The Work Ethic­ A Critical Analysis OFFICERS OF IRRA FOR 1983

PRESIDENT:

Jack Stieber, Michigan State University

PRESIDENT-ELECT: Wayne L. Horvitz, Horvitz and Schmertz

SECRETARY-TREASURER:

David L. Zimmerman, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.

EDITOR:

Barbara D. Dennis, University of Wisconsin-Madison

EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS:

Mario F. Bognanno, University of Minnesota Wilbur Daniels, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union Milton Derber, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Martin Ellenberg, S&S Corrugated Paper Machinery Co. Lydia H. Fischer, United Automobile Workers. John H. Gentry, Mediator, AFL-CIO Internal Disputes Plan James H. Jordan, Imperial Chemical Industries, ICI, Americas Karen S. Koziara, Temple University Edward B. Krinsky, Institute for Environmental Mediation Solomon B. Levine, University of Wisconsin-Madison Daniel J. B. Mitchell, University of California, Los Angeles Kenneth E. Moffett, Major League Baseball Players Association Michael H. Moskow, International Jensen, Inc. Richard A. Prosten, Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO Mark E. Thompson, University of British Columbia

LEGAL COUNSEL: George H. Cohen and Michael E. Gottesman, Bredhoff, Gottesman, Cohen & Weinberg

Past Presidents of IRRA

1948 Edwin E. Witte 1965 Edwin Young 1949 Sumner H. Slichter 1966 Arthur M. Ross 1950 George W. Taylor 1967 Neil W. Chamberlain 1951 William M. Leiserson 1968 George P. Shultz 1952 J. Douglas Brown 1969 Frederick H. Harbison 1953 Ewan Clague 1970 Douglass V. Brown 1954 Clark Kerr 1971 George H. Hildebrand 1955 Lloyd Reynolds 1972 Benjamin Aaron 1956 Richard A. Lester 1973 Douglas H. Soutar 1957 Dale Yoder 1974 Nat Goldfinger 1958 E. Wight Bakke 1975 Gerald G. Somers 1959 William Haber 1976 Irving Bernstein 1960 John T. Dunlop 1977 Ray Marshall 1961 Philip Taft 1978 Charles C. Killingsworth 1962 Charles A. Myers 1979 Jerome M. Rosow 1963 William F. Whyte 1980 Jack Barbash 1964 Solomon Barkin 1981 Rudolph A. Oswald 1982 Milton Derber INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH

ASSOCIATION SERIES

The Work Ethic­ A Critica I Ana lysis

AUTHORS

PAUL J. ANDRISANI SAR A. LEVITAN

JACK BARBASH MICHAEL MACCOBY

OLIVER CLARKE HERBERT s. PARNES

LOUIS A. FERMAN JosEPH F. QuiNN

JANICE NEIPERT HEDGES IRVING H. SIEGEL

CLIFFORD M. JoHNSON Gus TYLER

RoBERT J. LAMPMAN SHOSHANA ZuBOFF

EDITORIAL BOARD

JACK BARBASH

RoBERT J. LAMPMAN

SAR A. LEVITAN

Gus TYLER THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS. © 1983 by Industrial Relations Research Association. Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of the authors and the Association, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First Edition Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 83--081915 ISBN 0-913447-24--2 Price $15.00

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION SERIES

PROCEEDINGS OF THE ANNUAL MEETING (Spring Publication) PROCEEDINGS OF THE SPRING MEETING (Fall Publication) ANNUAL RESEARCH VOLUME (Fall Publication) (MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY every sixth year in lieu of research volume) IRRA NEWSLETTER (Quarterly)

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS RESEARCH ASSOCIATION 7226 Social Science Building, University of Wisconsin Madison, WI 53706 U.S.A Telephone 608/262-2762

Pantagraph Printing, 217 W. Jefferson, Bloomington, IL 61701 ii CONTENTS

PREFACE...... v

PART I. The Work Ethic in the Labor Market

CHAPTER 1-The Survival of Work...... 1 Sar A. Levitan and Clifford M. Johnson

CHAPTER 2-Work Ethic and Productivity ...... 27 Irving H. Siegel

CHAPTER 3-Job Commitment 43 Janice Neipert Hedges

CHAPTER 4-How Has Labor Supply Changed in Response to Recent Increases in Social Welfare Expenditures and the Taxes to Pay for Them? ...... 61 Robert J. Lampman

CHAPTER 5-The Work Ethic and Retirement ...... 87 Joseph F. Quinn

CHAPTER 6-Commitment to the Work Ethic and Success in the Labor Market: A Review of Research Findings ...... 101 Paul J. Andrisani and Herbert S. Parnes

CHAPTER 7-The Work Ethic: An International Perspective . . . 121 Oliver Clarke

PART II. Changes in Work and Work Ethics

CHAPTER 8-The Work Ethic and Work Organization ...... 153 Shoshana Zuboff

CHAPTER 9-The Managerial Work Ethic in America ...... 183 Michael Maccoby iii CHAPTER 10-The Work Ethic: A Union View ...... 197 Gus Tyler

CHAPTER 11-The Work Ethic in the World of

Informal Work ...... 211 Louis A. Ferman

CHAPTER 12-Which Work Ethic? ...... 231 Jack Barbash

iv Preface

This volume subjects the work ethic to the scrutiny of diverse social sciences and scientists. The papers which make up the volume fall into two broad categories: (l) the work ethic in the labor market-Levitan and Johnson, Siegel, Hedges, Lampman, Quinn, Andrisani and Parnes, Clarke, and (2) changes in work and work ethics-Zuboff, Maccoby, Tyler, Ferman, and Barbash. A grant from the Ford Foundation in support of the writing of this work is much appreciated. Jack Bar bash Robert J. Lampman Sar A. Levitan Gus Tyler

v

Part I. The Work Ethic in the Labor Market

CHAPTER 1

The Survival of Work*

SAR A. LEVITAN AND CLIFFORD M. JoHNSON Center for Social Policy Studies George Washington University

If the demise of the work ethic is a threat to civilization, one would never suspect it from official reports of current labor market trends. Whatever their ambivalence, Americans are clinging to jobs more than ever. Productivity gains, growing affluence, and rising levels of educational attainment have not triggered a mass exodus from work and our society has not decayed from idleness and sloth. Instead, both greater numbers and larger proportions of the popula­ tion have entered the labor force in recent years, and the tenacious hold of work upon the daily activities of most Americans shows few signs of weakening.

The Growing Labor Force Rather than abandoning work, Americans have sought it in unprecedented numbers. The U.S. labor force has more than tripled in size since the turn of the century, and the relative percentage of the population that works has crept steadily upwards since World War II (Figure 1). The slow growth in the ratio of workers to the working-age population is particularly significant when viewed in light of gains in productivity. Despite an enormous decrease during this century in the amount of human labor required to produce given quantities of goods, no corresponding decrease in the number or relative proportion of workers has taken place. Driven by rising expectations and an abiding interest in relative income gains, individ­ uals have continued their work effort and sought to maintain their share of society's increasing wealth. The improvements in standards of living made possible by rising productivity are astounding. At the turn of the century, electric

• This chapter is based on the authors' recent book, Second Thoughts on Work (Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1982) . 1 2 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

lighting and indoor plumbing in private homes were luxuries reserved for the affluent. Today, housing which lacks these "basics"

70 �------Current population survey 64.3 Percent of 61.3 8 TI: Population 60. 2 � 59 9 59 7 - "'"""" ···:·:·:· - · t : : : : : : : : = · ___ in labor 60 · · : · : : : : : : : :·:·:·::�- force

50 = =

f 1� ��r ll!lr lr Ill[ ���Ill ..--- 1940 1950 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980

62.0 60 �------Decennial census 54.1 Percent of 52.9 population � 50.2 50.3 49 5 · in labor 50 1-�'""'--�:-:..,...... :«· ···»�·· h----�= force . ff� 1.:.l l.:�:l:l.� .1.1:. 1.: �� . .. f�{:

1900 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980

FIGURE 1 Labor Force Participation Has Increased During the 20th Century

Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975), p. 127; and U.S. Bureau of the Census, "Provisional Estimate of Social, Economic, and Housing Characteristics," 1982. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 3 is considered unfit for habitation. In 1900, food that was not locally in season could rarely be obtained, even by the wealthy. Now, all income groups routinely consume meats, fruits, and vegetables shipped across the continent or around the world. The affluence of American society has caused modern workers to expect much more than their predecessors-in 1981, the average net worth of each

$14,000 r------

$12,000 1------1-

$10,000 t------1-- REAL EARNINGS r--- PER EMPLOYEE // (1977 DOLLARS) ,/' $ 8,000 1------_,.�------/--- / / , , ""

_,., - -

AVERAGE EARNINGS PER EMPLOYEE (CURRENT DOLLARS) $ 2,000 1------�------

FIGURE 2 Average Annual Compensation per Full-Time-Equivalent Employee Rose Steadily Until the Mid-1970s

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce. 4 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

American was nearly $40,000, representing a collection of cars, TV sets, bank accounts, and real estate undreamed of a few decades ago. Societal gains in wealth have been mirrored in a gradual rise of real earnings since the Great Depression. By impressive margins, American workers have more money than ever before, and until the mid-1970s average real wages moved upward in an unbroken record of annual gains. The disastrous setbacks of the 1930s arrested temporarily the growth of real personal income, but failed to alter the long-term pattern of improved economic status of employed workers (Figure 2). While these average real wage increases have not solved the problems of relative poverty and unequal distribution of wealth, they have represented great gains for the majority of workers. Workers have responded to the potential freedoms of rising productivity and affluence, but not in the manner feared by some. Instead of abandoning work, workers have opted for greater amounts of paid leisure to complement their rising incomes in traditional40-hour-per-week jobs. Factories have not stood idle, but employers have been faced with demands for more paid holidays and longer vacations as part of the "fringe benefits" of employment. The process is one of gradual evolution, in which individuals continually adjust to rising standards of living and balance further income gains against the utility of additional "free time" away from the workplace. All segments of the population have not shared equally in either the growing affluence or the stable labor force participation which the aggregate data reflect. The overall trends in labor force partici­ pation disguise significant changes in the demographic characteris­ tics of the workforce, failing to indicate who is entering the labor force and why. A review of the participation rates of various subgroups within the labor force highlights these more detailed aspects of work motivation, and provides a firmer basis for conclu­ sions about the future of the work ethic in America.

The Arrival of Women at Work The increasing number of people who work each day are a new breed, or at least a distinctly more feminine one. At the turn of the century, the vast majority of workers were men. In the social order of that day, the man was the breadwinner and the woman was the THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 5 liwomen Men 70 Million ����------57°� ---

::: 60 Million

50 Million

43% 40 Million

30 Million

82% 20 Million

18% ::: 10 Million 1900 1947 1981

FIGURE 3 Women Comprise Twice as Large a Share of the Labor Force

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. homemaker. Eighty years later, the distribution of labor between the sexes has changed radically-women have joined men at the workplace in record numbers, more than doubling their share in the labor force since 1900 (Figure 3). In more than 60 percent of all marriages today, the husband is not the sole provider for his family. For the first time in history, working wives outnumber housewives. The movement of women into the labor force was not a sudden explosion, but rather a "subtle revolution" that began before World War II. The workplace has long been the natural habitat for many minority and unmarried women-according to the 1900 Census, 41 percent of all nonwhite women and 17 percent of white women (many of whom were immigrants) worked. Seventy-five percent of the female factory workers were of immigrant stock, and close to 70 percent of the working women were unmarried at the turn of the century (Kreps 1976, pp. 9, 63) . Nearly one in every five workers was female, rendering the concept of the working woman at least familiar to industrial America. 6 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

World War II was a watershed. The social fetters which barred married, middle-class women from working for pay were shattered by the need to replace some 12 million men who left the labor force to do battle. By V-E day, 36 percent of the women of working age were employed, compared to 25 percent before the war. Within two years after the war, some women left the workforce and their labor force participation fell to 32 percent. Since, female labor force participation has risen steadily. Unlike the young, single, and poor women who worked in the first four decades of the 20th century, the women who replaced the male combatants during the war were frequently married and over 35 years of age. Dependent upon female labor, the wartime economy legitimized the employment of married, middle-class women and triggered a pattern of increasing participation which continues to this day. Once women discovered the workplace, full-time homemaking lost its attractions for increasing numbers of them despite the jump in the birth rate after the war. Throughout the 1950s, women entrants into the labor force exceeded the number of additional males, so that by 1960 nearly twice as many women were working as in 1940. Initially, the rush into the labor market was among mature women: 80 percent of the women entering the labor force from 1945 to 1965 were over 35 years old. Since then, the reverse has been the case-almost the same percentage of new entrants have been less than 35 years of age. Yet regardless of age variations, the surge of women into the workforce has been unmistakable. In 1982, slightly more than half of all wives were in the civilian labor force, compared to only one of every five in 1947. Why have women rushed with such vigor into the labor force in the course of just a few decades? Some social scientists turn to changing technology-in the bedroom as well as the kitchen-in their attempts to explain the labor market behavior of women. Housekeeping consumes less time today than a few decades ago and the number of children in the home has also declined, leaving more time for work. In addition, a woman now can virtually determine the number of children she will have and when she will have them. As a result of this increasing control, the average number of children per family dropped from 2.3 to 1.9 during the 1970s, with the fertility rate reaching a historic low of 15.3 births per thousand people by 1980. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 7

Undoubtedly these technological advances have enhanced the ability of women to shape their own lifestyles, eliminating some of the burdens and uncertainties that complicated their labor force participation in previous eras. Yet changes in technology were as much a response to emerging values and demands as they were a cause of these new work patterns. Technological innovations may have facilitated female labor force participation, but the opportun­ ity to work is not synonymous with the desire to work. A more complete explanation is needed. Traditional economic incentives also can account for only part of the growing labor force participation of women. For some women, economic needs do play a significant role in stimulating work effort-in the aggregate, white wives account for one-quarter of their family income and black wives provide one-third of family income. Without this work effort, many American families could not maintain their middle-class status. Yet the strong inverse relationship between a husband's income and the labor force activity of his wife which once dominated women's work roles has weakened consider­ ably amidst growing affluence. The Bureau of the Census reported that almost 60 percent of the women in families with annual incomes of $25,000 or more worked in 1980. According to a 1980 opinion poll, less than 50 percent of working women took their jobs to support themselves or their families (Roper Organization 1980, p. 36). For most women, only the pursuit of relative income gains provides an economic incentive for working. Many families simply are unwilling to settle for the standard of living their parents enjoyed in the 1950s, and so women continue to enter the labor market. The rapid movement of women into the workforce has derived its strength and permanence from the same sociological needs for a sense of community, identity, and self-esteem which drive the work efforts of men in an affluent society. Some women no doubt always envied the work roles and related social status of their male counterparts, but until the past few decades they have had little chance to express such yearnings. The precedent of wartime labor provided the crack in social mores which kept women at home, and the more recent women's movement of the 1970s has all but shattered these rigid stereotypes. Once unleashed by social and economic change, the latent desires of women for recognition outside the home have fueled the rapid rise in their labor force 8 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS participation. In this sense, their motives for working remain quite similar to those of men-they just had been prevented from acting on them in earlier times. Finally, it is important to note that this massive surge in the labor force participation of women would have been impossible in the absence of favorable labor market conditions. Structural changes in the economy which increased the demand for female labor had enticed women into the labor force even before the women's movement flourished, and the ever-increasing participation of women has been facilitated by the growing labor requirements of an expanding economy. The rapid growth of the service sector has been particularly significant in this regard, since women traditionally performed much of the work now found in service industries. Without this demand for female labor, the "emancipation" of women from the home would have proceeded at a much slower pace. Given our current dependence on female labor, any wholesale return to the home is inconceivable.

Men-Working but Retiring The gradual rise in total labor force participation is deceiving, for the expanding work effort of women has hidden a divergent trend-men are leaving the workforce with greater frequency than ever before. Since 1951, the labor force participation rate of men 16 years old and over dropped almost continuously from 87.3 percent to 77.5 percent three decades later. In that same period, three of every five new workers were female, and the average number of years worked in a man's lifetime steadily declined. Among men, the 11 percent overall decline in participation since 1951 also fails to reveal sharper retreats from the labor force by older men. While the data on male labor force participation might be used superficially to argue that work motivation indeed is disappearing, a closer examination suggests otherwise. The vast majority of able­ bodied men are working as much as their fathers and grandfathers did. Even young males, who have little attachment to the workplace, have not shunned work. Only two distinct groups within the male labor force have left the workplace with increasing frequency: white men over age 55 and blacks. As with women's rising labor force participation, both these trends are the results of forces unique to these segments of the population. Most predictions of the disintegration of the work ethic stress the THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 9 absence of traditional workforce attachment among the young, and yet the labor force participation rates of American youth certainly reflect no crisis at the workplace. Although more males aged 14-24 are enrolled in school than were a generation ago, they are also working more than students did in 1955-in part because more children from less affluent families are attending college, which they finance by working. This is not to suggest that participation rates among young males have not fluctuated over time-in the mid- 1960s, the rates for males aged 16-19 dipped sharply, only to rebound and slightly exceed their 1950 levels by 1982. Coupled with the steady rise of teenage female participation over the course of the past three decades, the evidence reflects no abandonment of work at the lower end of the age spectrum. Rather than rebellious youth, it is their elders who are forsaking the workplace. In the 1950s, nearly nine out of ten men aged 55 to 64 worked. Thirty years later, less than three in four did. The drop is even more precipitous for men 65 years of age and over-from 48 percent in 1947 to less than 15 percent in 1982, a 70 percent decline. This weakened attachment to the labor force in the later years of life is unique to men. From 1947 to 1980, the proportion of women aged 55 to 64 in the labor force jumped from 24 to 42 percent, while the labor force participation rate of women over 65 years of age remained unchanged. Clearly, older men are no longer viewing work in later years as an unavoidable necessity. Working until at least age 65, once a social prescription, is turning into a social suggestion. The length of retirement for men is growing on two fronts: men are retiring earlier at the same time their life expectancy is increas­ ing. Today, the average male at age 65 can be expected to live another 15 years. Combined with decisions to retire at earlier ages, this greater life expectancy has led to a tripling since 1900 of the number of years the average man spends outside the labor force. Even over the past two decades, the lifetime leisure gains have been considerable-in 1960, men spent an average of 25.7 years outside the labor force, but this figure had jumped to 31.0 years by 1977. After age 14, the number of years men spend outside the workforce rose from 10.8 to 14.0 years (Figure 4). While women's work effort has lengthened with gains in life expectancy to produce a relatively constant level of lifetime leisure throughout this century, the appetite of men for greater leisure in their later years has not yet been sated. 10 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The Exodus of Black Men In addition to older men, black men of all ages are exiting the labor force in increasing numbers. If the earlier retirement of older men is a testament to the benefits of an affluent society, the 70 t�tt�tUMen 64.4 61.7 62.4 - -Women - � 60 ------54.6 � 55.4 55.4 �9.2 _r--0.8 - -2.8 _14.0 50 44.0�46.0 5·8 1 --4.7 - 40 30 39. 43.0 43.2 45.4 44.6 42.E 42.9 �:-1 -1-1 �1-1 6 9 o����=u���a-�i��a��·�-��=���tit�1·�=���=!U2�=·1�-��=��I$��� 1900 1920 1940 1950 1960 1969 1977

