On May 26, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held a hearing entitled, “The 21st Century Workplace: Preparing for Tomorrow’s Employment Trends Today.”
Ranking Member Ted Kennedy (D-MA) stated that “today, more women, people of color, and older Americans are in the workforce than ever before,” adding, “Women now make up just under half of the labor force, which also means more parents are in the workplace. Today, in 70 percent of American families, all parents are working, either one single parent or both parents the exact opposite of 1960, when 70 percent of all families had at least one parent at home full-time. Workers today, and in the future, will need more flexibility, such as guaranteed paid sick days and expanded Family and Medical Leave in order to balance their work responsibilities more fairly with their families’ basic needs.”
Jared Bernstein, director of the Living Standards Program at the Economic Policy Institute, demonstrated how globalization has affected low- and middle-income families: “First, over a period where our economy consistently expanded, became far more productive, and became far more globally integrated, the hourly wage of the median male historically a building block for the living standards of middle-income families was unchanged over thirty years! In 2004 dollars, it started at $15.24 in 1973 and ended up at $15.26 in 2004…To the extent that increased globalization was improving economic outcomes over this period, by this measure, its benefits eluded low- and middle-wage men.” Mr. Bernstein explained that over this same time period more women entered the workforce, which prevented an overall decline of incomes for low- and middle-income families: “The share of women in the job market has about doubled since we started tracking the statistics in the late 1940s, while that of men has consistently fallen. In 1950, women were 30% of the workforce, now they account for just under half. Today, about two-thirds of mothers with children work in the paid labor market; even among moms with kids under six, a solid majority work, with employment rates just below 60%.” Pointing out that working married middle-income women added over three months of full-time work and working married low- and high-income women added over two months of full-time work since 1950, he stated, “In the absence of these added hours of wives’ work, family incomes would have fallen for the bottom 40% of married couple families with children, and would have risen only 5% for middle-income families over the two decades from 1979-2000.”
In examining future labor policies, Mr. Bernstein stated, “We must think in terms of providing our workforce with both the skills and the security they need to maximize the benefits of globalization. To do so implies the creation of a broad safety net that ensures that the living standards of all working families grow with the overall economy. Our policy set should be designed to diminish the growing gap between productivity and the wages, incomes, and economic security of our workplace.” He offered the following policy recommendations for Congress: expand trade adjustment assistance to workers in all sectors of the economy; implement a universal approach to health care, which would de-link health insurance from the workplace; ensure universal access to pre-kindergarten; provide financial assistance for all students wanting to pursue higher education; create a scholarship program for low-income individuals who study math, science, engineering, or technology; and expand the Family and Medical Leave Act to include paid family and medical leave, vacation time, and sick days.
Director of the Center for Employment Policy at the Hudson Institute Diana Furchtgott-Roth discussed the challenges of an older U.S. population: “As the large ‘Baby Boom’ generation of Americans ages, the demographic structure of the economy will shift and the proportion of Americans over age 55 will increase significantly. In addition to the aging of the ‘Baby Boom’ generation, increases in longevity will raise the proportion of older Americans. Today the estimated U.S. population aged 55 or over is 67 million, equaling 20 percent of the total population. This group is expected to grow to 106 million by 2035, and comprise 28 percent of the population.” She pointed out that a higher percentage of older Americans work than senior citizens in other countries and stated, “The labor force participation rate of Americans age 55 or older, both men and women, has been rising since 1993. In 2004, the labor force participation rate for men age 55 or older was 43 percent. For women age 55 or older, the labor force participation rate in 2004 was 30 percent.”
Ms. Furchtgott-Roth encouraged Congress to allow private-sector workers a choice between comp time or overtime pay for overtime hours worked, arguing that it would “provide additional flexibility that would make it easier for Americans to participate in the labor force.” Providing an example of how this would benefit older Americans, she stated, “Say that a grandmother has worked 50 hours rather than 40 hours one week, and wants to take some time off to see her grandchildren rather than receiving overtime pay and working regular hours the next week. A choice of one and a half hours of comp time rather than overtime pay would allow her to do that.” Ms. Furchtgott-Roth further noted that such an option “would also encourage other groups, such as working mothers, to enter the workforce. As a working mother with 6 children, I am fully aware that there are many important parts of a worker’s life, including time with family. Extra time spent at work one week is manageable if there is an option to be able to take more time off at another point.” Finally, she pointed out that many women choose to work in the public sector because the government currently offers the flexibility of comp time.
