The article presents an excellent overview of a trend that has received too little recognition. American workers are losing their work benefits. For the last thirty years the number of firms – large and small – who have offered their workers paid time off, retirement or healthcare benefits has declined. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thirty years ago virtually every large company in the United States offered a standard package of pensions, health insurance, and paid time off to their employees. Today, only about four out of five of these firms do.
One of the reasons for this is the way we view job benefits in the US. Here (as opposed to just about every other country) benefits are considered a part of compensation, something to be bargained for; in other countries they are more heavily regulated and used as a form of social protectionism. Among the 160 countries monitored by the International Labour Organization, only Kiribati, Libya and the United States do not mandate that full time employees be given paid vacation or paid holidays each year. Only Papua New Guinea and the United State award the parents of newborn or newly adopted children unpaid (as opposed to paid) time off for the occasion. Social security payments in the United States are a lower percentage of average income than they are in almost every other industrialized country.
The US Congress has not been a strong supporter of labor since the FDR administration. It took eight years for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to pass through Congress and be signed into law, surviving two presidential vetoes in the process. A bill proposing that full-time American workers be given a minimum of one week’s paid vacation each year has been introduced to Congress twice, but has remained idle in the subcommittee to which it was assigned on both occasions.
There is a case to be made for the social protection of the aged, the ill, and the workers whose efforts may be great but whose self-sufficiency is not. There is an equal case to be made for giving people a chance to reap the benefits of their individual labors, for giving them the opportunity to negotiate their own terms of work and compensation. The benefits that attach to the workplace provide a good basis for this debate.
The article presents an excellent overview of a trend that has received too little recognition. American workers are losing their work benefits. For the last thirty years the number of firms – large and small – who have offered their workers paid time off, retirement or healthcare benefits has declined. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thirty years ago virtually every large company in the United States offered a standard package of pensions, health insurance, and paid time off to their employees. Today, only about four out of five of these firms do.
One of the reasons for this is the way we view job benefits in the US. Here (as opposed to just about every other country) benefits are considered a part of compensation, something to be bargained for; in other countries they are more heavily regulated and used as a form of social protectionism. Among the 160 countries monitored by the International Labour Organization, only Kiribati, Libya and the United States do not mandate that full time employees be given paid vacation or paid holidays each year. Only Papua New Guinea and the United State award the parents of newborn or newly adopted children unpaid (as opposed to paid) time off for the occasion. Social security payments in the United States are a lower percentage of average income than they are in almost every other industrialized country.
The US Congress has not been a strong supporter of labor since the FDR administration. It took eight years for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to pass through Congress and be signed into law, surviving two presidential vetoes in the process. A bill proposing that full-time American workers be given a minimum of one week’s paid vacation each year has been introduced to Congress twice, but has remained idle in the subcommittee to which it was assigned on both occasions.
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The article presents an excellent overview of a trend that has received too little recognition. American workers are losing their work benefits. For the last thirty years the number of firms – large and small – who have offered their workers paid time off, retirement or healthcare benefits has declined. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thirty years ago virtually every large company in the United States offered a standard package of pensions, health insurance, and paid time off to their employees. Today, only about four out of five of these firms do.
One of the reasons for this is the way we view job benefits in the US. Here (as opposed to just about every other country) benefits are considered a part of compensation, something to be bargained for; in other countries they are more heavily regulated and used as a form of social protectionism. Among the 160 countries monitored by the International Labour Organization, only Kiribati, Libya and the United States do not mandate that full time employees be given paid vacation or paid holidays each year. Only Papua New Guinea and the United State award the parents of newborn or newly adopted children unpaid (as opposed to paid) time off for the occasion. Social security payments in the United States are a lower percentage of average income than they are in almost every other industrialized country.
The US Congress has not been a strong supporter of labor since the FDR administration. It took eight years for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to pass through Congress and be signed into law, surviving two presidential vetoes in the process. A bill proposing that full-time American workers be given a minimum of one week’s paid vacation each year has been introduced to Congress twice, but has remained idle in the subcommittee to which it was assigned on both occasions.
There is a case to be made for the social protection of the aged, the ill, and the workers whose efforts may be great but whose self-sufficiency is not. There is an equal case to be made for giving people a chance to reap the benefits of their individual labors, for giving them the opportunity to negotiate their own terms of work and compensation. The benefits that attach to the workplace provide a good basis for this debate.
The article presents an excellent overview of a trend that has received too little recognition. American workers are losing their work benefits. For the last thirty years the number of firms – large and small – who have offered their workers paid time off, retirement or healthcare benefits has declined. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, thirty years ago virtually every large company in the United States offered a standard package of pensions, health insurance, and paid time off to their employees. Today, only about four out of five of these firms do.
One of the reasons for this is the way we view job benefits in the US. Here (as opposed to just about every other country) benefits are considered a part of compensation, something to be bargained for; in other countries they are more heavily regulated and used as a form of social protectionism. Among the 160 countries monitored by the International Labour Organization, only Kiribati, Libya and the United States do not mandate that full time employees be given paid vacation or paid holidays each year. Only Papua New Guinea and the United State award the parents of newborn or newly adopted children unpaid (as opposed to paid) time off for the occasion. Social security payments in the United States are a lower percentage of average income than they are in almost every other industrialized country.
The US Congress has not been a strong supporter of labor since the FDR administration. It took eight years for the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to pass through Congress and be signed into law, surviving two presidential vetoes in the process. A bill proposing that full-time American workers be given a minimum of one week’s paid vacation each year has been introduced to Congress twice, but has remained idle in the subcommittee to which it was assigned on both occasions.