FIGURE 4 Lifetime Leisure Gains After Age 14

Source: Derived from data from U.S. Bureau of the Census and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 11 abandonment of work by black men is a sign of the failure of that same labor market to provide employment for all groups. There is some element of social progress in the declining labor force partici­ pation of blacks-younger blacks are delaying entry into the labor market in order to obtain more education, and older blacks are increasingly able to retire under expanded disability and pension coverage. Yet the overall drop in labor force participation among black males is so precipitous that it cannot be attributed to social advance. Many black men are not leaving the labor force to embrace the joys of greater leisure; rather, their departure reflects bleak job prospects, an expression of discouragement and despair. Disparities between the labor force participation rates of white and black men have arisen only over the past two decades. As late as 1960, the labor force participation rates of white and black men were identical-in fact, from the end of reconstruction until the Great Depression, proportionately more blacks than whites were in the labor force. Since 1960 participation rates for both white and black men have plummeted, but not in a similar manner. The decline among white males correlates positively with age, but for black males there is no such relationship. In all age groups, fewer black men are now in the labor force. Falling from 85 percent in 1954 to 7l percent in 1982, this new pattern of falling work effort among black men is a source of deep concern. The deviation of black male labor force participation from that of other groups can be most consistently explained not by the pre­ sumption of structures of work motivation unique to blacks, but rather by the failure of the labor market to fulfill the needs of blacks to the extent enjoyed by other groups. Notwithstanding the progress made since the Great Society, most blacks have remained confined to demeaning, low-status jobs that promise little and deliver even less. In these work roles, black men have had little opportunity to derive a sense of identity or community through participation in the labor force, and their self-esteem often has been undermined instead of strengthened by poor job opportunities. As Elliot Liebow observed (1967, p. 63), "The streetcorner man wants to be a person in his own right, to be noticed, to be taken account of, but in this respect, as well as in meeting his money needs, his job fails him." Now "the job and the man are even" -after having the job fail them, more black men are failing the job. Even in strict economic terms, the labor market seldom meets 12 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS the black man's needs. More than 16.3 percent of black workers had incomes below the poverty level in 1980 in spite of their employ­ ment. In this context, the withdrawal of black men from the labor force is often a manifestation of rationality rather than a symptom of pathology. With transfer payments frequently at least as remunera­ tive as work, the possibility of not working becomes both a real and predictable option. Even though men are not eligible for public assistance in half the states, almost 10 percent of black males who were heads of households, as well as 25 percent of those who were not, earned no income through work. The lack of pecuniary rewards from work which fosters this welfare dependency is at best a sad commentary on the distribution of earnings and employment in America. It is not that welfare ceilings are too high-wage floors simply are too low to lift many black workers and their dependents out of poverty. Cast in this light, the willingness and motivation of blacks to work seems stronger than one might expect. The labor market experience of black men can be explained in various ways, but the fragmented labor market hypothesis provides a persuasive explanation of their plight. In its most simplified form, the basic hypothesis contends that the labor market is divided into two distinct segments, one offering relatively high wages, good working conditions, and job security while the other provides low­ paying jobs with poor working conditions and little chance for advancement. Workers trapped in secondary markets are forced to accept unstable employment, have little assurance of due process in their treatment on the job, and often work only intermittently due to lack of steady employment. The segmented labor market approach contains no special theory of racial discrimination, but it deals with discrimination as one factor that influences labor market segmenta­ tion and confines many blacks to low-paying, dead-end jobs. It is difficult to imagine a reversal of the declines in labor force participation among black men in the near future, as current developments in the labor market seem likely only to exacerbate their current plight. Labor force data strongly suggest that the incidence of unemployment is falling increasingly on already disad­ vantaged groups within American society, including blacks (Thurow 1980, pp. 64, 72-73). Until the labor market, most likely in response to government policies, becomes more successful in meeting the needs of black men, it should come as no surprise if growing numbers find preferable alternatives to work in legal labor markets. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 13

Expansion of Leisure and Nonwork Time With the exception of these work patterns among older and black men, the only pervasive indications of a movement away from work is a slow but growing tendency for workers to forgo further income gains in preference for greater amounts of paid leisure. Predictably, with greater affluence the higher marginal utility of leisure has caused many workers to trade wage and salary hikes for paid holidays and vacations. Taking more time away from the workplace to enjoy the fruits of their labor, Americans spend fewer hours per day, fewer days per year, and fewer years of their lives working than they did in the past. It is this trend, stemming not from any weakening commitment to work but from rational economic judgments of the relative value of income and leisure, which is reshaping the nature of work in the 1980s. The shift toward greater leisure in itself is not a new phenomenon. In fact, the most spectacular shrinkage in worktime came in the early part of this century from sharp reductions in the length of the average workweek. However, since 1940, much of the gain in free time has been achieved through both paid vacations and paid holidays. Before 1940, few nonmanagerial workers received paid vacations. By 1970, virtually all plant workers and office workers in metropolitan areas worked in establishments that provided paid vacations, with the average full-time worker receiving two full weeks. Similarly, the number of paid holidays more than quadrupled between 1940 and 1980, growing from an average of two to nine days annually. Perhaps the most telling sign of workers' continuing appetite for leisure is that full-week vacations taken without pay rose between 1968 and 1979 from 14 to 20 percent of all vacations for men and from 34 to 39 percent for women (Hedges and Taylor 1980, p. 9). This push for vacations and holidays (plus an increase in the number of part-time workers) has reduced the average annual hours of work by nearly one-fifth during the past four decades (Figure 5). The rise in the number of families with two or more wage earners may add to the pressure for more time away from the workplace in the years ahead. This push for greater leisure will be partially an outgrowth of the relative affluence of multiple income households, but it may also reflect an increasing pattern of husbands and wives sharing family responsibilities. This mutual acceptance of both provider and parenting roles would require an added measure 14 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS of flexibility in work hours, and these emerging needs in the modern family may well be translated into future demands for paid leisure and shorter or more personalized work schedules. In some sense, it is surprising that leisure has not made greater inroads into the world of work. During this century alone, produc-

Hours 3,000 2,761

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

1900 1940 1970 1980 FIGURE 5 Average Annual Hours Spent at Work Has Declined by One-Third During the Century

Sources: Peter Henle, "Recent Growth of Paid Leisure for U.S. Workers," Monthly Labor Review 85 (March 1962), pp. 249-57; Geoffrey H. Moore and Janice Neipert Hedges, "Trends in Labor Leisure," Monthly Labor Review 94 (February 1971), pp. 3-11; and Economic Report of the President, 1981, p. 274. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 15 tivity has at least quintupled-that increase means that a labor force of 20 million could produce the goods and services sufficient for the life style that our ancestors enjoyed in "the golden nineties." Put in another way, if workers in 1983 were satisfied to live at the same standard of living as their parents did some three decades earlier, they could have cut the five-day workweek to three days or taken 20 weeks vacation per year. Needless to say, five-month vacations are not around the corner, but only because most workers choose steadily rising incomes over leisure gains. Since 1968, the share of potential pay raises translated into leisure growth has averaged roughly 16 percent for full-time employees (Hedges and Taylor 1980, p. 4). This pattern of apportioning productivity gains between pecuniary benefits and leisure time ensures that, in terms of hours on the job, work is not soon to end. The provocative question concerning the future of work is how shifts in the occupational structure and the composition of the workforce will alter prospects for job satisfaction, thereby influenc­ ing future labor force participation. Two trends warrant at least brief consideration: the gradual movement from agricultural and manufacturing employment into the service sector, and the rising educational attainment of American workers. The interaction of these changes in the labor market, and more specifically the extent to which occupational shifts create work which meets the expecta­ tions of a more educated workforce, will determine the stability of labor force participation in the coming decades.

New Services and Occupations Even as Americans continue to work, their jobs are constantly changing. Today's jobs are considerably different from those of a century or a few decades ago, with some work roles dwindling as new ones emerge. By weight of numbers, secretaries now deserve more scrutiny than auto workers. Public schoolteachers outnumber all the production workers in the chemical, oil, rubber, plastic, paper, and steel industries combined. The office is replacing the factory as the most common workplace, and employment is shifting to the service sector of the economy with ever-increasing speed (Figure 6). A sizable and growing segment of the population no longer has even a secondary relationship to the production or distribution of goods, instead providing an array of services of unprecedented 16 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS scope and diversity. Agriculture, manufacturing, and mining, which once dictated the basic structure of the labor market, are increasing­ ly anachronistic-in the same manner that the industrial revolution reduced the portion of American workers laboring on farms from over 40 percent to less than 3 percent, a contemporary transforma­ tion of work is steadily undermining the relative importance of

Percent ?Or------

------...... ' Blue collar/Manufacturing ,

......

O r-----�----,-----�-----r----�-----,----� 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980

FIGURE 6 Employment Has Shifted Steadily Toward the Service Sector

Sources: U.S. Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1975), p. 139; and Employment and Earnings (January 1983), pp. 18�1. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 17 manufacturing as a generator of jobs. In the United States, growth in the service sector accounted for 84 percent of all additional jobs created in the three decades following 1950, and virtually every major industrial country in the world now has at least half its labor force in this tertiary sector (OECD 1978). The shift toward service employment is in many ways a direct result of rising affluence and technological advance. With machine­ supported manufacturing requiring a declining share of the nation's overall work effort, Americans have been able to purchase and to provide services that earlier generations never contemplated. No doubt the surge of women into the labor force has strengthened this demand for personal services, but increasing affluence alone would have aroused a growing appetite for the many amenities of a service economy. Aided by technological advances in fields ranging from health care to home entertainment, the growth of the service sector is now altering our most basic concepts of work and destroying traditional links between work and physical effort. Increasingly, we engage in "abstract" work with symbols instead of tools, producing annual research volumes rather than baking bread. Only an affluent

TABLE 1 Occupational Distribution from 1900 to 1982

Occupation 1982 1960 1940 1920 1900

White-collar: 53.7ll: 43.3ll: 3l.lll: 24.9ll: 17.6ll: Professional and technical 17.0 l1.8 7.5 5.4 4.3 Managers and administrators ll.5 8.8 7.3 6.6 5.8 Clerical 18.5 15.1 9.6 8.0 3.0 Sales 6.6 7.6 6.7 4.9 4.5

Blue-collar: 29.7 38.6 39.8 40.2 35.8 Craft 12.3 14.2 12.0 13.0 10.5 Operatives 12.9 19.4 18.4 15.6 12.8 Nonfarm laborers 4.5 5.0 9.4 11.6 12.5

Services 13.8 ll.6 11.7 7.8 9.0 Private households 1.0 2.8 4.7 3.3 5.4

Farm workers 2.7 6.4 17.4 27.0 37.5 Sources: David L. Kaplan and M. Claire Casey, Occupational Trentb in the United States, 1900 to 1950 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1958); U.S. Bureau of the Census, United States Census of the Population, 1960, Occupa­ tional Characteristics (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963); U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1970 Census of the Population, Occupation by Industry (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1972); and Employment and Earn­ ings, (January 1983), p. 157. 18 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS society could afford the luxury of freeing so many of its workers from the production process. Along with the shift from the manufacturing to the service sector, a parallel transformation of the labor market can be seen in the movement from blue-collar to white-collar employment (Table 1). Farming was the most common occupation in 1900 and blue­ collar workers were most numerous in 1940, but by 1982 slightly more than half of the workforce held white-collar jobs. In 1900, unskilled laborers outnumbered managers and professionals, house­ hold servants were more common than professionals, and unskilled workers filled one-third of all blue-collar jobs. In contrast, managers and professionals today outnumber unskilled laborers by more than six to one, professionals are 17 times more prevalent than household servants, and craftsmen and semiskilled workers comprise 85 per­ cent of the blue-collar workforce. The long-term trend is clear­ white-collar employment has grown dramatically at the expense of farm and unskilled blue-collar work. Part of this growth in professional and managerial ranks reflects the increasing size and complexity of organizations, as well as the growing importance of research and managerial functions in the use of advanced technologies. Yet some portion of this surge in white­ collar employment must also be viewed as "nonessential" -a host of vice presidents, special assistants, and consultants, once considered unnecessary, now thrive in an affluent society. The ratio of nonpro­ duction to production workers in manufacturing has doubled in less than four decades, from 14 percent in 1943 to 28 percent in 1978, demonstrating that the requirement to mobilize for maximum production during World War II rendered substantial managerial layers expendable. Staffing patterns in the military reflect a similar trend: with armed forces of 2.1 million, we now have more admirals and generals than during the last world war when our forces totaled 12 million. Of course, judgments regarding "necessary" staffing levels are always relative, and the growth of professional and managerial ranks may generate qualitative improvements not easily measured through statistical data. Even in this context, however, the economy appears "featherbedded" with jobs which could not be supported by a less wealthy society. The evidence of occupational shifts or fluctuations in skill levels fails to support claims of uniform improvements or deterioration in work quality. The economy has continued to generate stifling and THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 19 menial work: in the four largest expanding occupational groups (secretaries, of whom there are 5.0 million; food service, 4.4 million; retail clerks, 3.1 million; drivers and delivery, 2.9 million), there are neither signs of rapid change nor hopes of immediate advances in work quality. Some jobs are now cleaner, safer, or more interesting, but others offer less freedom and require fewer skills. In this sense, accounts that the demise of blue-collar work or the emergence of a service economy imply improvements in the quality of work are misleading. A more realistic view recognizes that there is more continuity than change in the labor market, and that white-collar or service jobs are not necessarily "better" in offering hope for work satisfaction.

Educated Workers: A Mixed Blessing? The possibility of future discontent at the workplace emerges not from changes in work, but rather from the educational gains of American workers. Through major public investments in a compre­ hensive educational system spanning from kindergarten to post­ graduate programs, the United States has achieved impressive advances toward the goal of a universally educated population. The median educational attainment of 8.7 years that a worker brought to the job in 1940 rose in four decades to 12.7 years (Figure 7). The greatest gains in education have accrued to those who formerly had the least schooling, and the segment of the labor force with less than three years of high school is expected to continue its sharp decline throughout the 1980s. Typically, we view education as an unqualified good, and from a societal viewpoint these rising education levels may indeed bode well for our cultural development and for the vitality of our democratic system-at least that's the hope. Yet in a narrower sense, more schooling does not necessarily foster greater contentment among workers. As Americans in all occupations enter the labor market with more education than ever before, the prospect of edu­ cational gains outpacing skill requirements becomes more threat­ ening. If the rising educational attainment of workers were accom­ panied by an increase in the number of demanding and challenging jobs, there would be cause for optimism. Unfortunately, the evi­ dence suggests that the extra certificates and diplomas may produce little more for modern workers than higher goals and more frequent disappointments. 20 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Percent 100

. 4 years of · ;�: . college or more :�

80 1 to 3 years of college

60

4 years of high school 40

1 to 3 years of high school

8 years of elementary school or less

I 1957 1966 1974 1981 FIGURE 7 Educational Attainments of the Labor Force Have Grown Steadily

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Educational Attainment of Workers March 1979, Special Labor Force Report 240 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981}, p. A-9.

Before World War II, employers had few formal entry require­ ments-employees needed only some basic reading and writing skills and elementary mastery of ciphers to qualify for most jobs. Wartime production did increase the demand for technical and craft skills, and the subsequent eras of computers and microprocessors have maintained requirements for specialized training in fields of rapid technological advance. However, most of the increase in education levels has occurred independently of thetec hnical require­ ments of the labor market, with more highly educated workers performing essentially the same functions as their less schooled predecessors. During the 1970s, the portion of professional and THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 21 technical workers who were college graduates rose from 61 to 71 percent among men and from 54 to 63 percent among women. The share of sales and clerical workers with college degrees nearly doubled in the course of that decade, as did the percentage of blue­ collar and service workers with one or more years of college (Young 1980, p. 46) . With one of every five salespersons college-educated, it is difficult to interpret further gains in formal education as a response to skill requirements in the labor market. Were it not for the expectations engendered by higher education, the increasing diversion of our youth to colleges and universities might offer an ideal way of coping with insufficient aggregate employment. Yet more schooling invariably raises hopes of more attractive jobs, higher earnings, and greater opportunities for career advancement, setting the stage for worker disillusionment and discontent should labor market opportunities lag behind such expec­ tations. Job satisfaction surveys have identified the combination of longer schooling and low pay as one of the most potent formulas for dissatisfaction at the workplace, reflecting the belief that education credentials implicitly promise or guarantee future success. In send­ ing them to school for longer stints, we prepare a veritable "powder keg" of expectations among new entrants to the labor force, who by virtue of youth and inexperience are most likely to suffer from the inadequacies of the labor market. Signs that labor market requirements have not kept pace with the expectations of an educated workforce abound. In a landmark study, Ivar Berg (1970) estimated that in 1970 one-fifth of all college graduates held jobs that did not require their level of educational attainment. Workers' own assessments of the match between their academic credentials and actual job requirements have reinforced that finding; the University of Michigan's 1970 Survey of Working Conditions (Survey Research Center 1971, p. 406) found that more than one in three workers believed they had more education than their jobs required. Finally, the data on initial job placements of college graduates in more recent years suggest that the correlation between educational attainment and jobs has not improved-almost 90 percent of college graduates entering the labor force between 1962 and 1968 assumed professional, technical, managerial, or administrative roles, while less than two-thirds of those entering between 1969 and 1976 succeeded in obtaining similar positions (Table 2) . 22 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

TABLE 2 Between 1962 and 1969, 4 Million College Graduates Entered the Labor Force Compared with 8 Million During the Succeeding Seven Years

Entry Position 1962-1969 1969-1976

Professional and technical 72.6� 46.1� Management and administration 17.1 18.4 Sales 2.9 8.4 Clerical 3.0 10.5 Craft 2.5 3.1 Operatives 0.5 2.0 Nonfarm laborers 0.1 1.0 Service 0.5 4.6 Farm workers 0.2 1.2 Unemployed 0.1 4.7 Source: "Entry Jobs for College Graduates: The Occupational Mix Is Chang­ ing," Monthly Labor Review 101 (June 1978), p. 52.

The potential for a growing mismatch between skill requirements and workers' educational attainment is a source of increasing concern among labor market analysts. According to one estimate, college graduates entering the labor force are likely to exceed job openings in professional and managerial categories by some 2. 7 million over the next decade, leaving two and one-half graduates to compete for every choice job (O'Toole 1979, p. 9). A detailed study of the slow change in general skill requirements and rising educa­ tional attainment among workers during the period from 1960 to 1976 confirmed that these trends had combined to increase the incidence of "overeducation" in the labor market (Rumberger 1981, p. 97). With employment growth likely to occur primarily in low­ skilled clerical, retail trade, and service jobs, this pattern of widening disparities between job opportunities and worker education and expectations seems certain to persist. Shortages of skilled labor in selected fields are not inconsistent with this view of rising educational attainment. Although the majori­ ty of new jobs created in the coming decade may not require extensive educational backgrounds, some emerging occupations in high-technology fields no doubt will demand advanced scientific and mathematical training. Attempts to make the nature and content of American education more responsive to labor market trends could play a significant role in easing manpower shortages within particular occupations. They do not contradict the claim that the THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 23

American workforce as a whole receives more education than skill requirements alone would necessitate. The problems arising from the "overeducation" of the workforce are not easily catalogued, but the potential for worker dissatisfaction with jobs that fail to utilize their education is disturbing. The consequences of a mismatch between education and jobs may reach much farther to include deteriorating mental and physical health, falling productivity, and rising frequency of disruptive behavior among workers. The current trends in turnover, absenteeism, and other outward manifestations of worker attitudes are as yet uncon­ vincing in this regard, but our apparent inability to provide suitable · opportunities for more educated workers must be a source of serious concern. Collectively at least, we may not be doing our children any favors by sending them off to college and graduate school unless labor market conditions improve in the years ahead.

What the Future Holds No revolution at the workplace is in the offing. Americans are continuing to work, and in much the same manner as their fore­ fathers. Movement away from work has occurred very slowly in the form of increased leisure and earlier retirement, while overall labor force participation rates have actually climbed in recent years. Workers are more affluent and better educated than ever before, and yet these trends have not triggered any exodus from the workplace. Even if they are indifferent about their jobs, today's workers have not shunned the attachment to work that we associate with the work ethic. Contemporary trends in the nature of work, such as the overall shift toward white-collar and service employment, reinforce this sense of continuity and evolutionary change. There are some encouraging signs in labor market shifts-the percentage of unskilled jobs has declined steadily, the most boring and punishing tasks have disappeared, and repetitive jobs that survive are increasingly being done by machines rather than by men. There also remain some disconcerting trends, including the lack of uniform gains in skill requirements and the threat of displacement of low-skilled workers through automation and rapid technological innovation. Together, these changes will result in painful disruptions in the working lives of some Americans, but they will not preclude satisfaction at work or drive workers away from their jobs. 24 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The personal and societal strains generated by record levels of unemployment during the early 1980s, when as many as one of every nine Americans actively searched for work in a slack labor market which offered many of them little hope for success, is perhaps the most compelling testament to the strength of the work ethic in the United States. If attachment to the labor force were seriously weakening, one would expect to find the earliest signs of deterioration on the fringes of the labor market, fueled by the discouragement of prolonged joblessness. Not even the tragic rise in unemployment under the Reagan Administration has prompted this reaction within the labor force. It is less clear whether tomorrow's workers will expect more than their jobs can offer. How much we as a society should invest in education remains a normative decision-one based more on the value we place on an educated populace than on narrow measures of the economic returns reaped from more schooling. Yet we should not ignore the danger signals that we are nurturing an "over­ educated" workforce which will be dissatisfied with uninspiring and slowly changing jobs. If, as critics charge, higher education is becoming nothing more than longer education providing few skills and opening few occupational doors, the adjustments of some Americans to their life work may be placed in increasing jeopardy. In general, the fear that Americans will abandon work has no rational basis. People work for many different reasons, and even when growing affluence enables workers to obtain more leisure, such gains are taken in gradual increments of paid holidays and vacations. Labor force data suggest that increasing proportions of Americans are working more, not less, opting for leisure only when that step is consistent with a continuing identification with estab­ lished work roles. While the absolute economic need to work may diminish over time, the desire for relative income gains and the social and psychological functions of work persist. Those who anticipate the demise of work are likely to bt:Jdis appointed-even as both jobs and workers change, the great majority of Americans no doubt will continue to find reasons to work.

References

Berg, Ivar. Education and jobs: The Great Training Robbery. New York: Praeger, 1970. Hedges, Janice Neipert, and Daniel E. Taylor. "Recent Trends in Worktime: Hours Edge Downward." Monthly Labor Review 103 (March 1980), pp. 3-11. THE SURVIVAL OF WORK 25

Kreps, Juanita, ed. Women and the American Economy: A Look to the 1980s. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. Liebow, Elliot. Tally's Comer. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1967. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. A Medium Term Strategy for Employment and Manpower Policies. Paris: OECD, 1978. O'Toole, James. "Education is Education, and Work is Work-Shall Ever the Twain Meet?" Teachers College Record (Fall 1979) . The Roper Organization. The 1980 Virginia Slims American Women's Opinion Polls. New York: 1980.

