futurework - Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century
(A printed copy of the report may be requested by telephone at 202-693-5084)

Table of Contents

Letter from the Secretary of Labor [PDF Version]

executive summary [PDF Version]

introduction [PDF Version]

1 the workforce [PDF Version]

• The U.S. population is becoming larger and more diverse
• The changing face of the workforce
• Educational attainment is rising
• Women are working more; men are working less
• From welfare to work
• Workers with disabilities are an underutilized resource
• Veterans enrich the civilian workforce
• Young people are already a substantial part of the labor force
• The future

2 employment, wages, and benefits [PDF Version]

• Employment has been growing robustly
• Growth is resuming for stagnant wages and benefits
• Wage inequality: Will the rich get richer and the poor, poorer?
• What the Fastest growing jobs require
• Factors driving high- and low-skilled workers-wages farther apart
• Pay gaps persist between groups
• The future

3 work and family [PDF Version]

• Six in ten women are in the labor force
• More parents in the workforce
• Working mothers
• Single parents
• Many workers have responsibility for an elderly person or one with a disability
• Workers need options for child and elder care
• Nonstandard hours
• Employer-provided assistance
• Working families have shrinking time
• Flexibility on the job
• The future

4 workplaces [PDF Version]

• What work will need doing?
• The workforce becomes increasingly urban
• Employment shifts from manufacturing to services
• Growth in service jobs
• The virtual market will have major influence
• Who will belong to unions?
• Crossing trend lines and their causes
• New efforts reverse earlier decline
• Unions benefit workers-and employers
• The future

5 workplace conditions [PDF Version]

• Mines, factories, and other workplaces have become safer
• Dramatic reductions in work-related fatalities
• Risks vary with industry and workplace size
• Changes in work and work practices bring new risks
• Societal problems have become workplace problems
• Discrimination, though diminishing, persists
• Personal health is becoming a workplace issue
• The future

6 technology and globalization [PDF Version]

• Technology is transforming the US economy
• The information technology industry is evolving rapidly
• The technological revolution spreads
• Technology and job creation
• Technology is revolutionizing the way we work
• Changing relationships, changing risk, changing regulation
• Better, faster, more accessible information
• Crossing the border: Globalization of the American economy
• Labor market effects of globalization
• Core labor standards
• The future

7 implications of workplace changes [PDF Version]

• Employers are demanding higher skills
• The changing skill content of jobs
• Post-school training
• Basic skills are not so basic anymore
• Work reforms can increase productivity and reshape workplaces
• Increasing the employee stake in company performance
• Nontraditional workers are an important part of the workforce
• Nontraditional work arrangements
• Employer use of nontraditional staffing
• Attributes of nontraditional work
• The future of the nontraditional
• Downsizing and insecurity: Mixed evidence on magnitudes
• job turnover: Mixed evidence for the 1980s, some shift up in the 1990s
• The future

8 framing the debate for policy and decisionmakers of the twenty-first century [PDF Version]

• Taking stock at century's end
• What are workers' needs?
• Trends affecting future work
• Questions for the future
• On acheiving economic security
• On balancing work and family
• On destiny and diversity
• The future

appendices

• 1 Back to the future-Past efforts at viewing the future by the Department of Labor [PDF Version]
• 2 Glossary [PDF Version]

endnotes[PDF Version]

tables

• 1.1 Work experience of the population, by extent of employment, 1997
• 3.1 Average weekly hours worked by men and women, ages 25 to 54, 1969-1998
• 5.1 Percent of employers who use drug testing, 1990-1998
• 5.2 Percentage of workers ages 18 to 49 reporting heavy alcohol use, 1985-1997
• 5.3 Percentage of workers ages 18 to 49 reporting current illicit drug use, 1985-1997
• 6.1 US trade flows
• 6.2 Five industries in which exports account for a high percent of employment, 1998
• 7.1 Employment by major occupational groups 1986, 1996 and projected 2006
• 7.2 Percent of employers responding about change in the use of non-traditional workers since 1990
• 7.3 Percent of workers with health insurance and pension coverage by work arrangement, 1997

charts

• 1.1 Percent distribution of the population by race and Hispanic origin, 1995 and 2050
• 1.2 Percent of high-school graduates enrolling in college, 1993-1998
• 1.3 Labor force activity rate of persons 20 to 64 years old, by education level and disability status, 1994
• 2.1 Average hourly earnings, 1947-1998
• 2.2 Average weekly earnings by educational attainment level, 1979-1998
• 2.3 Weekly earnings ratios-90/10, 1979-1998
• 2.4 Weekly earnings ratios-90/50 and 50/10, 1979-98
• 3.1 Women as a growing percentage of the workforce, 1948-1998
• 3.2 More women are working: labor force participation rates, 1948-1998
• 3.3 Proportion of mothers in the workforce, by age of child, 1975 and 1998
• 3.4 Percent of married couples in which both spouses work more than 40 hours per week, 1969 and 98
• 7.1 Percent of employed persons with alternative and traditional work arrangements, 1997

boxes

• 1.1 Moving people from welfare to work
• 1.2 Did you know that workers with disabilities
• 1.3 Postsecondary education and other training
• 1.4 Investing in our future
• 2.1 Changing healthcare benefits
• 2.2 Changing private pensions
• 2.3 The wage gap
• 2.4 Who are the working poor?
• 3.1 How long is a mother's workday?
• 3.2 The work-and-family balancing act
• 3.3 The stress box
• 4.1 American small businesses
• 4.2 Buying time
• 4.3 Women in business
• 4.4 The office of the future
• 4.5 Evolution of retail
• 5.1 elaws
• 5.2 Cooperation: A new kind of enforcement
• 6.1 Computer power
• 6.2 "Web"ster's Dictionary for the twenty-first century
• 6.3 Jobs of yesterday and tomorrow
• 6.4 Veterans lead the way
• 6.5 Going to the office is not what it used to be
• 6.6 Workplace technology for people with disabilities
• 6.7 Ergonomics and the workplace
• 6.8 Creating a virtual electronic labor market-America's Career Kit
• 7.1 America's jobs Network
• 7.2 Look who's temping now
• 7.3 Who are displaced workers?

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