and rewarding job opportunities available in the US. Thousands of Europeans each year head West to work in IT, engineering, energy and pharmaceuticals. If you want to make it in the film or music industry then you would be well advised to head for Los Angeles. New York, jointly with London, is the publishing capital of the world. But sadly if you don’t have the skills to enter these fields, then the statistics show that you’ll end up low-paid and low-respected.
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