CHAPTER 2

Work Ethic and Productivity

IRVING H. SIEGEL Consulting Economist

Orientation and Highlights Because "work ethic" and "productivity" are abstractions that belong to common speech as well as to technical vocabularies, any serious treatment of the assigned topic is bound to have "controver­ sial" features. In addition, this particular chapter expresses views that are known in advance to be at variance with certain widely accepted, and typically unchallenged, professional and lay opinions. Our pur­ pose, however, is far from polemical. Rather, we aim, within the predesignated space limits, to address the subject in the light of our own "philosophy," experience, and research and to avoid perfunctory acquiescence in "authoritative" positions that we definitely do not share. More positively stated, our aim is to make a constructive contribution to a literature that is too much encumbered by conven­ tion and tradition-with cheerful recognition that readers and other scholarly expositors may not feel persuaded to alter their own stances. The two terms of primary interest in this chapter have at least four attributes in common. First, both are frequent victims of careless usage-and degraded thereby to emotive words. Second, even when they are meant as terms of art, both embrace large families of concepts. Third, both designate families of variables that interact-with each other and with their larger surrounding environ­ ment. Fourth, both may be altered significantly by such interac­ tion-qualitatively in the case of work ethic and quantitatively in the case of productivity. The rest of this chapter elucidates these four points, with special reference to the American scene-past, present, and future. Along the way, it states propositions that may be organized into a brief moral tale: 27 28 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

1. The historical decline in the workday, workweek, and work­ year is more appropriately interpretable as an evolution of "the" average work ethic than as a defection from some actual or imagined early "standard." 2. The miscalled national productivity "decline" reported since the mid-l960s is, at least in part, a statistical mirage deserving a more thorough clinical investigation than it has yet received. 3. Doubts about the validity of indicated numerical changes in national productivity in recent years should be extended to the results of national "productivity accounting" -an exercise that pur­ ports to partition those changes according to "sources" and "causes," including a suspected decline in average work ethic. 4. Problems of definition, measurement, and analysis provide insufficient excuse for overlooking the obvious challenge to improve work commitment and productive performance in a world of intensifying competition for markets. 5. In our enterprise economy, a special responsibility devolves upon private-sector management for promoting needed improve­ ment in individual and organizational performance.

Work Ethic: An Evolving Catholic Family For thought and action, it is better (a) to focus on the diversity of personal work commitments than on the average for a whole labor force or population, and (b) to consider their economic adequacy and improvability in a given time and place rather than their relation to a "model" identified with an earlier era or a particular religious outlook. The very many work ethics discernible at any date serve as causes and effects, as stimuli and restraints, in their interaction with productivity and with the larger containing environment. This larger environment has many dimensions (for example, natural, demo­ graphic, economic, technological, social, political, and religious), and each of them includes subcategories. The interaction leads to temporal changes-both short-term fluctuations and longer-term trends-in productivity levels, in features of the environment, and in the work ethics of individuals, labor force segments, and the labor force as a whole. Formally, we define work ethic for an individual (or for a more or less homogeneous group of individuals) as a value or belief (or a set of values or beliefs) concerning the place of work in one's life WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 29 that either (a) serves as a conscious guide to conduct or (b) is simply implied in manifested attitudes and behavior. This definition is "positive," rather than "normative." It is also culture-free, neutral to historical time, to location, to nonwork interests, etc. Accordingly, it is widely applicable. It lets everybody have a work ethic of some sort. It does not, however, preclude the occurrence of lapses from affirmed or inferred values or beliefs regarding the role of work in people's lifestyles, careers, or plans; nor does it preclude the investigation or discernment of such lapses by outside observers. A few other features of this definition are worth mentioning. It permits, but does not require, work to dominate in the allocation of a person's total available time. It permits, but does not require, work to be endowed with a "nobler" purpose or more "honorific" significance than the provision of a livelihood. It does not "apolo­ gize" for the past changes in a nation's technology, productivity, laws, industrial relations, work ethic, etc., that have allowed work­ time to be shorter, the workplace to be safer, and the worker to pursue an increasing variety of nonwork activities. It leaves room for all the composite work ethics that have been described or sponsored in a vast corpus of sociological, political, and religious literature-Protestant, Calvinist, Puritan, Primitive Christian, mo­ nastic, feudal, Talmudic, Buddhist, utopian, communist, etc. Finally, our definition has operational significance. Instead of suggesting outmoded criteria of industry, frugality, and abstinence that guarantee gloomy appraisals of the "human condition" in a consumption-oriented modern society, it concentrates on observed or implied current values, attitudes, and behaviors regarding work. These values, attitudes, and behaviors are alterable by interaction with productivity and the larger environment. Of particular interest is the possibility of deliberate intervention by environmental agents to upgrade work ethic-by modification of values or by repair of lapses in attitudes and behavior-on behalf of productivity improve­ ment at the enterprise level and in the economy at large. Manage­ ment is the most obvious of such agents, whether or not it is equal to the task. Private management is responsible for company results, for the "bottom line," in a profit-and-loss society; and public manage­ ment, by leadership, legislation, regulation, policy, action, and incentives, sets the tone for the economy at large and provides parameters for the conduct of private business. 30 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Productivity Concepts and Measures The multiplicity of admissible productivity concepts and the quality of the available and constructable statistics have a bearing on the reliability of attempted appraisals of the interrelation of work ethic and productivity. This section, accordingly, has something to say about the variety of eligible productivity notions and the problems of implementing them. Readers wishing a fuller treatment than seems appropriate to this chapter may wish to sample the specialized and still increasing literature on concepts and measure­ ment of production and productivity (for example, Ruggles and Ruggles 1982, Grossman and Sadler 1982, and Siegel 1973, 1980a, 1980b, 1980c). The meaning of productivity figures depends critically on the choice of concept and on the actual data content and mode of derivation. The available figures, official and other, lack the solid factuality too often attributed to them by users uninterested in the details of measurement. In general, the statistics do not unambigu­ ously reflect the values, attitudes, and behaviors of workers. Further­ more, efforts to disentangle the contributions of an alleged decline of work ethic and other factors to measured change in national productivity in recent years cannot be judged successful on either theoretical or practical grounds. This negative opinion does not at all deny that there may be good economic reasons for working harder or smarter. The generic definition of productivity as a ratio of output quantity to input quantity has long guided economic statisticians concerned with measuring temporal change. Like our notion of work ethic, this definition is "catholic": it embraces a large family of existing or conceivable cases. Output, for example, may legitimately be viewed as "gross" or "net" in a variety of senses. Many kinds of input-labor, capital, materials, energy, and any combination of these-are eligible for use in the denominator, and all may be quantified in more than one way. One "physical" attribute or another may serve, in the first instance, as a basis for reckoning quantity, but such direct elementary measures typically have to be combined into aggregates, which may be either unweighted sums or variously weighted totals. Through time, these alternative aggregates need not show similar changes in magnitude or direction. Aggregate quantities (and index numbers based on them) may also be estimated indirectly by price "deflation"-a much-used and WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 31 much-abused technique. In principle, a correct measure of weighted output or input is obtainable by division (that is, "deflation") of a series or index of current-dollar values by a perfectly matching composite price index. This tautology of "literal algebra" has inspired the easy, routine, and uncritical use of more or less relevant "off-the-shelf' price deflators for the derivation of quantity esti­ mates. Although the latter do satisfy the weaker requirements of "verbal algebra," they are of uncertain validity and could be very wrong on occasion. In difficult or intractable cases (such as the measurement of capital input and of the output of construction, research, and banking and finance), resort to deflation typically implies the acceptance of composite quantity units that would most probably be disavowed or rejected if their adoption were considered directly. The multiplicity of admissible productivity measures obtainable from even an ideal data base should counsel against the common belief that there are firm productivity "facts." For a particular purpose or context, one choice of data and measurement procedures may be much more appropriate than another. Strictly, since alterna­ tive measures for the same setting may differ considerably in indicated magnitude and direction of change, an understanding of their literal composition and structure is essential for selection, interpretation, application, and evaluation. The factuality of produc­ tivity statistics becomes even more tenuous when account is taken of the hazards lurking in (a) ubiquitous price deflation, (b) adjustments (or failure to adjust) for gaps in the data supply and for discontinui­ ties in the quality of output and input, and (c) the common need to substitute conventional or other available measures for required measures that do not exist or cannot be computed. Mention must also be made of the popular tendency to mislabel many different measures as indicators of productivity. For example, productivity is often confused with production, which is merely the numerator of a productivity ratio, in press reports and in opinion questionnaires. In Scanlon Plans, a ratio of undeflated value to undeflated payrolls, rather than a ratio of output and input quanti­ ties, is typically used as a "productivity" basis for the computation of bonuses. In business circles, unit labor cost, which is of interest in its own right, is frequently commended as a better measure of produc­ tivity than productivity itself! Finally, professionals themselves have contributed to confusion 32 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS concerning productivity "facts." One way is by their use of language appropriate to short-run marginal-productivity analysis in the discus­ sion of temporal change in average productivity. Another is to talk of "work measurement" within a company as though it must be incompatible with conventional "productivity measurement" in terms of salable end-products. Only insofar as these comments are pertinent to perceptions about work ethic will they be developed below.

Productivity Statistics as "Evidence" about Work Ethic From the foregoing, it should be clear that appraisals of the interaction of productivity with work ethic and their common environment are colored by the choice of productivity measure. Three features of a selected measure arc particularly relevant: (a) its domain of reference (for example, the level of the economy to which it applies and the scope of the input denominator), (b) its composition and structure, and (c) its technical soundness. A few observations follow concerning each of these features. Our observations should encourage skepticism regarding the enlightenment derivable from published statistics. Although com­ mon sense and experience suggest the importance of "human factors" in innovation and productivity, six days of congressional hearings conclude that our understanding "is hindered by the absence of an accurate, detailed body of knowledge" (Subcommit­ tee on Science, Research and Technology 1982) . The leading practitioner of "productivity accounting," stymied in his quest for an exhaustive explanation of the recent slowdown in national produc­ tivity growth, has affirmed "no desire to minimize the importance of work effort," but repeats his earlier conviction that an "inability to answer the simple question-how hard do people work?- ...is probably the most serious gap in [his] measure of labor input" (Denison 1979). Later in this section, doubt is expressed about the validity of an appraisal by another exponent of productivity account­ ing that . a flaccid work ethic has contributed negatively to the nation's recent productivity performance. Doubt is also expressed with regard to the usefulness of standard national productivity indicators for reflecting on the performance and work ethic of individuals or of particular labor force components (especially women and youths)-and with regard to the reliability of these WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 33 indicators in general for the inflation-wracked period that began in the mid-1960s.

Domain of Reference Indexes with labor-input denominators-that is, measures of "labor productivity," most often designated simply as "productiv­ ity" -are no less serviceable than rarer or nonexistent indexes with broader denominators for study of the interaction of productivity, work ethic, and the larger environment. It is important, however, to interpret them correctly-with due regard to their content. As a rule, national measures of labor productivity show higher rates of increase than indexes for labor and capital combined, which are commonly miscalled measures of "total factor productivity." These indexes are not more accurate just because they have more comprehensive denominators; capital input is a much more ambiguous concept than labor input and more difficult to quantify. During the current century as a whole, significant economic and social "progress" has been associated with a considerable advance in productivity, however measured, and with a sufficiently supportive, though changing, average work ethic. Thus, output per hour in the private sector multiplied about six times in the past eight decades. This advance has been accompanied by many changes that also imply an evolution of work ethic: rising real income per capita; shorter workdays, workweeks, and workyears; much less child labor; a very substantial shift of population from farms to urban areas and of employment from agriculture toward manufacturing and thence toward services; higher educational attainment of work­ ers; etc. These accompaniments have often been chronicled; for recent statements, see, for example, Kreps (1976) and Ginzberg, Scott, and Leontief (all 1982). Adverse accompaniments of "progress" could also be cited, such as increases in crime, pollution, and accidents; but of greater relevance to this chapter is the Delphic character nowadays ascribed to the expansion of the federal government's participation in eco­ nomic and social affairs since the 1930s. Before the nation became caught in the grip of a long inflation and learned that the release of disinflation could also be painful, positive elements were usually emphasized in the federal intervention respecting labor-manage­ ment relations, business regulation, Social Security, unemployment 34 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS compensation, welfare assistance, health care, and environmental protection. More recently, government has become a favorite target of complaints-as the source and propagator of inflation and other ills, real or alleged, including a deterioration of the work ethic. (Studies of major redistributive programs-see, for example, Dan­ ziger, Haveman, and Plotnick 1981-indicate some negative effects on personal savings and labor supply as well as significant gains against income poverty and income inequality.) The threat to living standards implicit in the slowdown of measured productivity growth and in other national economic troubles since the mid-1960s has invited eager search for blame­ worthy suspects; and, since the work ethic is an attribute of labor in the productivity denominator, it has for this and other reasons become one of the suspects. Among the cited signs of work ethic decline are some that have in earlier decades been regarded as evidence of "progress" -for example, a preference for shorter worktimes and for earlier retirement. Other cited signs include: the ubiquity of workrules that restrict output in the short run; absentee­ ism, alcoholism, and drug abuse; reliance, sometimes obviously excessive, on unemployment compensation and welfare assistance; the prevalence of coffee breaks; and incomplete inattentiveness to work tasks, especially in white-collar jobs. The list of symptoms of work ethic decay, however long, has strange omissions, too. The negative influence of television-watch­ ing, an addiction affecting a very large portion of modern popula­ tions, is not commonly emphasized. Too little attention seems also to be paid to the growth of legal gambling, government-sponsored lotteries, and opportunities for speculation by the man in the street. The same may be said about corruption in high places, in both government and industry, which dramatizes nonwork routes to wealth. Executives and managers too often escape criticism for excessive preoccupation with financial reorganization and tax avoid­ ance in lieu of improvement of productive efficiency. It is easy to overlook the fact that the reduction of workhours and the trend toward early retirement have permitted a redirection, as well as representing a possible dilution, of the average work ethic. People have been taking second jobs, participating in do-it-yourself home improvement (Stone 1980), and engaging in unrecorded, tax­ evasive, productive activity in the "underground economy." Shorter hours and early retirement for males have, in conjunction with WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 35 protracted inflation, contributed to another presumable upgrading of average work ethic: the large influx of women into the labor market. Unsurprisingly, work ethic has not been ignored in the quantita­ tive gropings of productivity accountants for an exhaustive de­ composition of observed productivity changes. The accounting movement received a strong impetus from the declaration a genera­ tion ago by Abramovitz (1956) that the existence of a sizable productivity "residual" represents "some sort of measure of our ignorance about the causes of economic growth." The same econo­ mist now concedes (1983) that "growth accounting measures the effect of the proximate, not the underlying, sources of growth" -and other students are not convinced that the measures are valid. A decade ago, another economist, Nelson (1973), concluded that accounting had already reached a "dead end." A short time ago, when Abramovitz (1981) was not yet ready to declare accounting a failure, he asserted that "most urgent attention" should be directed toward estimating the contribution of govern­ ment's "welfare and regulatory activities" to productivity retarda­ tion. Somehow, he linked these activities to "a decline of worker effort symptomized by absenteeism and by a drop in hours worked relative to hours paid." These views may have been inspired by those of Fellner (1979), who brought ethic-related indicia into the picture in another way: "The main suspects are inflationary policies, a tax structure that creates disincentives, inefficiencies caused by controls and regulations, and hiring and job-organization practices that place too little emphasis on competence and work effort." He related these "practices" to the "legal-institutional setting," for which government alone cannot, of course, be responsible in our type of society. Perhaps Fellner meant, and Abramovitz also, to refer obliquely to the reordering of labor-management relations during the New Deal and to subsequent intervention against discrimination on account of race, sex, and age-which are still esteemed as "progress" by a good part of the population. A prominent scholar, Kendrick (1979), includes "actual/potential efficiency and n.e.c." as the final category in his productivity­ accounting scheme. To this category of "causes," he assigns negative "percentage point contributions" in attempting to explain the 1.6 percent gain in "total factor productivity" that he derived for the domestic business economy for 1966-1973 and the 0.8 percent gain 36 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS he derived for 1973-1978. These negative contributions, -0.6 percent for the first interval and -0.4 percent for the second, are claimed to reflect "primarily a decline in the ratio of actual to potential labor efficiency." Kendrick concedes, however, that one "measurable element" of this decline is simply a data problem to which Abramo­ vitz attached a deeper significance: The divergence between hours worked and hours remunerated has been narrowing, and the labor­ input denominators of productivity series generally refer to the latter. Another negative influence is seen in "nonproductive time at work (for coffee breaks, personal business, and the like)." Finally, "there is considerable speculation that efficiency of hours actually worked may have declined relative to the standards or norms used in work measurement studies." Indeed, "some observers" see "a loosening of the work ethic" among the recent "negative social trends." Kendrick's numbers and commentary invite a few remarks on the method and domain of reference of his accounting: l. Assignment of a specific negative number to an unmeasurable gap between actual and potential labor efficiency may have a "scientific" aura, but the number is merely a quantified suspicion. 2. The same stricture applies to, say, the larger positive contribu­ tion asserted for research and development-if the latest judgments of students like Nelson and Langlois (1983) are taken to heart. 3. Insufficient attention is given to defects in national productiv­ ity indicators, a matter to be discussed later in this section. 4. The method of suspect-fingering could just as well have singled out the gap between actual and potential economic perfor­ mance in general since the mid-1960s-a period plagued by unde­ clared war, inflation, and recession. 5. Even more to the point, the labor-efficiency gap could justly have been designated a management-efficiency gap-since manage­ ment has to take responsibility for the quality of worker perform­ ance in our type of economy. 6. It could realistically be argued that, properly managed, coffee breaks and time allowances for personal business help maintain a target level of productivity. 7. More rewarding than exercises that attempt to relate an inherently nonquantitative average work ethic to shaky national productivity statistics would be the study of interactions at the company and plant levels. (At these sites, where production takes WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 37 place, observations are easier to make and interpret. More impor­ tant, corrective action can be taken there by management, acting alone in accordance with its prerogatives and responsibilities or in cooperation with unions.)

Composition and Structure Whatever the true state of work ethic, conventions of measure­ ment may themselves conceal or distort interactions with productiv­ ity. For example, heavy reliance on the technique of price deflation as an alternative to the combination of detailed quantity data for output and input precludes a fine-grain examination of relations between individual and group work ethic and specific productivity performance. {Task-oriented productivity measures cannot realisti­ cally be attempted at the national level, but they are appropriate to the guidance and control of organizations, where work ethic may not only be plausibly observed but also positively influenced.) Furthermore, national productivity indicators having numerators obtained by the deflation of aggregate value of output are sensitive to shifts in the industrial composition of employment; they may change up or down even if no productivity changes occur in the component industries. (While productivity accountants assign a particle of measured national productivity change to the shift in employment structure, it is better to avoid the procedure by use of a correctly weighted average of industry productivity measures in the first place.) Even as workers may be misblamed for a downward productiv­ ity bias resulting from statisticians' use of hours paid as proxy for hours worked, the work ethic of women and youths can be unjustly inpugned because they tend to get below-average pay. Economists, productivity accountants, and others who rely on standard indicators regard women and youths as "low-productivity" workers. This terminology is more appropriate to marginal-productivity lore than to the study of temporal change. It counsels productivity accountants to adjust the output numerator for changes in the proportion of women workers and youths. A better alternative would be to use a more satisfactory national productivity indicator in the first place, one that weights hours by pay in the labor-input denominator. This alternative implies that low pay means less labor-a fairer assump­ tion than less output. If task-oriented productivity measures existed for comparing the performance of women and youths with that of 38 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS experienced male counterparts, a much narrower gap would proba­ bly be observed in performance than in pay.

Technical Soundness It has already been suggested that a greater clinical interest needs to be shown in reliability of national productivity measures, espe­ cially if quantified surmises of the contributions of work ethic and other variables are thought to be useful. Correct measurement would seem to deserve a higher priority than a stalled analysis that proclaims the measured retardation of recent years to be largely a "mystery" regardless of the number of "suspects" examined. A few comments made on technical soundness of recent productivity figures in works not yet cited are offered below: 1. The 1979 Economic Report of the President observed (pp. 71-72) that productivity statistics for the construction and financial sectors were "notoriously bad" and that the nation's poor showing in 1965-1973 was partly attributable to the indicated poor performance of these branches of the economy. 2. More recently, Clark (1982), an economist who contributed to the 1979 Economic Report, noted a close correlation between productivity sluggishness and price inflation and wondered how much of the measured slowdown was real:

Even a cursory examination of the way aggregate labor productivity is estimated suggests that part of [or?] all of the observed decline in productivity growth may be a statistical artifact . . . . There are sound reasons for suspecting that measured GNP has been overdeflated and real output growth has been understated in the past fifteen years.

3. A long-time student of manpower, Ginzberg (1982), has expressed a similar doubt about the validity of the figures for recent years: "Americans may be unduly worried over a phenomenon that reveals more about the limitations of economic analysis and statis­ tical reporting than about the economy itelf." 4. A panel of the National Academy of Sciences (1979) found some weaknesses in national productivity statistics and also included in its report an appendix showing impressive discrepancies between output indexes based on quantity data and indexes derived by deflation. Nevertheless, it made no recommendations for deeper WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 39 inquiry or fundamental improvement with respect to measurement and proposed instead greater government activity in growth and productivity accounting. In this writer's view, the panel's emphasis is misdirected, and it is likely to appear increasingly inappropriate as federal austerity further weakens the national data base.

The Challenge to Management Whatever the "true facts" about the nation's productivity perfor­ mance since the mid-1960s, and whatever the merit of anecdotal and other evidence and surmises regarding the flabbiness of "the" work ethic, it is more important to stress the improvability of both. It is also necessary to repeat that management, public as well as private, has ample scope and unavoidable responsibility for upgrading both. Management has to recognize and respond strongly to the challenge in the interest of maintaining customary living standards and main­ taining competitiveness of American products in domestic and foreign markets. It is possible, of course, that public and private management will not prove equal to the task. Recently legislated incentives for new business investment in new and old technology, so vital to ad­ vancement of the productivity frontier, have obviously failed to fulfill their promise. Perhaps greater economic stimulus with lower interest rates could have been achieved if the deregulation of money markets had proceeded less rapidly and if individual tax relief had included provision for protection of the real income of workers agreeing to forgo increases in their nominal wages. As for private management, the plight of the automobile and steel industries shows how easy it is to do too little and too late in the face of foreign competitive threats of long standing. Past and recent frustrations and failures should not make the task before management appear hopeless. Apart from the American history of "progress," we should feel reassured that the stagnation of national productivity, even if real rather than partly illusory, does not represent the attainment of an entropic limit. Any examination of productivity records for individual industries and companies would reveal a diversity of rates and many positive ones. As for work ethic, its continuing improvability is grimly suggested by the clamor of unemployed people for small numbers of relatively low­ grade jobs all over the country. For operational reform, as some critics of productivity account­ ing have recognized (for example, Nelson 1981), it is essential to 40 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS shift attention from the national scene to the firm and its organiza­ tional elements. At the company level and within it, the various layers of private management can take a number of routes toward simultaneous upgrading of productivity and worker attitudes and behavior. Several routes are particularly attractive from the stand­ point of cost in relation to potential benefits. At least five directions of development merit consideration by private management for the improvement of productivity and work commitment: 1. Reduction of the "actual/potential efficiency" gap for man­ agement itself. 2. Adoption of company systems of productivity-tracking and discussion of the generated numbers with employees. 3. Provision, if required, of additional monetary and nonmone­ tary incentives for workers. 4. Satisfaction of certain nonmonetary needs of workers (for example, scope for decision-making and self-realization). 5. Cooperation with labor on matters of mutual interest, beyond the concerns of extant contracts and without prejudice to traditional adversarial postures. A few elaborative comments may be useful. With respect to the first point, management should not only maintain adequate disci­ pline in the workplace, but also set a good example in its own work-related attitudes and behavior, strive for more complete mastery of its advanced administrative and decision-making tools, and give sufficient weight to traditional economic production while money-making opportunities also beckon in finance, tax accounting, merger activity, etc. With respect to the second point, management should make greater use of company-wide and intracompany measurement for the diagnosis and repair of malfunctions and enlistment of worker interest in company performance and competi­ tiveness. Concerning the third point, management might wish to explore the possible benefits of profit-sharing and stock ownership as well as pensions. The fourth point suggests that management should be sensitive to the perceptions and expectations of workers with rising educational attainment and with increased awareness, through television and travel, of alternative lifestyles and rewards. Furthermore, enough opinion polls (for example, Clarke and Morris 1980) indicate that workers are disposed to do better jobs and would like greater involvement in productivity enhancement-despite WORK ETHIC AND PRODUCTIVITY 41

contrary evidences and surmises about the low state of work ethic. The last point emphasizes, more explicitly than the others, the potentials of labor-management cooperation, in committees and other ventures, for raising productivity, increasing job satisfaction, and otherwise improving the quality of working life. American experience in cooperation in recent years, a persisting adverse economic climate for the nation as a whole, intense competition from abroad, and the new federal disposition to curtail economic and social functions should encourage more determined and more creative quests for joint endeavor without abandonment of historical adversarial roles (Siegel and Weinberg 1982).

References

Abramovitz, Moses. "Resource and Output Trends in the United States since 1970." American Economic Review 46 (May 1956), pp. �23. ---- · "'Welfare Quandaries and Productivity Concerns." American Economic Review 71 (March 1981), pp. 1-17. ----· Review of Towards an Explanation of Economic Growth: Symposium 1980, ed. Herbert Giersch. Journal of Economic Literature 21 (March 1983), pp. 113-16. Clark, Peter K. "Inflation and the Productivity Decline." American Economic Review 72 (May 1982), pp. 149-54. Clarke, Ronald H., and James R. Morris. Workers' Attitudes toward Productivity. Washington: Chamber of Commerce of the United States, 1980. Danziger, Sheldon, Robert Haveman, and Robert Plotnick. "How Income Transfer Programs Affect Work, Savings, and the Income Distribution." Journal of Economic Literature 19 (September 1981), pp. 97�1028. Denison, Edward F. Accounting for Slower Economic Growth: The United States in the 1970s. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1979. Fellner, William. "The Declining Growth of American Productivity: An Introductory Note." In Contemporary Economic Problems, 1979. Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1979. Pp. 3-12. Ginzberg, Eli. "The Mechanization of Work." Scientific American 247 (September 1982), PI> · 67-75. Grossman, Elliot, and George Sadler. "Establishment Data and Productivity Measure­ ments." In What's Happening to American Labor Fo rce and Productivity L'vleasurements? Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1982. Pp. 77-108. Kendrick, John W. "Productivity Trends and the Recent Slowdown: Historical Perspective, Causal Factors, and Policy Options." In Contemporary Economic Problems 1979. Washington: American Enter rise Institute, 1979. Pp. 17-69. Kreps, Juanita M. "Some Time Dimensions o r Manpower Policy." In jobs for Americans, ed. Eli Ginzberg. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1976. Pp. 184-205. Leontief, Wassily W. "The Distribution of Worker Income." Scientific American 247 (September 1982), pp. 188-204. Nelson, Richard R. "Recent Exercises in Growth Accounting: New Understanding or Dead End?" American Economic Review 63 (June 1973), pp. 462-68. --,....-,-· "Research on Productivity Growth and Productivity Differences: Dead Ends and New Departures." Journal of Economic Literature 19 (September 1981), pp. 1029-64. 42 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Nelson, Richard R., and Richard N. Langlois. "Industrial Innovation Policy: Lessons from American History." Science 219 (February 18, 1983), pp. 812-18. Panel to Review Productivity Statistics. Measurement and Interpretation of Produc­ tivity. Washington: National Academy of Sciences, 1979. Ruggles, Richard, and Nancy D. Ruggles. "Integrated Economic Accounts for the United States, 1947-80." Survey of Current Business 62 (May 1983), pp. 1-53. Scott, Joan Wallach. "The Mechanization of Women's Work." Scientific American 247 (September 1982), pp. 167--87. Siegel, Irving H. "Measurement of Productivity." In Conference on an Agenda for Economic Research on Productivity. Washington: National Commission on Productivity, April 1973. Pp. 15--25. ----- · Productivity Measurement: An Evolving Art. Scarsdale, N.Y.: Work in American Institute, 1980a. ---,--- · "Need for Improvement in Government Productivity Information." In Dimensions of Productivity Research, ed. John D. Hogan. Houston: American Productivity Center, 1980b. Pp. 1057--69. ----,-..,--�-· Company Productivity: Measurement for Improvement. Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1980c. Siegel, Irving H., and Edgar Weinberg. Labor-Management Cooperation: The American Experience. Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employ­ ment Research, 1982. Stone, Richard. "Whittling Away at the Residual: Some Thoughts on Denison's Growth Accounting." Journal of Economic Literature (December 1980), pp. 1539-43. Subcommittee on Science, Research and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives. The Human Factor in Innovation and Productivity. 97th Cong., 2d Sess. Washington: October 1982. CHAPTER 3

Job Commitment

JANICE NIEPERT I-IEDGES0 Labor Economist

Absence from work, quits, and working part-time by choice often are associated with weak job commitment; overtime and multiple job-holding with strong commitment. Are these associations valid? At the beginning of this chapter I address this question and then discuss job commitment in terms of more comprehensive measures of worktime. To elaborate further on the topic, the commitment of three groups of workers-men of prime working age, women, and youth-is examined. Finally, hours preferences are related to commitment. Absence among workers frequently is assumed to include a substantial element of absenteeism that arises from poor attitudes. Much of the literature, in fact, implies that workers generally are free to decide whether or not to go to work. Yet research findings reveal constraints on attendance, including health, family responsi­ bilities, and transportation. Ability to attend and motivation together determine whether or not persons go to work. Motivation includes several internal and external pressures-among them personal work ethic and organizational commitment (Steers and Rhodes 1978). Absenteeism is not easily separated from legitimate, or unavoid­ able, absence, in part because we lack both standards of acceptable levels of absence and a consensus on the definitions of determinants.1 To circumvent these and other problems, attempts to measure absenteeism usually have focused on the duration or timing of an absence. To illustrate: absences of a few days or less and those occurring just after the weekend (the "Blue Monday syndrome")

• I would like to thank my former colleague, Paul 0. Flaim, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this chapter. 1 To illustrate, some researchers include alcoholism and drug abuse in their defini­ tion of illness (see, for example, Miner and Brewer 1976}; others do not. 43 44 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS often are assumed to be avoidable. Such approaches neither exclude all legitimate absence nor capture all absenteeism. A slight decline in absence as unemployment rises can be observed in national data from the Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) quarterly survey of selected employers and from the Current Population Survey (CPS) of households, covering all workers.2 Some attribute this cyclical pattern to an improved work ethic as employees seek to protect their jobs. One alternative explanation is that younger workers and production workers, who tend to be absent more often than other workers, are among the first to be laid off.3 National data show no secular increase in absence that would support a thesis of weakening job commitment. CPS data show that, despite the rapid growth in sick-leave benefits, the incidence of absence attributed to illness or injury fluctuated narrowly from 1968 to 1980 (between 2.3 and 2.5 percent per week for part-week absences and between 1.5 and 1.7 percent for absences of a full week). Absences attributed to miscellaneous reasons (including family responsibilities, transportation problems, and personal busi­ ness) generally remained at just under 2 percent for part-week absences and under 1 percent for those of a full week. Quits are a legitimate concern only to the extent that they are excessive or occur for the wrong reasons. To insist that workers never resign would demand a greater commitment from them than from their employers. It also would impede the efficient allocation of labor. The rising incidence of quits among production workers in the 1960s, for example, could be attributed in part to the wider diffusion of market information to a workforce with increasing education and sophistication. As Armknecht and Early (1972) ob­ served, "Better knowledge of alternative opportunities made it possible for the worker to behave more like the classical economic man."4 The literature on the determinants of quits is extensive, the findings diverse. The major factors that have been identified by researchers in various disciplines were summarized by Hinrichs

2 For BNA statistics on absence, see BNA's Quarterly Report on ]ob Absence and Turnover, various issues. The CPS series on absence are included in Labor Force Statistics Derived from the Current Population Survey: A Data Book, Vol. I, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1982, and BLS, Employment and Earnings, various issues. 3 For a discussion of absence and unemployment, see Steers and Rhodes (1978). 4 For a further discussion of turnover and the allocation of labor, see Armknecht (1982). JOB COMMITMENT 45

(1980) as "items external to the individual, such as pay, working conditions, and co-workers; factors associated with the employees' personal characteristics, such as age and sex; and factors tied to the employees' reactions to the job, such as job satisfaction, involvement, and expectations." The recent emergence of organizational commitment (defined as an employee's expressed intent to remain with a firm) as a key variable was noted by Hinrichs. According to Kraut (1975), for

example, " ...a direct measure of intent to remain5 •••is a more powerful predictor of ...turnov er6 than are other measures of job satisfaction." His research was predicated on the likelihood that the employee provides "the best synthesis of attitudes toward his work situation, his opportunities elsewhere and other aspects of his life

that bear on a decision to remain on the current job . . . ."7 However, social psychological factors were assigned the role of intervening variables by Price (1977) in his codification of the literature on organizational turnover. In his view, with strong support in the literature, the determinants of turnover are structural: pay (the money, fringe benefits, and other commodities of financial value received in return for services), integration (the extent of workers' participation in primary and/or quasi-primary groups), communication (the degree to which information is transmitted, either formally or informally), and centralization (the degree to which power is concentrated). Armknecht (1982) found tenure and relative wages to be the leading variables in determining interindustry differences. In sum, the diversity of findings supports Hinrichs's conclusion that "the search for some primary and overriding reason for turnover has not been particularly successful." Meanwhile, recent studies using improved models and techniques have found no significant secular trend in the quit rate. Voluntary part-time's association in the popular view with poor job commitment is refuted by managerial experience. Users of part-

5 The question used to elicit an expression of intent was: "If you have your own way, will you be working for (this company) 5 years from now? (!-Certainly, 2-P�obably, 3-Not sure one way or the other, 4-Probably not, 5-Certainly not). 6 Turnover studies have focused so heavily on quits or resignations that the terms turnover and quits commonly are used interchangeably. Labor turnover in its full sense is comprised of voluntary separations (resignations or quits), involuntary separations (dismissals, layoffs, retirements, and deaths), and accessions. 7 See also Koch and Steers (1978), Porter, Steers, and Mowday (1974}, and Waters, Roach, and Waters (1976). 46 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS time employees report positively on their performance (Nallen, Eddy, and Martin 1978; Comptroller General of the United States 1976). The effort expended per hour at work, as assessed by workers themselves, is greater among part-time than among full-time em­ ployees (Stafford and Duncan 1980) . The commitment of part-time employees is particularly note­ worthy in view of their conditions of employment. Their median weekly earnings were about three-tenths those of full-time workers in 1981, although their workweeks were almost half as long (Mellor and Stamas 1982) . Their disadvantage with regard to fringe benefits is even greater. Paid sick leave, for example, was available to a little more than half the part-time employees (usually prorated) in 1978, compared to 19 of 20 full-time employees in the same firms (Nallen and Martin 1978). But the most severe test to the commitment of part-time workers may be management's perception, as reported by Nallen, Eddy, and Martin, that "[Part-time employees] are ... outside normal career paths and not interested in, or in some cases eligible for, advancement or promotion." Notwithstanding the terms of part-time employment, the same authors observed: "With few exceptions, employers in user organizations believe in the seriousness of purpose of part-time workers. Few managers refer either to positive characteristics ...su ch as maturity and stability, or to negative characteristics, such as lack of commitment. Neither are important issues for users." Overtime hours, in a broad sense, are worked by a highly diverse group that includes factory operatives and managers. About two­ fifths of all employees who exceed the standard 40-hour workweek earn a premium wage for overtime (Taylor and Sekscenski 1982). Overtime, even for a premium wage, receives a mixed reaction from workers. Perlman (1969) observed that the typical worker (in a position of equilibrium wage income and leisure at a given work schedule) always would choose to work overtime hours at premium pay, as would all underemployed workers. Some overemployed workers could be induced to work overtime for a sufficiently high premium. He noted, however, that others among the overemployed would refuse overtime if given the option. In point of fact, about one-fifth of the employees who reported working overtime in 1977 were unable to refuse without penalty (Quinn and Staines 1979) . Both the right of refusal and the equal distribution of overtime are JOB COMMITMENT 47 subjects of collective bargaining (Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS] May 1981).8 When the freedom of male household heads to vary their hours of work in the early 1970s was examined, it was found that close to half (46 percent) would not have been paid for overtime. With few exceptions, these workers also lacked a definite marginal wage rate for contracting their usual weekly hours (Dickinson 1974).9 Among the male family heads who were in jobs that did pay wages for marginal work, well under one-fifth were free to vary their hours in either direction. About one-fourth had limited options: they were free either to increase or to decrease their hours. The remainder were fully constrained. Kalachek (1978) noted: "Somewhat less than one-third of all blue collar workers and one-fifth of all white collar workers had jobs which provided both marginal pay for marginal work and some freedom for the workers to vary hours." Data on overtime for production workers in manufacturing show a cyclical pattern but no secular trend. Between 1960 and 1979, average hours of overtime per worker ranged between 2.1 and 3.9 hours per week. Multiple fob-holding is a solution to insufficient hours on the primary job for some workers. When hours on all jobs were totaled, about three-fourths of the multiple job-holders in 1980 exceeded the standard workweek. JO A small minority (about 5 percent) of all workers hold more than one job. The practice is most prevalent among husbands, least prevalent among wives (6.2 versus 3.4 percent in 1980). By occupa­ tion, multiple job-holding is reported most often among workers whose primary jobs are in professional and technical occupations.

8 An American Arbitration Association study in the 1960s reported that employee claims that they were not given their rightful share of overtime ranked fourth as a cause of grievance, after discipline, seniority, and job content. See Levitan and Belous (1977). 9 The marginal rate for overtime was obtained by two questions: "If you were to work more hours than usual during some week, would you get paid for those extra hours?" (If yes): ''What would be your hourly rate for that overtime?" The marginal rate for a reduction in hours was considered to be the hourly rate for regular hours. This rate was obtained by the questions: "Do you have an hourly wage rate for your regular work?" (If yes): "What is your hourly wage rate for your regular work time?" 10 Some multiple job-holders work less than a full-time workweek (defined as 35 hours or more). The hours distribution of multiple job-holders in May 1980 was as follows: 1-34 hours, 15 percent; 35-40hours, 9 percent; 41 hours or more, 76 percent. 48 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Such workers tend to have more marketable skills as well as relatively flexible work schedules. Protective service workers (police, guards, and firefighters) and farm workers also have above­ average rates. Factory operatives, who have a greater opportunity than most workers to work overtime for premium pay, and clerical workers, who are predominately women, are least likely to hold more than one job. The conditions that have been identified as encouraging a worker to hold more than one job include: little or no opportunity for overtime or extra hours on the primary job, a work schedule on the primary job that permits a second job, and a feeling that income is inadequate (Mott 1965, Perlman 1969, Tandan 1972). The majority of multiple job-holders questioned in the Current Population Survey cite financial reasons as their principal motivation (55 percent in 1979). The second largest group (18 percent) explain that they enjoy the work (Sekscenski 1980). Perlman noted, "Some moonlighters get more satisfaction from their second jobs, which are not their pri­ mary jobs only because they pay lower wages or, more likely, offer

only limited hours of work. ..." According to Mott:

. . . perhaps the most common motivation to mo onlight arises from a complex set of conditions which impinge on the family's economic planning. Every family pursues a certain style of life as a goal and every style ...has its price tag. If the husband's wages are inadequate for obtaining the desired standard of living, then the family must make some decisions ....One option is to reduce their economic aspirations ....Anot her alternative is for the wife to take a job .... Moonlighting is another option.

A slight decline in multiple job-holding rates among husbands in recent years (almost one percentage point from 1973 to 1979), coupled with employment growth among wives, suggests that more families may be choosing the second option. Sekscenski (1980) pointed out, " ...the growth in the number of multi-earner families may have diminished the economic incentive for some husbands to hold more than one job." An increase in the prevalence of multiple job-holding among all employed women (from 2.7 percent in 1973 to 3.5 percent in 1979) is in sharp contrast to the decline among men. JOB COMMITMENT 49

Rising rates for women may be explained in part by the growth in the proportion of women who are their family's primary earner. The research results cited in the preceding paragraphs suggest that absence and turnover-two of three phenomena often associ­ ated with weak job commitment-seem to be poor indicators because of the large number of determinants involved which are unrelated to commitment. The third phenomenon-voluntary part­ time work-is found to attract many persons who are highly motivated. Overtime work and multiple job-holding often are associated with strong commitment. Overtime gets a mixed reaction from workers: some would prefer more hours of overtime than are offered, others seek the right to refuse overtime. The cyclical pattern in overtime hours, however, suggests that business conditions rather than worker preferences determine the amount of overtime worked. Multiple job-holding is practiced by a small minority. Financial reasons are cited most frequently as the primary motiva­ tion, followed by "enjoy the work." The prevalence of multiple job-holding has been declining among men but rising among women.

Scheduled Hours and Leave Provisions Kalachek (1978), in weighing the extent to which workers' hours decisions are restricted by institutional rigidities, observed that although employers normally set the work schedule, they do not determine it: "The employers' supply curve merely represents one side of the market. The workers' offer curve represents the other side." Thus, trends in weekly schedules and leave benefits can provide insight into changes in the commitment that workers are prepared to make to a job. BLS area wage surveys of employers in metropolitan areas and its analyses of major collective bargaining agreements provide such data.I1 Neither source shows substantial growth in shorter schedules in recent years. In metropolitan areas, schedules of fewer than 40 hours gained a modest four percentage points for plant and office workers alike in

11 The Bureau's area wage survey program covers selected plant and office occupations in firms located in metropolitan areas and employing a minimum of 100 workers. Weekly schedules represent the majority schedule for day-shift employees in a firm. Major collective bargaining agreements are defined as those covering 1000 workers or more. 50 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS the period from 1960-1961 to 197B-1981. The increase in shorter schedules probably was restricted, as Kalachek speculated, by a collision of forces: "fixed costs, fringe benefits and payroll taxes encourage employers to offer longer workweeks until they encoun­ ter the penalty pay provisions of the FLSA." Nonetheless, had workers been willing to sacrifice earnings for workweeks below the standard, shorter schedules would have been adopted more rapidly. Among plant workers, standard workweeks maintained their position in plants over the 20-year period (at about 83 percent of all schedules). Growth in the number of schedules of fewer than 40 hours (from 7 to 11 percent of the total) was balanced by a decline in the number that exceeded the standard (from 11 to 6 percent). As early as 1960-1961, relatively few office workers were on weekly schedules that exceeded the 40-hour standard. Over the next two decades, standard workweeks became less prevalent (declining from 64 to 60 percent of the total) as the proportion of shorter workweeks increased (from 35 to 39 percent). However, the large majority of schedules of fewer than 40 hours were of at least 371' hours in length. One of the most significant developments in scheduled worktime has been the narrowing gap between plant and office workers. Differences in average weekly schedules were almost halved in the 20-year period following 1960-1961, as average hours declined in plants (from 40.5 to 39.7) while remaining steady in offices (38.9 in 1960-1961 and 38.8 in 1979-1981). Vacation entitlements followed a similar pattern: plant employees continued to get less time off than office workers for the same number of years of service, but the gap was closing. By 1960-1961, three years' service12 had entitled virtual­ ly all office workers to at least two weeks' vacation; between that year and 1979-1981, the proportion of plant workers with such benefits rose from 63 to 88 percent. By 1979-1981, plant workers who were employed in establishments that provided paid holidays had as many holidays as office workers-just under ten days a year. These trends toward more equal weekly schedules and leave entitlements should not be interpreted as a weakening of job commitment among plant employees, but rather as a healthy development. Shorter workweeks, more paid vacations and holidays, and

12 In January 1981, 3.2 years was the average (median) length of time on the current joh (Horvath 1982) . JOB COMMITMENT 51 earlier retirement have been part of organized labor's strategy to improve job security. Zalusky (1978) acknowledged that " ...pa rt of the appeal for a shorter work week is a demand for more leisure time," but he emphasized that " ...the strongest push comes from a desire to protect and increase jobs." Similarly, Young (1978) explained the growth in paid personal holidays (which, in contrast to traditional holidays, keep firms open and operating): "For some workers ... [paid personal holidays] means a job opportunity .... In pre­ bargaining conferences, the membership's message was clear: jobs are the issue." Worktime reductions achieved under collective bargaining have been modest for the most part in recent years. In 1980, nine-tenths of the major agreements which referred to specific weekly hours stipulated 40 hours; one-tenth, fewer than 40 hours. This was the same distribution as in 196�1967, despite organized labor's often expressed support for shorter workweeks.13 In vacation entitlements, the largest gains were reserved for workers with substantial seniority. For example, four weeks or more paid vacation after 15 years of service was provided in three-fifths of the major collective bargaining agreements in 1980, four times the proportion in 196�1967. As Zalusky (1977) pointed out: "Vacation at the low end of the seniority list nears 100 percent entitlement while only a few workers would enjoy the extra week after 10 years' service." Some groups of workers, notably those whose jobs were par­ ticularly threatened by automation, have achieved substantial re­ ductions in annual hours through collective bargaining. Among employees covered by United Automobile Workers (UA W)-General Motors agreements, for example, the full-time, straight-time work­ year declined an estimated 104 hours between 1967 and 1976-to 1768 hours (Young 1978) . More recently, leaders in the UAW and other unions have negotiated "give-back" clauses (Ruben 1983) in efforts to lower employer costs and thus, they hope, to improve job security.

Actual Hours Hours at work per week and per year can differ substantially from scheduled hours. Overtime, wages in lieu of holidays or

13 See, for example, American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations ( 1980). 52 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS vacations, and multiple job-holding extend hours at work beyond scheduled worktime; hours cutbacks and unscheduled absences curtail them. Hours engaged in work (a concept that eliminates formal and informal workbreaks and on-the-job training) approxi­ mate actual hours of work even more closely than do hours at work. Weekly hours at work have declined substantially over the long term. At the turn of the century, persons employed in the civilian economy were at work about 53 hours a week on average. The comparable figure for their counterparts in the late 1970s, before the prolonged slump that began in 1980, was about 39 hours.14 Some researchers have observed, however, that the groups comprising the workforce have had little or no net gain in leisure time since the end of World War II. When Owen (1976), for example, disaggregated weekly hours at work by sex, marital status, school enrollment, and age, he found that the workweeks of nonstudent men were as long in 1975 as in 1948 even after adjustments for vacations and holidays. This finding was consistent with Kniesner's (1976) conclusion on the weekly hours of adult men from 1948 to 1970. Shorter workweeks for women and longer weeks for male students in 1975 than in 1948, according to Owen, reflected compositional changes within those groups. Wives and mothers, who tend to put in fewer hours in paid jobs than do other women, were a larger component of women workers in 1975, while older students, who tend to work more hours than other students, were a larger component of the employed student population. Leisure thus had not increased in recent decades, but as Owen observed:

Indeed, one could more reasonably interpret the increased employment of groups with extensive nonmarket work responsibilities as tending to reduce free time. Students must go to school, attend classes, and prepare assignments . . . . [Similarly] the shift from full-time housewife to em­ ployed wife ... was probably associated with a decline [in] free time.

Annual hours at work edged down about 40 hours from 1968 to

14 Hours data for 1979 are used predominately in thischapter to avoid the effects of the subsequent economic downturn. Figures are for nonagricultural wage and salary workers in May (the traditional month for hours analysis) unless specified otherwise. The weekly hours cited here are annual averages for the civilian economy as a whole. JOB COMMITMENT 53 the close of the 1970s for full-time, nonagricultural employees as a whole. Shorter workweeks accounted for roughly two-thirds of the reduction, holidays for about one-fourth, and liberalized vacation benefits for one-tenth. The highly publicized vacation gains for long-service employees had relatively little effect. Earlier retire­ ments among men, an influx of women and youth into the labor force, and rising unemployment had further reduced the minority of workers with as much as 15 years' service from 19 to 14 percent.15 Hours engaged in work (that is, actually working) are significant­ ly less than hours at work. Workbreaks and on-the-job training account for most of the difference. Morning and afternoon work­ breaks of from 10 to 15 minutes each were provided all employee groups in a majority of the companies that responded to a BNA survey (1977) on work-scheduling policies. Employees' own records of their time use throughout a 24-hour period (time budgets) show that scheduled breaks (such as for coffee) accounted for 16 minutes a day on average in 1976, and unscheduled breaks (socializing, personal business, and so on) for another 27 minutes (Stafford and Duncan 1980) . In another survey, about one-third of the employees reported that talking to friends, doing personal business, or just relaxing accounted for 30 minutes or more of their average workday (Quinn and Staines 1979). Losses from unscheduled breaks on this scale are evidence of weak job commitment. The amount of effort expended by workers probably would be a better indicator of job commitment than are hours measured. Alfred Marshall pointed out that " ...even if the number of [working] hours in the year were rigidly fixed, which it is not, the intensity of work would remain elastic" (Pencavel 1977). Interest in the intensity of work effort has been directed toward alternative methods of pay, such as piecework and incentives, in particular work settings. A scale of work intensity developed at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, provides some indication of the effort of various groups of workers (Stafford and Duncan 1980). Changes in the ratio of output to hours of labor input (productiv­ ity measures) sometimes are cited as evidence of changes in the work ethic-particularly when productivity declines. Such indexes, however, reflect the interaction of many factors, including technol­ ogy, capital investment, human resources (education and skill),

15 Median years of service declined from 3.8 years in 1968 to 3.2 years in 1981. 54 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS energy, and raw materials. As a consequence, they have little relevance to the commitment of workers to their jobs. On the whole, the preceding analysis of worktime offers little support for the thesis of weakening job commitment. Reductions in scheduled worktime have been relatively modest in recent years and have served to narrow the gap between plant and office workers in weekly hours, vacations, and holidays. Job security has been the primary motivation for the reductions in scheduled worktime sought by organized labor. While hours at work have declined overall, changes in the composition of the workforce are largely responsible. Major groups of workers, including adult men, women, and students, have experienced little or no net gain in leisure since World War II. Some evidence of insufficient job commitment is found, however, in what appears to be excessive unscheduled workbreaks reported by some workers.

The Commitment of Selected Groups Employed men of prime working age (defined here as from 25 to 54 years of age) are less likely to be suspected of weak job commitment than are other workers. Before the economic downturn in 1979, their workweeks, on average, approached 44 hours. Almost 7 percent of them held more than one job. However, trends in worktime for men in this age group differ markedly by marital status. Married men averaged about one-half hour less time at work per week in 1979 than they had in 1968. Their multiple job-holding rate dropped from 8.5 to 7.1 percent. Single men of prime working age, in contrast, were working slightly more hours per week than in 1968. Weekly hours for husbands 25--34yea rs of age showed the largest reductions (almost one hour on average), but fewer hours also were reported by married men 35--54 years of age. Nonetheless, husbands of prime working age continued to work several more hours per week than their single counterparts (44.5 versus 41.8 hours in 1979) . The decline in weekly hours and in multiple job-holding rates for married men of prime working age may be attributable in part to a tendency of workers in the growing underground economy to under­ report hours, particularly those worked on second jobs. However, an important factor in the reduction in the weekly hours of married men probably was the rising number of working couples (Hayghe 1981). The same phenomenon also may explain the increased time men were spending in family care (Robinson 1977) . JOB COMMITMENT 55

Women workers as a group spend considerably less time than men in paid jobs. In the weeks they work, their average hours are substantially less than those of men (34.5 versus 41.6 hours in 1979). Moreover, women workers are far less likely than men to work the year round (57 versus 71 percent in 1979) . Marital status, however, has a dramatic effect on sex differences in paid worktime. Among single persons, the likelihood of working the year round, full-time, is about the same for women and men workers (36 versus 38 percent in 1979), whereas the proportion of wives who make that commitment in time to a paid job is little more than half the proportion of husbands (43 versus 79 percent). Analysis of weekly hours by marital status shows a similar pattern: Single women average about nine-tenths as many hours at work as single men (32.6 versus 35.9 hours in 1979), while wives work less than four-fifths as many hours as husbands (34.4 versus 43.8 hours in 1979) (Hedges and Taylor 1980). Although women spend less time in paid employment, work for pay plus work in family care is roughly the same for men and women-about 57 versus 56 hours in 1975 (Robinson 1977). Eco­ nomic theory holds that the hours supplied to paid work and to unpaid household work by individual family members is determined by some consensus within families, based on the respective "efficien­ cies" of the individuals in market versus household production. Thus, with women's hourly earnings substantially below those of men (Mellor and Stamas 1982), fewer hours for women in paid work and more in household production reflect economic realities. The amount of time at work actually working and the level of effort expended are reported to be higher for women than for men (Stafford and Duncan 1980). Youths' job commitment often is faulted, usually on the grounds of frequent job changes and work absences. Relatively high rates of turnover among youth are both natural and beneficial. Young people typically find their first jobs in part­ time and/or seasonal work that seldom leads to full-time, year­ round employment. Older youth may test a variety of full-time jobs before finding the type of work and the environment in which they can function best. Moreover, youth have not acquired the seniority-based benefits that inhibit job-changing among mature workers. Absences are more frequent-but shorter-among workers 16-24 years of age than among those 25 years and older. The proportion of 56 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS scheduled time lost in 1980 was the same for youths as for persons of prime working age (3.3 versus 3.2 percent) and substantially less than for workers 5�4 years of age (4.0 percent). Moreover, youths' record on absences should be considered in conjunction with their relatively limited vacation benefits. The practice in the United States of tying vacation entitlements to length of service provides young workers with little time off to make the adjustments from a generally less structured student life to one where they must cope with the demands placed upon them as they set up their own households. Part-time employment for students has been widely endorsed as a way to bridge the transition from school to work. This view is responsible in part for the employment growth among teenagers in the 1970s. In October 1979, 38 percent of the 16-19-year-olds enrolled in school were employed, and an additional 7 percent were looking for jobs (Young 1980). The majority of student workers were at work 15 hours or more a week. Recent studies tend to support a rising concern that some youth may be overcommitted to paid work. Students' employment, par­ ticularly when it exceeds 15 or 20 hours weekly, has been found to entail costs as well as benefits. The costs include diminished involvement in school activities, increased absences from school, and possibly a decline in academic grades (Greenberger and Stein­ berg 1981, Cole 1980). The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), noting that some students appear to be working excessive hours, has urged that a proper balance between job experience and classtime be maintained (NASSP 1983).

Preferred Hours The 40-hour reduction in annual worktime during the 1970s (see pp. 52r55) absorbed roughly one-sixth of the productivity gains of the decade. Apparently, the taste for fewer hours of work, though stronger than in the 1960s, was far weaker than the taste for additional goods and services. Workers in general seem to be satisfied with their weekly hours. However, some would prefer to work additional hours, for higher earnings, while others would be willing to exchange earnings for a reduction in worktime. "Excessive hours" were considered a problem by less than one­ tenth of those who reported a problem with their hours in 1977- JOB COMMITMENT 57 fewer by far than complained of "inconvenient hours" (Quinn and Staines 1979). Evidence from a variety of sources suggests that the workers who desire more hours of work are far more numerous than those who view their worktime as excessive. In a 1978 survey, for example, more than twice as many workers preferred additional hours and proportionately higher earnings than favored fewer hours and lower earnings-28 versus 11 percent (Best 1980). Among male family heads in the early 1970s, those who were free to vary their hours worked longer workweeks than those who were constrained (Dickinson 1974). Choices between earnings and leisure are influenced, however, by the type of worktime reduction considered. Longer vacations and sabbaticals are more popular, for example, than shorter work­ weeks (Best 1980). Perhaps the most telling evidence of the desire to commit more hours to paid work is the large group of employees (as many as 5 million in 1980) who want full-time employment but work part-time for economic reasons (Bednarzik, Hewson, and Urquhart 1982). The group includes men and women of every age and level of education, black, white, and Hispanic. Although the prevalence of part-time work for economic reasons peaks during periods of recession, the proportion of all employees in this situation rose from 2.0 percent in 1969 to 3.2 percent in 1979.

Summaryand Conclusions What, then, is a reasoned assessment of the state of job commit­ ment? The phenomena associated with weak commitment prove to be largely unreliable indicators. Many absences, for example, are un­ avoidable. Job changes often are both necessary and desirable. As for employees who work part-time voluntarily, managers attest to their commitment. When we turn to measures of worktime, we find that many employees continue to exceed the standard 40-hour week-some by working extra hours on their job {with or without pay), others by holding more than one job. Average scheduled worktime and hours at work have declined very modestly in recent years. Moreover, reductions in average hours to some extent have been more apparent than real. Major groups of workers, including adult men, are working as many hours 58 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS as they did several decades ago. Heralded gains in vacation benefits for extended service are available to a relatively small and declining group of workers. And the impetus from organized labor for reduced worktime has risen more from a desire to protect and expand employment than to increase leisure. "Hard" evidence of weak commitment rests largely on reports from a minority of workers that their unscheduled workbreaks are of a length that most observers would consider excessive. Because many workers are unable to increase or decrease their worktime (whether weekly hours or leave) freely, workers' stated preferences for worktime are helpful in evaluating commitment. Surveys show that far more workers prefer longer workweeks and more pay than prefer fewer hours and less pay. However, workers are more willing to exchange earnings for longer vacations or sabbaticals than for shorter workweeks. If the data show a major cause for concern, it is that the desire for hours of work seems greater than the hours available. Several million men and women of every age-black, Hispanic, and white-want to work full-time but can obtain only part-time jobs. The group is growing in number and as a proportion of all workers. Some encouraging signs appear in the data. One is a small reduction in the weekly hours of married men who, traditionally, have worked very long hours. It may be that the rising employment of wives is aiding husbands to move toward a little better distribu­ tion of their time between paid work and household responsibilities. A second encouraging sign is that weekly schedules and leave benefits of production workers are approaching those of office workers. Few are likely to read these changes as evidence of a weak work ethic among married men or production workers.

References

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Publication No. 32, eds. Clyde E. Dankert, Floyd C. Mann, and Herbert R. Northrup. New York: Harper & Row, 1965. National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) . Resolutions for the Consideration of NASSP Members at the 1983 Convention, Dallas. Nollen, Stanley D., and Virginia H. Martin. Alternative Work Schedules, Parts 2 and 3. An AMA Survey Report. New York: AMACOM, 1978. Nollen, Stanley D., Brenda Broz Eddy, and Virginia Hider Martin. Permanent Part­ Time Employment: The Manager's Perspective. New York: Praeger, 1978. Owen, John D. "Workweeks and Leisure: An Analysis of Trends, 194&-75."Monthly Labor Review 99 (August 1976), pp. �- Pencavel, John H. "Work Effort, On-the-Job Screening, and Alternative Methods of Remuneration." In Research in Labor Economics, Vol. I, ed. Ronald G. Ehren­ berg. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1977. Pp. 225-58. Perlman, Richard. Labor Theory. New York: Wiley, 1969. Porter, Lyman W., Richard M. Steers, and Richard Y. Mowday. "Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Among Psychiatric Technicians." Journal of Applied Psychology 59 (October 1974), pp. 603-609. Price, James L. The Study of Turnover. Ames: Iowa State University Press, 1977. Quinn, Robert P., and Graham L. Staines. The 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1979. Robinson, John P. Changes in Americans' Use of Time: 1965-1976: A Progress Report. Cleveland: Cleveland State University, 1977. Ruben, George. "Collective Bargaining in 1982: Results Dictated by the Economy." Monthly Labor Review 106 (January 1983), pp. 2&-37. Sekscenski, Edward S. "Women's Share of Moonlighting Nearly Doubles During 1969-79." Monthly Labor Review 103 (May 1980) , pp. 36-39. Stafford, Frank, and Greg Duncan. "The Use of Time and Technology by Households in the Unite · States." In Research in Labor Economics, ed. Ronald G. Ehrenberg. Greenwich,J Conn.: JAI Press, 1980. Steers, Richard M., and Susan R. Rhodes. "Major Influences on Employee Atten­ dance: A Process Model." Journal of Applied Psychology 63 (August 1978), pp. 391-407. Tandan, Nand K. Workers with Long Hours. Special Labour Force Studies, Series A, No. 9. Ottawa: Information Canada, April 1972. Taylor, Daniel E. "Absences from Work Among Full-time Employees." Monthly Labor Review 104 (March 1981), pp. 6&-70. Taylor, Daniel E., and Edward S. Sekscenski. "Workers on Long Schedules, Single and Multiple Jobholders." Monthly Labor Review 105 (May 1982), pp. 47-52. Young, Ann McDougall. "School and Work Among Youth During the 1970's." Monthly l"abor Review 103 (September 1980), pp. 44-47. Young, Howard. "Jobs, Technology, and the Hours of Labor: The Future of Work in the U.S." Hearings of the ]oint Economic Committee's Special Study on Economic Change. Washington: June 14, 1978. Waters, L. K., Darrell Roach, and Carrie Wherry Waters. "Estimates of Future Tenure, Satisfaction, and Biographical Variables as Predictors of Termination." Personnel Psychology 29 (Spring 1976), pp. 57-60. Zalusky, John. "Shorter Hours-The Steady Gain." AFL-ClO American Federationist (January 1978). ---- · "Vacations and Holidays: Tools in Cutting Work Time." AFL-CIO American Federationist (February 1977). CHAPTER 4

How Has the Labor Supply Changed in Response to Recent Increases in Social Welfare Expenditures and the Taxes to Pay for Them?*

ROBERT J. LAMPMAN University of Wisconsin-Madison

Since the end of World War II, public program benefits for income maintenance and health care, education, and certain other goods and services have risen from an amount equal to 9 percent of gross national product (GNP) to 19 percent of a much expanded GNP (see Table 1). These benefits all augment the income of recipients even though only about half of them are paid out as money. Some of the nonmoney items are vouchers that can be used only to purchase particular things, as in the case of food stamps, and others take the form of a governmentally provided service, such as schooling. There is at least a strong likelihood that if these goods and services were not subsidized or provided by governments or employers, then people would try to buy some quantity of each of them out of their earnings. In other words, these publicly financed noncash benefits are substitutes for private goods. By definition, the list of benefits leaves out what are called "pure public" or "nonrivalrous" goods, that is, items that yield nonexcludable, direct benefits to all people. Examples of such goods are national defense and law and order. The line between goods and services that are and are not counted as sociafwelfare benefits is a rather shaky one. These money and nonmoney benefits come to households in the form of a nonlabor income. That is, the recipient does not get them

• This paper is an extensive revision of Lampman (1979) . I wish to acknowledge helpful comments of Henry J. Aaron and Robert H. Haveman. 61 62 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS as a market return for labor in the current period. Households do pay for them, however, via taxes. Hence, it is at least arguable that the existence of such benefits may reduce work effort at two points-one where the beneficiary receives the nonlabor income, and the other where the worker suffers a wage loss because of the tax. Following this line of thought, many people see a conflict between the "welfare state" goals of security and adequacy of income and minimum levels of selected services for all, on the one hand, and the high employment required for a satisfactory level of production on the other.

TABLE 1 Social Welfare Expenditures Under Public Programs, Selected Years, 1950-1978

Type of Expenditure 1950 1960 1970 1978

(billions of dollars) Total" 23.5 52.3 145.9 394.5 Income maintenance (cash) 9.8 26.3 60.8 177.8 Health 3.1 6.4 25.4 76.2 Education 9.4 18.1 51.9 104.6 Welfare and other services6 1.3 1.6 7.8 35.9

Expenditures as Percentage of GNP Total 8.8 10.5 15.2 19.3 Income maintenance (cash) 3.6 5.3 6.3 8.7 Health 1.2 1.3 2.7 3.7 Education 3.5 3.7 5.4 5.1 Welfare and other services .5 .3 .8 1.8 Source: McMillan and Bixby (1980, Table 10, p. 16).

• In addition, private funds are expended for these purposes. In 1978, private expenditures amounting to $75 billion, or 3.7 percent of GNP, were made for rivate pension and employer-sponsored health insurance benefits. Such pension an !health insurance benefits equalled only 0.7 percent of GNP in 1950. 6 Includes food stamps, surplus food for the needy and for institutions, child nutrition, institutional care, child welfare services, economic opportunity and man­ power programs, veterans' welfare services, vocational rehabilitation, and housing.

In the following discussion, we focus on the issue of how the quantity of labor offered may be affected. It should be noted, however, that social welfare benefits and the payments to finance them may have other direct and indirect effects. They may alter the size distribution of income, and they may moderate cyclical swings in employment and output. By encouraging more expenditure on education and health care, they may improve the quality of labor. They may lower the intensity of work effort by, for example, changing people's willingness to make geographical or occupational HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 63 moves. Such benefits may alter the propensity of households to save and, hence, shift the national balance between consumption and investment. They may encourage tax evasion and, further, they may, by distorting choices in labor and consumer markets, impose what is called an "excess burden," that is, an unnecessary loss of worker surplus or consumer surplus, on households. Finally, this set of benefits may induce changes in the size and economic role of the family. A full evaluation of social welfare expenditures would include an inquiry into all of these possible outcomes and a weighing of the desired versus the undesired outcomes.I As noted, in this chapter I examine only one hypothesis concerning the welfare state, namely, that increases in the relative importance of social welfare spending causes reductions in the quantity of labor supplied. More specifically, the question is: Would the 1978 labor supply have been larger than it actually was if the great increase in welfare spending in the years 1950--1978 had not occurred?

The Recent Changes in Labor Supply Rates of participation in the labor market rose somewhat in the period under study. The employment ratio went up from 55 percent in 1950 to 59 percent in 1978. Similarly, the civilian labor force participation rate (LFPR) rose from 59 to 63 percent (see Table 2). This overall change resulted from a decline of the labor force participation of men from 86 to 78 percent and a sharp rise in participation by women from 34 to 50 percent.

TABLE 2 Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates, Employment and Unemployment Rates, Selected Years, 1950-1978

Civilian Labor Force Civilian Participation Rate Employment Unemployment Year Total Males Females Rate" Rate

(percent) 1950 59.2 86.4 33.9 55.2 5.3 1960 59.4 83.3 33.7 54.9 5.5 1970 60.4 79.9 43.3 56. 1 4.9 1978 63.2 77.9 50.0 58.6 6.1 Source: Employment and Training Report of the President , 1981

a The percentage of the working age population that is employed in civilian jobs.

1 For an excellent, but nonquantitative, inquiry into a number of these issues, see Lindbeck (1981). C) �

TABLE 3 Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates, Annual Average by Sex and Age, .., Selected Years, 1954-1978 = t!l Sex Total, 16 16-17 18--19 20--24 25-34 35-44 45--54 55--64 65 and � Years Years Over 0 and Year Years and Over Years Years Years Years Years = � Both Sexes t!l 68.4 58.7 23.9 .., 1954 58.8 37.9 60.0 61.6 64.3 68.6 = 1960 59.4 37.6 50.5 65.2 65.4 69.4 72.1 60.9 20.8 .... 17.0 � 1970 60.4 41.0 59.9 69.2 70.0 73.1 73.5 61.8 I 1978 63.2 48.8 67.4 76.9 78.2 78.0 73.6 56.6 13.4 � Male � 1954 85.5 47.1 98.1 96.5 88.7 40.5 71.5 87.0 97.3 =.... 1960 83.3 46.0 69.3 88.1 97.5 97.7 95.7 86.8 33. 1 .., 83.0 26.8 .... 1970 79.7 47.0 66.7 83.3 96.4 96.9 94.2 � 1978 77.9 51.9 73.0 86.0 95.4 95.7 91.3 73.5 20.5 � Female t"" 1954 34.6 28.7 50.4 45. 1 34.4 41.2 41.1 30.1 9.3 � 10.6 :z 1960 37.7 29.1 50.9 46. 1 36.0 43.4 49.8 37.2 � 1970 43.3 34.9 53.6 57.7 45.0 51.1 54.4 43.0 9.7 t"" � 1978 50.0 45.5 62.1 68.3 62.1 61.6 57. 1 41.4 8.4 r:J) r:J).... Source: Employment and Training Report of the President, 1981, Table A-5, pp. 126-27. HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 65

The LFPR of men fell in every age group except the youngest. However, the greatest declines were registered by men aged 55 and older. Offsetting the declining participation of men was the rising LFPR of women in every age group except the 65 and over group (see Table 3). A most striking increase in participation was registered by married women with husbands present, whose LFPR went up by 21 points, from 24 to 45 perce�t (not shown in any table). The measured rise in the overall participation rates is doubtless an overstatement of the rise in full-time-equivalent participation since it does not account for changes in the number of people seeking only part-time work. The annual average data do correct for part-year participation by counting a person who is in the labor force for only part of the year as a fraction of a participant. However, no similar correction is made for participants who seek less than full-time but year-round work. We do know that the percentage of all workers in the business sector who worked part time (under 35 hours per week) rose from 11.1 to 19.0 in 1976 (Denison 1979, p. 41). It is interesting to note that labor force participation rates for young persons fell with increasing school attendance until the early 1950s, then rose again as more and more students took part-time jobs. The greater significance of part-time work is one important reason for the decline in average hours worked from 39.8 per week in 1950 to 35.8 hours per week in 1978 (see Table 4). The table also shows that hours worked by both male and female part-time workers fell at greater rates than did those of full-time workers.

TABLE 4 Average Weekly Hours of Work, by Selected Categories of Workers, Selected Years, 1950-1978

Wage and Salary Workers in Nonfarm Business

Males Females Production Workers Year on Private Payrolls Full-Time Part-Time Full-Time Part-Time

1951 39.8 43. 1 19.7 39.9 22.0 1960 38.6 42.3 18.1 38.7 18.3 1970 37. 1 41.5 18.0 37.3 17.9 1978 35.8 Sources: Column 1, Employment and Training Report of the President, 1981, Table C-5, p. 215; columns 2-5,Denison (1979, Table 3-7, p. 37). 66 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

It is hard to know how to adjust the labor force participation rates for the fall in hours worked because the latter was no doubt induced by demand as well as supply changes. We can suggest two possible ways to make the adjustment. One is to compare the percentage changes in labor force participation of +6.8 (from 59.2 percent in 1950 to 63.2 percent in 1978) with the percentage change in hours worked of -10 percent (from 39.8 hours per week in 1950 to 35.8 hours in 1978) . This would suggest a decline in labor supply of 3.2 percent (+6.8-10= -3.2) . A second way to make the adjustment is to concentrate on the rise in part-time workers. Let us assume that every part-time worker is looking for half-time work and, hence, is only half of a participant in the labor force. This would mean that we should adjust the LFPR for 1950 down from 59.2 to 53.7 percent (by subtracting one-half of the 11.1 percent of all workers who were part-time) and the LFPR for 1978 down from 63.2 to 53.7 percent (by subtracting one-half of the 19.0 percent of all workers who were part-time). This suggests no change in "full-time participation" with 53.7 percent in both 1950 and 1978. We conclude that there probably has been a slight relative decline in the supply of market labor, with the reduction of hours more than offsetting the rise in the "unadjusted for hours" LFPR. As noted above, the changes in participation have varied considerably among age and sex groups. The divergent trends of men and women with regard to work were apparent in the years antecedent to the "explosion" of welfare state benefits. Men have tended to start full-time work later and retire earlier, and women have tended to participate in market work more and more since at least the turn of the century.2 The "libera­ tion" of women from home work is attributable in some measure to the changes in fertility, to changes in laws and customs imposing responsibilities for relatives outside the nuclear family, and to the invention of appliances that ease the burden of household chores. It

2 Glen G. Cain is developing a lifetime measure of labor supply forcohorts born after 1890, using Census information on LFPRs and hours worked. By assuming 16 hours per day of discretionary time during ages 14 to 70, he calculates the ratio of hours worked to hours available. According to his unpublished tabulations, around 1900 the average woman could expect to spend about 8 percent of her adult life discretionary time in market work. By 1970 this had increased to 13 percent. The average man in 1900 could expect to spend about 43 percent of his adult life in market work, and by 1970 only 25 percent (unpublished paper, 1983) . For a graphic account of change in work patterns in this century, see Levitan and Johnson (1982, Ch. 3). HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 67 may also be due in some part to shifts in the structure of work opportunities away from agriculture and toward the service occupa­ tions. The trends toward less work by men may be explained in part by changes in laws related to work, such as child labor and school­ leaving laws, and to falling relative prices of goods, such as travel and television, that are complementary to leisure. But, perhaps the primary reason to suspect that the trend toward less work began and might have accelerated in the absence of a rise in social welfare benefits is that wage rates, family incomes, and accumulated savings were rising. It is plausible that as people get richer, they tend to take more leisure. More about this particular proposition later. All these "explanations" for observed changes in labor supply overlap and are entangled with the hypothesis that labor supply has responded negatively to the expansion of social welfare benefits. Without that expansion, would the labor supply of men have declined less, and/or would that of women have increased more? It is, of course, quite impossible empirically to represent the counter­ factual general equilibrium appropriate to answering that question. One is driven to (1) deductive analysis of a partial equilibrium variety, and (2) empirical testing of hypotheses drawn from theory against fragmentary data.

Theory of Labor Supply Effects of Taxes and Benefits We turn now to a brief review of the conventional price­ theoretic approach to the question of how taxes and benefits financed by taxes affect the supply of labor. Let us begin with the assumption that "the" labor supply curve slopes upward and to the right. Suppose that a tax is imposed on wages and that the wage rate net of tax therefore falls. One would expect that workers would move back and down the pretax supply curve. The market wage would fall by less than the amount of the tax and, most interesting to us here, the quantity of labor employed would fall. This is consistent with imagining that workers have decided that, since leisure "costs" less than it did before the tax, they will take more of it even though they understand that if they want to maintain their pretax purchasing power they must work more hours. The latter understanding is referred to as an income effect which, in this case, only partially offsets the substitution effect of the tax. This theoretical outcome and balance of income and substitution effects does not follow if the labor supply curve is assumed to be in- 68 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS elastic with respect to the wage rate or is seen as backward bending. In the first case, a tax on wages would not affect the quantity of labor offered or employed at the pretax or nominal wage. In the second case, such a tax would induce more work effort than was forthcoming before the tax was imposed. Suppose now that instead of having a tax on wages, we have the obverse, namely, a subsidy to wages. Here, assuming that the labor supply curve slopes upward and to the right, the result is that the worker will move up and out his labor supply curve and offer more labor at the presubsidy wage rate. The designs of the wage tax and the wage subsidy are shown in Figure 1, panel A. Wage rate subsidies or earnings subsidies are relatively rare in the American system of benefits, but are represented by the Earned Income Credit of 1976. A more common design for a benefit is the offer of a lump-sum grant unrelated to wages. An example of this is the provision of free schooling to pupils without regard to the income of their parents. Such a benefit does not affect the wage rate, but, rather, appears in the household budget as nonlabor income. (See Figure 1, panel B.) To the extent the parents were paying for schooling before the lump-sum grant was initiated, one might suppose that they would believe that their living standard had gone up and that they could afford to work less. Since the wage rate is unaffected, the decision can be represented as a shift of the supply curve to the left. The outcome of a reduced labor supply would be the same whatever the slope of the labor supply curve. The obverse type of tax to a lump­ sum benefit is, 'of course, a lump-sum tax. Such a tax reduces nonlabor income and thereby induces or coerces more work effort. Another design for benefits is to relate them inversely to wages. Two variations can be distinguished. One, which we may call the work-conditioned design, is to pay a benefit only in cases where a person is deemed totally unable to work and, moreover, does no market work. One might think that, by definition, this benefit design cannot have a work disincentive effect. However, it may encourage some to feign inability to work or to find work. Moreover, it may have the indirect effect of freeing a relative of the burden of providing support for the direct beneficiary and, hence, adding to the relative's nonlabor income and thereby shifting his supply of labor curve to the left. HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 69

A 8 Post Y Post Y

LST / / / / / / / / / 45°

Pre Y / Pre Y /

c Post Y

Y =income. Pre means before tax or transfer. Post means after tax or transfer.

WS =wage subsidy

WT = wage tax

LSS =lump-sum subsidy

LST =lump-sum tax I Pre Y I

FIGURE 1 Designs for Taxes and Benefits, Showing Relationship to Earnings 70 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Only a small portion of all benefit programs fit this description of a work-conditioned grant under which all benefits are denied if one has any earnings. Perhaps the best examples of such a design are disability insurance and unemployment insurance in states that do not allow for partial benefits, and general assistance in some jurisdictions. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) for unemployed fathers has some of this design with its denial of all benefits if the father works more than 100 hours in a month. The second variation of benefits related inversely to wages is one that may be called the income-conditioned or earnings-conditioned benefit. In this more common variation of the two, the benefit is scaled to diminish to zero as earnings or total incomes rise (see Figure 1, panel C). This scaling may involve a benefit-reduction rate of (as in the case of the "notch" in Medicaid benefits) more than 100 percent or, as is the case in the food stamp program, far less than 100 percent. The earnings-conditioned benefit may be seen as having two parts. One is a lump-sum grant, which adds to nonlabor income and is assumed to have an income effect of shifting the supply of labor to the left. The other part is the benefit-reduction rate, which is like a tax in that it reduces the wage rate. This reduction in wage rate has both an income and a substitution effect and will, if the supply curve of labor slopes upward and to the right, move the beneficiary to a lower point on his new labor supply curve. Presumably, a 100 percent benefit reduction rate would lower the net wage to zero, and the beneficiary would not willingly offer labor in the range of the 100 percent rate. Thus, both the lump-sum grant or guarantee and the benefit-reduction rate contribute to a reduction in work effort. This design is the obverse of a lump-sum tax in tandem with a wage subsidy (see Figure 1, Panel C). The two parts of the latter design together would theoretically provide the maxi­ mum incentive to work. An alternative to the lump-sum tax is a tax on earning-capacity as opposed to actual earnings (Akerlof 1978, Baumol and Fischer 1979). To further promote work, one could add to this design a tax on goods that are complementary to leisure and a subsidy on goods, such as child day care, commuter service, and training, that are complementary to work. The contemporary American system of social welfare benefits may be characterized as having three main features: First, it is largely financed by what can be treated as taxes on earnings. Second, its benefit side is dominated by lump-sum and earnings- HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 71 conditioned grants. About one-third of all benefits, most notably certain education and health care benefits, are distributed on a per capita basis and are invariant to earnings. These fit the description given above of lump-sum grants. Almost two-thirds of all bene­ fits-some of them in cash and some in-kind-are earnings-condi­ tioned benefits. These include old-age insurance, public assistance, food stamps, public housing, Medicaid, some higher education benefits, and child day care. Wage subsidies and work-conditioned benefits make up only small parts of the overall total of social welfare benefits. The third feature is that the greater part of the earnings-conditioned benefits go by design to categories of people who are "not expected to work," namely, aged and disabled persons and female heads of families. Both the taxes which go to finance the benefits and the benefit reduction rates in the earnings-conditioned benefits have the effect of reducing wage rates. The lump-sum grants and the guarantee element of the income-conditioned grants add to the nonlabor income of beneficiaries. According to the theory reviewed above, a reduction in the wage rate will have the effect of reducing the quantity of labor supplied, assuming that the labor supply curve slopes upward and to the right. At the same time, an increase in nonlabor income will induce less work whether or not the labor supply curve slopes upward and to the right. One might guess that noncash benefits have less effect per dollar in this regard than do cash benefits, but all of the effects work in the same direction. It is this reinforcing of work disincentive that leads to the conclusion that there is an inevitable trade-off between income redistribution and income level and, in the extreme case where all earnings are taxed away and all goods are distributed free of charge to consumers, to a trade-off of free choice by workers. As one text puts it, "This, indeed, is the dilemma of utopian communism, where a person should contribute to the community's output according to his ability, and compensation (the distribution of goods among individuals) should be according to need. In the absence of self-interest oriented economic motivation, another mechanism of work allocation and stimulus to effort would be needed" (Musgrave and Musgrave 1980, p. 666) . That "other mechanism" may be regimentation and coercion of workers. However, theory cannot tell us how strong the effect of an increase in nonlabor income may be, nor can it tell us, since it does 72 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS not establish what the slope of the labor supply curve is, what either the direction or the magnitude of the effect of a wage-rate reduction may be. Hence, it is of critical importance to find empirical evidence of labor responses to wage rate changes and to additions to nonlabor income.

Studies of Labor Supply Response to Nonlabor Income and to Wage-Rate Reduction Household surveys of income by source, together with informa­ tion on wage rates, hours worked, health status, age, sex, family status, school attendance, and so on, provide an entree for econo­ metric study of work response to nonlabor income. Such data enable one to compare the work behavior of those who have a high level of nonlabor income with those of like characteristics who do not. Numerous cross-section studies of this kind have been done (see Cain and Watts 1973) . They vary as to methodology. Some exclude spouses' earnings; others leave out work-conditioned benefits; most count social benefits net of the effect of benefit-reduction rates as nonlabor income. (The latter procedure, as opposed to counting the gross benefit, may result in an overstatement of the effect per dollar of nonlabor income.) Some exclude persons who are unable to work. All such studies find it hard to fill all the cells, so to speak. For example, most data bases provide few cases of people with low wage rates who have much private nonlabor income. All such studies tend to find that work effort declines with increases in nonlabor income. One of these studies, done by Masters and Garfinkel (1978), finds a smaller response than do most earlier ones.3 According to this study, each increase of $1000 in nonlabor income is associated with a reduction of 1 percent in the labor supply of prime-age healthy men. This response is greater among aged persons, for whom it is 10 percent. It is about 4 percent for women and for young single persons. None of these studies tells much about how higher wage-earners respond to nonlabor income nor about how people in general respond to nonmoney social welfare benefits. However, they do confirm the hypothesis drawn

3 A number of other scholars believe that Masters and Garfinkel have understated the response. They bring up the problem of selection bias in the data, the problem of fixed costs of going to work, and the problem of nonlinearity of budget lines due to progressivity in tax rates and irregularities of benefit-reduction rates. See Heckman and MaCurdy (1982), Keeley (1981), and Brown (1980, pp. 46-57) . HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 73 from theory that people do work less in response to provision of nonlabor income. Theory tells us that social welfare benefits may discourage work in two ways, namely, by adding nonlabor income and by reducing the net wage rate by a combination of benefit-reduction rates and tax rates. What do empirical studies tell about work response to reduction in wage rates? The leading studies on this question have been done by Paul H. Douglas and his followers, who have estimated labor supply func­ tions using time series of hours worked per year in several industries and cross-section data on hours worked and labor force participa­ tion (Bowen and Finegan 1969). Their major finding is that men's labor supply curve is highly inelastic and slightly backward-sloping with respect to wage rates. They find that married women have a supply curve that slopes upward and to the right (Cain 1966, Mincer 1967) . This would suggest that men respond one way to a wage rate reduction and married women in another way. The difference is thought to be due to the fact that while men substitute leisure for work, married women substitute market work for home work. Three widely cited studies of the effects of changes in marginal tax rates on high-income earners reported no significant change in work effort. Sanders (1951) studied the effect of taxes on 160 executives in the United States. Break (1957) asked 306 solicitors and accountants in England about their change in work after a particular tax change, and Barlow and others (1966) asked similar questions of 957 high-income individuals. These studies seem to confirm the Douglas finding that the supply of labor for men is inelastic. A recent paper presents econometric findings that the author claims will unsettle the generally held view that a progressive income tax has only trivial effects on work effort (Hausman 1981). He finds, as have others, that tax-caused changes in net wage rates lead to only a 1 percent reduction in hours worked by prime-age husbands. However, he finds a 7 percent reduction in response to a special effect which he and some earlier writers associate with progressive tax rates, namely, a change in "virtual" nonlabor income as one moves from one income tax bracket to another. He hypothesizes that the worker behaves as if the move to a higher tax bracket were accompanied by a gift of nonlabor income, the size of which is indicated by extending the slopes of the two net wage lines to intercept the income axis at the level of zero hours of work. 74 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Studies based on household surveys have not established that variations in benefit-reduction rates make much difference in work supplied by men. The Masters and Garfinkel study referred to above did estimate, however, that a 10 percentage point increase in the benefit-reduction rate would lead female heads of families to reduce work effort by 2 percent, and wives to reduce work effort by 4 percent (Masters and Garfinkel 1978, Cbs. 7 and 8). The method used in that study is to compare the work behavior of similar individuals who have the same level of nonlabor income but different wage rates. The different wage rates are a stand-in for varying benefit-reduction rates. Not surprisingly, surveys provide few examples of people working at a zero wage rate. Hence, it is not possible to estimate the effect of benefit-reduction rates approach­ ing 100 percent. This review of empirical studies of the effects of changes in wage rates (the study by Hausman on progressive taxes excepted) leads to the conclusion that men do not work much less, if any, in response to a "moderate" reduction in wage rates, but that married women and female heads of families do work less in response to such a change. Empirical studies also suggest that work effort declines with increases in nonlabor income, with the greatest responses by the aged and the young and by women. Additional evidence on the difference in responses to disincentives by husbands and wives was provided by experiments with negative income taxation. The New Jersey experiment found that in the experimental families considered as a group, male family heads reduced hours worked by 6 percent and wives by 30 percent (Watts and Rees 1977, pp. 23-32). In the Seattle-Denver experiment, among the families that were offered a guarantee at the poverty line and a 50 percent benefit-reduction rate, husbands reduced hours of work by 6 percent and wives by 22 percent (Keeley et al. 1978).

Application of Empirical Findings These particular findings should be set along side the fact that the present-day American system of social welfare benefits directs the greater part of its cash and in-kind benefits to the minority of the population who are aged (age 62 or older), disabled, or in female­ headed families with children. Table 5 shows that 25 percent of the population aged 16 years and older is in these categories. The same table also illustrates the point made earlier that most of the benefits HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 75 are earnings-conditioned and, hence, increase the beneficiaries' nonlabor income and at the same time reduce their net wage rates. Additionally, Table 5 presents "back of the envelope" assignments by the author of the several types of benefits to categories of people referred to above. The second column indicates that about two­ thirds of all benefits go to the quarter of the population in the three categories.

TABLE 5 Distribution of Social Welfare Benefits, by Type, Among Categories of Population Age 16 and Over, 1978

Population Earnings- Benefits Not Characteristics of 16 Years Total Conditioned Earnings-Conditioned Benefit Recipients and Over" Benefits Benefitsb Health' Education

(millions) (billions of dollars) 164 395 234 56 105

(percent) 100 100 100 100 100 Age 62 and olderd 17 40 53 62 Disabled, under age 62' 5 10 12 ll 5 Female family heads with childred" 3 12 17 7 3 All others' 75 38 18 20 92

a Derived from Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS) Reports, 1978. b Includes Medicaid and all "welfare and other services" as well as all cash benefits. See Table l. ' Medicaid benefits are included in "earnings-conditioned" benefits. d Benefits assigned to this group include those paid out by OAI, SI (aged only), SSI (aged only), retirement benefits for public employees and veterans, half of Medicaid, and most of Medicare. ' Benefits assigned to this group include those paid out by DI, SSI (disabled only), workers compensation, veterans compensation, part of Medicare, Medicaid, and other health programs, and a per capita share of education. 1 Benefits assigned to this group include those paid out by SI (children present only), AFDC, part of Medicaid and other health programs, and a per capita share of education. • Benefits assigned to this group are the residuals after assignments to the first three groups.

The other 75 percent of the population get about a third of total benefits, but most of that third is in the form of health and education benefits that are not earnings-conditioned. This means that the greatest disincentive effects are aimed at categories of people who are least expected to work. Conversely, those who are most clearly 76 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS expected to work are relatively shielded from disincentives of nonlabor income and benefit-reduction rates. However, this group is subjected to the disincentive caused by taxes on earnings occa­ sioned by the social welfare benefits. The question we set out to answer in this paper is: Would the labor supply of men have declined less and/ or would that of women have increased more than each did if the great increase in social welfare benefits in the years 1950-1978 had not occurred? We are approaching the point where we can offer a first tentative answer to that question. We can note that the growth of benefits has increased nonlabor income and has reduced net wage rates by means of higher benefit-reduction rates and tax rates. It is this increase in disincen­ tives that is most relevant to our inquiry. Nonlabor income in the form of social welfare benefits amounted to $395 billion in 1978. That is $213 billion greater than it would have been if such benefits were equal to 8.8 percent of GNP as they were in 1950 (derived from Table 1). The $213 billion of extra benefits can be distributed by type as follows: cash, $104 billion; health, $51 billion; education, $34 billion; and welfare and other services, $27 billion (derived from Table 1). The shares of benefits going to the aged and to female heads of families increased. In the interval, per capita benefits rose from $405 to $1775 in constant 1978 prices. Breakeven points do not appear to have changed much relative to median incomes. However, the share of benefits that are earnings­ conditioned has risen from 55 to 67 percent and benefit-reduction rates are somewhat higher. Moreover, since 1950, tax rates have had to rise to accommodate the expansion of benefits from an amount equal to 9 percent of GNP to 19 percent. The latter point alone means that net wage rates could have been 10 percent higher in 1978 than they in fact were (Lampman 1966 and 1975, Watts and Skidmore 1977). In Table 6, column 3, we rank several categories of population with respect to the increase in disincentive to work posed for them by the 1950-1978 increase in benefits and associated taxes. This ranking, which accords a "high" increase in disincentive to aged, disabled, and female heads, is based upon our knowledge that the increases in cash benefits and other earnings-conditioned benefits, which carry severe benefit-reduction rates, have been dispropor­ tionately targeted on those three groups. On the other hand, the extra benefits going to the other three groups, namely, the young TABLE 6 Size of 1978 Full-Time Labor Force if Social Welfare Benefits and Taxes to Pay for Them Were on Scale of 1950, by Characteristics of Participants :c 0 Numbers in Actual Hypothetical Increase � Numbers in 1950-1978 in Labor Force Full- Population :c 16 Years of Age Civilian Labor Increase in Responsiveness Time Equivalents (in > and Older Force, 1978 Disincentive to millions) if Benefits CIJ Characteristics (in millions) (in millions) to Work Disincentive Were on Scale of 1950 ..., :c trj Total 164 102 5.8 Age 62 and over 28 6 High High 1.9 f;: C:l Disabled under 0 age 62 8 2 High High 0.6 = Female family CIJ heads with c:: ., children 5 3 High High 0.5 ., Age 16-24, not t"" female heads >< with children 30 21 Low Moderate 1.0 n Women age 25-61, :c > not disabled, not z female heads C'l with children 48 27 Low High 1.4 trj Men age 25-61, 0 . ..., not disabled 45 43 Low Low .4 Sources: Column 1, Bureau of the Census, CPS Reports; column 2, Employment and Training Report of the President, 1981; columns 3, 4, and 5, explained in text.

:j 78 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS and "other" men and women, are mainly nonearnings-conditioned. However, these three groups do face an extra disincentive due to the fact that tax rates had to rise by 10 percentage points to pay for the extra benefits. Still speaking roughly, the increases in nonlabor income (in 1978 prices) for the first three categories were about $3671 per person aged 16 and over, and for persons in the other three categories they averaged about $520 (derived from Table 5) . The increase in benefit-reduction rates faced by the first three categories averaged about 20 percentage points, while the increase in benefit-reduction rates and tax rates combined faced by the other three groups went up by a little more than 10 percentage points. To answer our research questions about changes in labor supply, we need to know not only how disincentives to work have been increased since 1950, but also how various groups of people may have responded to those increased disincentives. Masters and Garfinkel found that percentage changes in hours worked per $1000 increases in nonlabor income were -10 percent for people aged 62 and over,- 4 percent for women and for young single persons, and -11 percent for prime-age healthy men. They also found that a 10 percentage point increase in the benefit-reduction rate induces female heads of families to reduce work effort by 2 percent and wives to reduce such effort by 4 percent. Other studies suggest that men are relatively unresponsive to changes in net wage rates (and hence to tax rate changes), but that married women are quite responsive to net wage rate changes. With that information, we are able to at least rank the groups in Table 6 according to responsiveness. See column 4, which shows that the aged, disabled, female heads, and also "other women" have a "high" responsiveness to work disincentives. Young people have only a "moderate" responsiveness. By applying the Masters and Garfinkel coefficients to the in­ creases in work disincentives imposed since 1950, we get a rough idea of how much decrease in labor supply may be involved. See column 5 of Table 6. For people aged 62 and over, guarantees went up by about $3000. The labor supply response to that, assuming a 10 percent reduction for every $1000 of nonlabor income, was -30 percent. Tax rates and benefit-reduction rates combined went up by 10 percentage points. The predicted labor supply response to that was -1 percent. Hence, the predicted labor supply for this group is 31 percent, or 1.9 million persons, greater than it actually was in HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 79

1978. The same reasoning applied to the disabled yields an increase of .6 million persons. For female heads, guarantees went up about $3000 and combined tax and benefit-reduction rates went up by 20 percent. Their predicted labor supply response is -4 percent per $1000 of nonlabor income and -2 percent for each 10 percent increase in tax or benefit-reduction rate. From this, it is concluded that the labor supply for this group would have been .5 million, or 16 percent, greater than it actually was in 1978. Some young people aged 16-24may receive survivor benefits or other stipends if they are in school. This may influence some to work less, and so may the tuition subsidy to higher education. The number of students in higher educational institutions rose from under 3 million in 1950 to over 9 million in 1978. Some of that increase in enrollment would have occurred without the extra subsidy as parental income, including the earnings of mothers, went up. Enrollments might have risen even without such a rise in income simply because people became more interested in higher education. But it is probably fair to say that the rise in public spending on education contributed to a reduction in labor time from young people. Young people appear to be moderately responsive to work disincentives, so it is estimated that a 5 percent increase in their labor supply-or 1 million persons-would accompany the assumed change in benefits and taxes. The categories "other women" and "other men" in Table 6 are not likely to be eligible for many benefits other than unemployment insurance, food stamps, and education benefits for their children. They are, of course, liable for payment of the 10-point increase in taxes associated with higher benefits. It is assumed that "other women," most of whom are married, have a higher responsiveness to disincentives than do "other men." Although they tend to receive a small quantity of benefits, "other women" are exposed to the disincentive of higher taxes. Hence, it is estimated that their labor supply would have been 5 percent greater than it actually was.4 This translates into a 1.4 million persons change in the national labor

4 One recent study finds that the great bulk of "underutilized earnings capacity" is still that of females. Excluding the aged, students, and military personnel, 21 percent of the total of such "slack" is attributed to male heads, 11 percent to female heads, and 68 percent to wives. See Garfinkel and Haveman (1977, p. 25); see also Ross and Sawhill (1975) . 80 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS supply. "Other men," according to empirical studies, have a very low labor supply responsiveness to nonlabor income and to taxes on wages. Moreover, they tend to receive a relatively small quantity of transfers. Hence, their entry on Table 6 is only a nominal 1 percentage point change-or .4 million persons-in their labor supply. Our "guesstimate" is that the total "loss" of labor time due to the change in the scale of social welfare benefits and of the taxes to pay for them from 8.8 to 19.3 percent of GNP is on the order of 5.8 percent of the 1978 total of labor time. One-half of that loss is allocable to adult women other than heads of families with children and to the aged. Most of the rest of the loss is identified with the disabled, female heads, and young people. It is perhaps unnecessary to point out that output thus "lost" is considerably less than 5.8 percent of GNP.

Studies of Response to Specific Program Benefits In the preceding discussion, the effort was to separately identify work response to nonlabor income, on the one hand, and to reduction in the net wage rate, on the other. This effort was made in order to gain a perspective on the work response to the broad range of benefits and contributions. Another approach to this topic is to study specific programs and, for each, to identify and measure the response to the several features of the program. These features include the conditions of eligibility and the formula for determining benefits payable to eligibles. We will use the findings of such studies to check on the plausibility of our guesstimate of 5.8 percent. Program records from public assistance and social insurance files can be used to study the work effects of these types of nonlabor income. Comparing program records from two or more jurisdictions having varying levels of benefits or for people eligible versus those not eligible for a benefit may provide a measure of marginal change in work effort. So might the before and after work effort associated with a change in benefits in one program in a single jurisdiction. In both instances, one has to take account of variations across space or time in all relevant program characteristics and in all relevant environmental conditions and personal attributes. Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies using program records have been done with reference to specific public assistance and social insurance program variations. They tell us, with varying degrees of credibility, that HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 81 more people will apply for and receive assistance benefits if benefit levels are more generous, people will retire earlier if eligibility is extended to younger workers, and people will work less if unem­ ployment insurance benefits are raised and extended for longer periods (Brehm and Saving 1964). Danziger, Haveman, and Plotnick (1981), referred to hereafter as D-H-P, reviewed the growing literature on quantitative effects on labor supply due to specific programs. They list 11 recent empirical studies of Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI). They note that most of the studies suggest that labor supply is reduced and retirement age is lowered by the program. However, they say, the size of the disincentive is still in doubt. They hazard the guess that OASI induces a reduction in the national total of work hours of about 1.2 percent. (For further discussion of these same studies of OASI, see Aaron 1982, Ch. 5) . They list three studies of disability insurance (DI) and suggest a total labor supply effect of about 1.2 percent. A year after the publication of the 1981 article, D-H-P informed me that new research (Haveman and Wolfe 1982) leads them to believe that this number of 1.2 percent should be revised to a substantially lower number. On the basis of discussions with them, I will use 0.4 percent as the measure of labor supply loss due to Dl. They review nine studies of unemployment insurance (UI) which find no effect on quit rates, but a substantial effect on duration of unemployment spells. They conclude that UI may cause a loss of labor supply of about 0.3 percent. They also cite five empirical studies of AFDC, which lead them to believe that this program is responsible for a labor supply loss of 0.6 percent. For OASI, DI, UI, and AFDC, D-H-P suggest a combined loss of 2.5 percent. They found no empirical studies of other programs,but do suggest that the likely effects of workers' compensation, railroad retirement, veterans' disability compensation and pensions, Medi­ care and Medicaid, SSI, food stamps, and housing assistance would raise the total loss of work hours to 4.0 percent. They are careful to say that the program-by-programmethod of study is apt to overstate the effect of a single program since recipients under one program may be responding to benefits from a second program. For example, the research studies on which they rely may attribute a work response to AFDC that may, in fact, be a response to AFDC, food stamps, and Medicaid. The counterfactual used in calculating the 82 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

loss is the late 1970s economy with a complete absence of the listed social welfare benefits, but with taxes unchanged. How can we relate the response of -4.0 percent "guesstimated" by D-H-P to the increase in work disincentive set forth in column 3 of Table 6? There we suggested a counterfactual of the 1950 ratio of social welfare expenditures and of the level of taxes that went with them. The retreat to the 1950 ratio of social welfare expenditures would mean that such expenditures in 1978 would have been only $182 billion, or $213 billion less than they actually were. D-H-P do not consider all the social welfare benefits we list in Table 1. The complete elimination of all the benefits they consider would mean a reduction for 1978 of only $201 billion. In particular, they show an $18 million greater reduction than we do in cash benefits but a $58 billion smaller reduction than we do in in-kind benefits. This would suggest that the response they estimate would be smaller than that expected from our larger total of benefit changes. The total of $201 billion assumed to be eliminated in the D-H-P exercise can be distributed among several population categories as shown in Table 7, column 1. Column 2 is derived from Table 5, column 2, and a similar table (not shown) for 1950. By using the labor supply loss assigned by D-H-P to each program, we derive the labor supply change for population categories shown in column 3. The bottom line of 4 percent conforms roughly with our "guessti­ mate" of 5.8 percent since D-H-P took account of a smaller quantity of social welfare benefits and took no account of tax changes.

TABLE 7

Increased Hours Worked by Transfer Recipients and Benefit Reductions Taxpayers as a Percentage of __---l.! (b!!i l:!!li:!!o!!;ns::..;o� f:...:d:!!o!!l l�a!..::rs:L) __ Total Work Hours of All Workers

Characteristics · D-H-P Lampman D-H-P Lampman Aged 117 127 1.4 1.9 Disabled 28 19 0.7 0.6 Female heads 32 32 0.7 0.5 Other 24 34 1.2 2.8 Total 201 213 4.0 5.8 Sources: Column 1 is based on 1978 totals for programs listed by D-H-P with benefits assigned to population categories on the basis of knowledge of target groups of each program. Column 2 is explained in the text. Column 3 total is from D-H-P, with the percentage for each category based on assignments of programs for column 1. Column 4 is from Table 6, column 5. HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 83

Reasons Why Our Estimate May Be Too High In offering these several speculations about the ways in which social welfare spending may alter conventional labor market mea­ sures, I am painfully aware of the partial nature of the analysis that underlies them. There have been important changes on the demand side of the labor market which were not examined.5 Moreover, there are numerous interactions and intertemporal adjustments among family members and between public and private transfers which have not been accounted for. Consider first the interactions among family members. It is interesting to note that if social welfare benefits were smaller, today's married women would have less nonlabor income in the form of benefits (thus urging them to work more), but they would have more nonlabor income in the form of husbands' earnings net of taxes (thus urging them to work less). The loss of labor time due to young people staying in school longer may be partly offset by an induced increase of labor by their parents, who respond to the need to cover the living costs of the students. It is also possible that Social Security may have led to reduced private intrafamily transfers from children to their aged parents and thereby encouraged less work by those children (Lampman and Smeeding 1983). Second, consider intertemporal adjustments. The loss of labor time associated with retirement may be at least partially offset by extra labor time expended by workers and perhaps by their spouses in preretirement years in order to accumulate a larger capital sum in anticipation of extra needs due to a longer time in retirement. Some workers may work harder in order to gain entitlement for a higher OASI or UI benefit. Thus, with respect to OASI, workers may accept benefits as soon as they are eligible (at age 62), or they may delay acceptance to a later date. They may be influenced in that decision by

5 The weakness of demand for labor is emphasized in the following comment by Sar A. Levitan and Robert Taggart (1976, pp. 285--86): "There is surely a tradeoff between higher welfare standards and the number of persons who work. But considering the low productivity of the workers, their difficulty in finding employ­ ment, and the number of workers they would displace if they found employment, the drag on the economy from their being on welfare is small. It is proper to resent handouts to those who can find work, but it is wrong to view most recipients of social welfare as loafers. As long as the policy of fighting inflation with unemployment continues, the majority of beneficiaries do not have any choice between work and welfare. The loss in output due to withdrawal from the work force because of the availability of welfare payments is dwarfed by involuntary unemployment." 84 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS the provision for benefit recomputation which allows the worker to substitute his current earnings for those in the lowest year in his earnings history (Blinder, Gordon, and Wise 1980). Workers younger than age 62 may respond to the fact that a benefit-reduction rate of 50 percent will affect them after they accept benefits and, hence, substitute work before for work after retirement age (Burkhauser and Turner 1978). Thus, several points suggest that 5.8 percent loss of labor time should be considered an upper-bound estimate of labor supply response to recent increases in social welfare benefits and the taxes to pay for them.

References

Aaron, Henry J. Economic Effects of Social Security. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1982. Akerlof, George A. ''The Economics of 'Tagging' as AP,plied to the Optimal Income Tax, Welfare Programs, and Manpower Planning. ' American Economic Review 68 (March 1978), pp. 8-19. Barlow, Robin, Harvey Brazer, and Jame!l' N. Morgan. Economic Behavior of the Affluent. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1966. Baumol, William J., and Dietrich Fischer. "The Output Distribution Frontier: Alternatives to Income Taxes and Transfers for Strong Equality Goals." Ameri­ can Economic Review 69 (September 1979): pp. 514-25. Blinder, Alan S., Roger H. Gordon, and Donald E. Wise. "Reconsidering the Work Disincentive Effects of Social Security." National Tax Journal 47 (December 1980), pp. 431--42. Bowen, William G., and T. Aldrich Finegan. The Economics of Labor Force Participation. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. Break, George F. "Income Taxes and Incentives to Work: An Empirical Study." American Economic Review 41 (September 1957), pp. 529--49. Brehm, C. T., and T. R. Saving. "The Demand for General Assistance Payments." American Economic Review 54 (December 1964), pp. 1002-18. Brown, C. V. Taxation and the Incentive to Work. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. Burkhauser, Richard V., and John A. Turner. "A Time Series Analysis of Social Security and Its Effect on the Market Work of Men at Younger Ages." Journal of Political Economy 86 (August 1978), pp. 701-15. Cain, Glen G. Married Wo men in the Labor Force. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966. Cain, Glen G., and Harold W. Watts, eds. Income Maintenance and Labor Supply: Econometric Studies. Chicago: Rand McNally, 1973. Danziger, Sheldon, Robert Haveman, and Robert Plotnick. "How Income Transfer Programs Affect Work, Savings, and the Income Distribution: A Critical Re­ view." Journalof Economic Literature 19 (September 1981), pp. 975-1028. Denison, Edward F. Accounting for Slower Economic Growth in the U.S. in the 1970s. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1979. Garfinkel, Irwin, and Robert H. Haveman. Earnings Capacity, Poverty, and Inequal­ ity. New York: Academic Press, 1977. Hamermesh, Daniel S. Jobless Pay and the Economy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1977. Hausman, Jerry A. "Labor Supply." In How Taxes Affect Economic Behavior, eds. Henry Aaron and Joseph Pechman. Washington: Brookings Institution, 1981. Pp. 27-75. HOW HAS THE LABOR SUPPLY CHANGED? 85

Haveman, Robert, and Barbara Wolfe. "Disability Transfers and the Work Effort Responses of Older Males: A Reconciliation." Paper presented at a Conference on the Incentive Effects of Government Spending, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Mass., 1982. Heckman, James J., and Thomas E. MaCurdy. "New Methods for Estimating Labor Supply Functions: A Survey." Working Paper No. 858. New York: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1982. Keeley, Michael C. Labor Supply and Public Policy: A Critical Review. New York: Academic Press, 1981. Keeley, Michael C., Philip K. Robins, Robert J. Spiegelman, and Richard W. West. "The Labor Supply Effects and Costs of Alternative Negative Income Tax Programs." journal of Human Resources 13 (Winter 1978), pp. 3--36. Lampman, Robert J. "Labor Supply and Social Welfare Benefits in the United States." In Concepts and Data Needs: Counting the Labor Force, Appendix Vol. I, National Commission on Employment and Unemployment Statistics. Wash­ ington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979. ---- · "Scaling Welfare Benefits to Income: An Idea That Is Being Over­ worked." Policy Analysis 1 (Winter 1975), pp. 1-10. ---- · "How Much Does the American System of Transfers Benefit the Poor?" In Economic Progress and Social Welfare, ed. L. H. Goodman. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966. Lampman, Robert J., and Timothy M. Smeeding. "Interfamily Transfers as Alterna­ tives to Government Transfers to Persons." Review of Income and Wealth 29 (March 1983), pp. 44-66. Levitan, Sar. A., and Clifford M. Johnson. Second Thoughts on Work. Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1982. Levitan, Sar A., and Robert Taggart. The Promise of Greatness: The Social Programs of the Last Decade and Their Achievements. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976. Lindbeck, A. "Work Disincentives in the Welfare State." Reprint No. 176, Institute for International Studies, University of Stockholm, 1981. McMillan, Alma W., and Ann K. Bixby. "Social Welfare Expenditures, Fiscal Year 1978." Social Security Bulletin 43 (May 1980), pp. 3--17. Masters, Stanley H., and Irwin Garfinkel. Estimating Labor Supply Effects of Income Maintenance Alternatives. New York: Academic Press, 1978. Mincer, Jacob. "Labor Force Participation of Married Women." In Aspects of Labor Economics. National Bureau of Economic Research. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1967. Musgrave, Richard A., and Peggy B. Musgrave. Public Finance in Theory and Practice, 3d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1980. Ross, Heather L., and Isabel V. Sawhill. A Time of Transition. Washington: Urban Institute, 1975. Sanders, T. Effects of Taxation on Executives. Boston: Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, 1951. U.S. Department of Labor. Employment and Training Report of the President. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981. Watts, Harold W., and Albert Rees, eds. The New jersey Income Maintenance Experiment, Vol. 2: Labor Supply Responses. New York: Academic Press, 1977. Watts, Harold W., and Felicity Skidmore. "An Update on the Poverty Picture Plus a New Look at Relative Tax Burdens." Focus, Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin. Vol. 2 (1977).

CHAPTER 5

The Work Ethic and Retirement

JOSEPH F. QUINN Boston College

The work ethic is an integral part of American life. For the dour Puritans who migrated to New England, for the adventurous frontier folk who settled the West, for the capitalists and the millions of immigrants who built the infrastructure and industrial base of the country, hard work was the ticket to survival and success. Most worked because they had to, but many worked harder and longer than was necessary to provide a comfortable living. According to many analysts, hard work took on a value or worth of its own, separate from its role of providing income. This reverential attitude toward work, along with an abundance of natural resources and human capital, were important determinants of America's material success. There are rumors that this work ethic is fading-that work is playing a less central role in American lives and that it is no longer viewed as an end in itself. This comes as no surprise to economists, who have always differentiated themselves from other social scien­ tists by modeling leisure as a good, and work-its converse-as a bad. We predict that individuals would always prefer to work less if they could do so without loss of income. But members of other disciplines-sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and theologians-have taken a broader view of the role of work, and some are distressed over its alleged demise. Evidence for the trend away from work can be found in a number of sources. Labor force participation rates for men have dropped noticeably over the past three decades, from more than 86 percent in 1950 to less than 77 percent in 1982. (At the same time, it must be noted, female participation rates have leapt from 34 to nearly 53 percent, yielding an overall (male and female) increase of five percentage points-from 59 to 64.) Hours worked per week 87 88 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS have also dropped, though much less rapidly than they did in the early decades of this century. These statistics are somewhat mislead­ ing, since some of the decline can be "explained" by interindustry shifts (toward services) and compositional shifts in the sex-distribu­ tion of the workforce. Nonetheless, the average private-sector production or nonsupervisory worker worked less than 35 hours per week in 1982, a decrease of about 13 percent from the nearly 40 hours per week in the early 1950s. Total hours over the life cycle have also decreased-for men, at least-because of the trends mentioned above, and because Americans are starting work later, finishing earlier, and taking more time off in between. A group whose work effort stands out very clearly is the elderly. From a cross-sectional perspective, the elderly work considerably less than younger groups at any point in time. In 1981, for example, only 18 percent of men 65 and over were in the labor force, compared with 70 percent of those 55 to 64, and well over 90 percent of those aged 25-54 (see Table 1). For women, the drop is equally drastic-from nearly two-thirds of those aged 25 to 54, to 41 percent of those 55 to 64, and to only 8 percent of those over 64. And even more interestingly, the work effort of the elderly has fallen

TABLE 1 Labor Force Participation Rates, by Age and Sex

Age

Year �34 3.'>-44 45-54 5:>-64 65+

Males 1950 96.2 97.6 95.8 86.9 45.8 1955 97.6 98.1 96.5 87.9 39.6 1960 97.5 97.7 95.7 86.8 33.1 1965 97.3 97.3 95.6 84.6 27.9 1970 96.4 96.9 94.3 83.0 26.8 1975 95.2 95.6 92.1 75.6 21.6 1981 94.9 95.4 91.4 70.6 18.4

Females 1950 34.0 39.1 38.0 27.0 9.7 1955 34.9 41.6 43.8 32.5 10.6 1960 36.0 43.4 49.8 37.2 10.8 1965 38.5 46.1 50.9 41.1 10.0 1970 45.0 51.1 54.5 43.0 9.7 1975 54.9 55.8 54.6 40.9 8.2 1981 66.7 66.8 61.1 41.4 8.0 Source: U.S. Department of Labor (1982). THE WORK ETHIC AND RETIREMENT 89 dramatically over time. Table 1 also documents this trend. While the participation rates of the first three age categories of men dropped only modestly after 1950, those for men aged 51HJ4 and65+ fell by 19 and 60 percent. For men over 65, labor market work is now a relatively rare phenomenon. Only 30 years ago, nearly half of the men this age were employed. The statistics for older women combine the effects of two powerful trends-women are working more and older people are working less. For women over 65, they approximately cancel; for those aged 55--64,the increasing participation of women dominates. As always, these statistics are somewhat deceptive. A portion of these changes can be explained by movements of the labor force out of agriculture and self-employment-sectors with traditionally high participation rates for older workers. And some is due to the aging of the older population: among those over 65, a larger proportion is over 70 (and 75) than in earlier years. But these compositional adjustments are minor compared to the overall trend; people are now retiring much earlier than they were only a few decades ago.

The Work Ethic and Labor Supply Older Americans today work less than younger workers do, and less than older workers used to. This is well known and has important impacts in many aspects of American life. But what does it say about the health of the work ethic? Does it decrease with age as rows in Table 1 suggest? Has it been fading over time, as the right-hand columns indicate? I will argue that very little can be deduced about attitudes toward work from these observed behav­ ioral trends. The work ethic is usually defined in terms of values or beliefs­ the belief that work is important, virtuous, and fulfilling in its own right; that it dignifies the worker, no matter what its nature, and makes him or her a better person; that members of society should work even if free of financial need. These concepts are not found in the economist's analysis. We look at the work decision through different lenses. We consider first the options open to an individual­ the combinations of income and leisure that the market offers. This menu, or budget constraint, depends on the income sources available if one chooses not to work (retirement income, welfare payments, income from assets, etc.) and the wages one can command in the 90 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS labor market (net of taxes and reduced retirement and welfare benefits, of course). How does one choose from this menu? Indif­ ference curves describe combinations of income and leisure between which one is indifferent. Higher curves (more income, more leisure, or more of both) describe higher levels of well-being. One chooses the point on the menu that reaches the highest indifference curve. But where is the work ethic-beliefs and values-in all of this? It is in the shape of the indifference curves. Each individual has his or her own mapping. Workaholics have flat indifference curves (with income on the vertical axis) because they require very little income to compensate them for large losses of leisure. Others have steep indifference curves. They are made worse off unless large increases in income accompany losses of precious leisure. Theoretically, indifference curves could even slope upward. If work is truly a good, one's well-being may be unaffected by a combination of more work (less leisure) and less income. Hypotheses about changes in the work ethic-differences be­ tween the young and old, or differences between the old today and the old of previous decades-could be translated into hypotheses about the shapes of indifference curves. Unfortunately, we do not directly observe and rarely concentrate on indifference curves. We observe only points-final outcomes, the tangencies between indif­ ference curves and budget constraints. If these constraints remained stable over time, and people systematically responded differently­ worked more or worked less in the face of the same menu of choices-we might draw inferences about the direction of the work ethic. But this is precisely not the case. The budget constraint changes dramatically, and sometimes suddenly, as we age. Different labor supply decisions will occur even if nothing happens to attitudes or beliefs about work. And the budget constraint for older workers has changed significantly during this century, making implications about the work ethic over time very difficult to draw.

The Changing Budget Constraint In simple economic models of labor supply, wages or earnings are the reward for work. But we know that compensation is really a much broader concept. It includes many other pecuniary aspects­ unemployment, health and life insurance, pension and Social Securi­ ty rights, and vacation time. These can be quantified, though it is THE WORK ETHIC AND RETIREMENT 91 difficult to do. There are also (I hope, speaking as an academic) the nonpecuniary rewards of the job, such as social interactions, feelings of prestige and esteem, and working conditions. Theoretically, these can all be subsumed in the definition of compensation. At the empirical level, however, the operational definitions are much narrower and, depending on the data available, often include only the paycheck. For workers approaching retirement age, however, this simplification is unacceptable, because it misses dramatic changes in the compensation scheme-hidden pay cuts, as we will see-that confront the older worker. To make this point, I will incorporate only employer pensions and Social Security, and continue to ignore other important aspects of compensation. Pensions (including Social Security) are best viewed as a stream of benefits promised in the future. This stream may be fixed in money terms (as many private pensions are), may grow with inflation (like Social Security or federal civil service pensions), and may or may not include survivors' or dependents' benefits. At any point in time, this stream can be neatly summarized by its present discounted value-its asset or wealth equivalent. During most of one's working career, these pension and Social Security assets are growing, for reasons sketched below. This increase in retirement income wealth is part of the compensation for a year's work and should be added to the paycheck in any comprehensive measure of compensation. Social Security benefits are a monotonic but nonlinear function of average monthly taxable earnings. Because the taxable earnings ceilings and general wage levels have been rising, average earnings (and therefore subsequent annual benefit levels) rise with continued work. Before one is eligible to receive benefits, this can only increase the asset value of Social Security rights, implying that simple earnings tend to understate true compensation. Employer pensions are more difficult to summarize because benefit calculation rules vary so widely. The most common criteria, however, are years of service and average earnings over some period, often the last few years. Again, continued work usually increases subsequent benefits and, therefore, pension wealth. Com­ pensation is higher than it looks. Once one is eligible to receive retirement income, however, the situation changes dramatically. Continued work on the job now 92 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

involves forgoing a year's benefits, as well as augmenting the future stream.1 If one chooses to work another year, future retirement income flows will be higher, but there will be one less year of them. Future benefits will increase because of the reasons described above, and because many plans offer an additional adjustment as a reward for delayed retirement. Under current Social Security rules, the adjustment is about 7 percent per year between the ages of 62 and 65, and 3 percent per year (I percent prior to I982) thereafter. Once a worker is eligible for benefits (age 62 under Social Security), then it is no longer clear that retirement income wealth increases with continued work. It depends on whether the increases in the future adequately compensate for the benefits lost today. And that depends on benefit calculation rules, actuarial adjustments, life expectancies, and the discount rate. It is an empirical question, and the answer differs from individual to individual. Richard Burkhauser and I (I983a) have analyzed this issue with a large sample of full-time employed men aged 63 through 65 in I974.2 We utilized their actual Social Security earnings records (part of the data set) and current earnings data to ask what would happen to their Social Security wealth if they worked an incremental year. We found that, with a 5 percent discount rate, the median wealth gain was about $I850 (I974 dollars) for 63-year-olds, $850 for those age 64, and $-3000 (a large wealth loss) for those 65. At 65, remember, the actual adjustment for delayed retirement dropped from 7 percent to I percent (now 3 percent) per year. Distributions existed around these medians, of course. In our sample, I2 percent of those 62, I7 percent of those 63, and 93 percent of those 65 lost Social Security wealth during an additional year of work. With a IO percent interest rate, losses were more likely and

1 Nearly all private pensions involve leaving that job in order to claim benefits. They vary in their rules concerning other employment after that. A few have earnings tests (like Social Security), others forbid reemployment in the industry, and others have no restrictions at all. Social Security permits an exempt amount, currently about $6000 for those over age 64,and then imposes a 50 percent benefit reduction rate on all earnings after that. For many workers, continued full-time employment would eliminate Social Security payments in the year altogether. 2 The data source was the Social Security Administration's Retirement History Study, a 10-year longitudinal study of the retirement process begun in 1969. For a description of this data set and some early research papers drawn from it, see USDHEW (1976) . THE WORK ETHIC AND RETIREMENT 93 higher because future gains were discounted more heavily.3 The median worker in all three age categories lost, and 63 percent of the 65-year-olds lost between $3000 and $6000. Our pension results are less precise because we did not know the details of each individual's pension plan-in particular, how benefits changed with additional years of employment. Using the survey data we had, some industry-wide averages for actuarial adjustments, and a set of reasonable assumptions (described in our NBER paper), we estimated median pension wealth losses (for those with pensions on the current job) of about $100, $1200, and $2100 during an addi­ tional year of work for the 63-, 64-, and 65-year-old sample members, respectively. These wealth changes are part of the year's compensation. The wealth losses are effectively pay cuts. Whether they are "large" depends on the earnings levels to which they are being added or subtracted. We calculated the ratio of net earnings (net of these wealth changes) to normally defined earnings. When employer pensions alone are considered, the median worker under age 63 gains; that is, the ratio exceeds 1.00. The median 64-year-old loses 12 to 14 percent, and the median 65-year-old suffers a 17 percent pay cut. When Social Security is included, the median worker gains through age 64, but the losses at age 65 are severe. About three­ quarters of those without pensions and about 90 percent of those with pensions suffer effective pay cuts exceeding 30 percent. These numbers ignore taxes and assume that full-time employ­ ment eliminates all Social Security benefits for that · year, and therefore they do not tell the entire story. But they suggest strongly that the budget constraint changes dramatically as one nears retire­ ment age because of the benefit structures of the Social Security and employer pension systems. The rapid decrease in work commitment of those in their 60s by itself implies nothing about the work ethic. Our retirement income systems-and mandatory retirement­ drastically change the rules of the game and, at some point (certainly by 65), reduce the rewards to work. How is a rational individual to respond to this? A worker facing a

3 There is an active debate over the appropriate discount rate to be used in calculating these wealth change figures. Burkhauser and Turner (1981) claim that a nominal rate is appropriate, due to a quirk in the Social Security system during most of the 1970s. See Burkhauser and Turner (1981) and Blinder, Gordon, and Wise (1980, 1981). 94 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS higher hourly wage before noon than after would tend to allocate the morning hours to work and the afternoon to leisure. There is some evidence that older workers respond to these incentives in a similar fashion. In a related paper, Burkhauser and I (1983b) found that these changes in wealth discussed above were very significant determinants in explaining who withdrew from the labor force and who did not. The greater the size of the wealth loss associated with additional work, the more likely the individual was to leave his current job and retire. With aggregate macroeconomic data, Burk­ hauser and Turner (1978) present evidence that workers tend to work more prior to the onset of these work disincentives. They hypothesize that this may partially explain why hours worked per week, which dropped for men from near 60 to 40 over the first five decades of this century, have decreased relatively little since. They point to the introduction and growth of the Social Security system and the expansion of pension plans, and to the effect (described above) that this may have had on the allocation of work over the life cycle. The concept of the life cycle further clouds any work ethic interpretations drawn from the abrupt cessation of work by so many older Americans. The allocation of time between work and leisure is an important issue for individuals. There appear to be advantages to lumping periods of nonwork together-weekends and summer vacations, for example. The same may be true for retirement. Even in the absence of financial retirement incentives, individuals might choose to plan a large chunk of leisure in their later years. Such an allocation implies no more loss of work ethic among older people than does taking Saturday and Sunday off. A final problem concerns the distinction between observed and actual labor supply. Employment is easily observed and measured. Labor supply is not. Some of those who would like to work and are not working meet the official definition of unemployment, and are so recorded. Other labor suppliers are not. It is difficult to compose an adequate labor supply question ("would you like to work?") since the answer depends on so many unspecified conditions (what job? what working conditions? with what hours flexibility? at what wage? with what effect on my pension and Social Security benefits, now and in the future?). There are constraints in the labor market, such as mandatory retirement and inflexible workweeks, that may THE WORK ETHIC AND RETIREMENT 95 create a class of older workers who would like to be employed, but not under the conditions offered. What do we deduce about their beliefs and attitudes toward work from the fact that they are not working and not officially unemployed? Rather than investigate this with attitudinal questions (an under­ taking in which I lack both confidence and training), I have compared the actual retirement patterns of wage and salary em­ ployees with those of the self-employed. The latter work in a relatively unconstrained environment, and should have more discre­ tion than others over the type and amount of work they do. I found the retirement patterns to be quite distinct. At older ages (58 through 63), the self-employed were more likely to be in the labor force than were wage and salary personnel (Quinn 1980). Fuchs (1982) has confirmed these results and shown that the differential increases with age. In addition, the self-employed who were still working displayed a much wider distribution of annual hours. The self­ employed were both more likely than others to be working very long hours (over 2500 and over 3000 per year), but also more likely to be employed part time. The distribution of wage and salary workers, in contrast, was completely dominated by the huge mode around 2000 hours. The self-employed were also more likely to pass through a period of self-defined "partial retirement," which corre­ lated very highly with reduced hours (Quinn 1981). The fact that those who could more easily withdraw gradually from the labor force were more likely to do so proves nothing about the desires of the others-the wage and salary group. But it does suggest that there may be retired workers who would like to resume working, under more flexible conditions, but have been unable to find the opportunity to do so.4 This phenomenon is overlooked in our labor force participation series. So are the individuals who have continued to work, but on a volunteer basis.5 These may be the

4 Dena Motley ( 1978) has attempted to analyze the availability for work of recently retired men and women aged 62 to 67. Based on answers to questions on income need, attitudes toward work, and health status, she categorized retirees as available, unavailable, or intermediate. She found that health problems removed 50 percent from contention. Of the remaining 50 percent, 12 percent were available for work (high job attitude score and high need for income), 14 percent were unavailable (low attitude, low need), and 24 percent were intermediate (high in one category, low in the other). Motley concludes that relatively few of these retirees were likely to return to work. 5 In the official employment statistics, those who work more than 15 hours per week for free in a family business are counted as employed. Other unpaid workers are not. 96 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS strongest examples of the work ethic, yet they are missing from the official statistics.

A Longitudinal Case? The dramatic decrease in work effort at the end of the life cycle does not imply a decrease in the work ethic. Older workers are responding to a different set of financial incentives that are imposed by the Social Security and pension systems. In addition, some of the labor supply of the elderly may go unrecorded. And finally, in a life-cycle framework, the observed allocation of work and leisure may represent the optimal lifetime pattern even for persons who undergo no changes in their views on the worth and value of work. But there was a second phenomenon noted in Table 1. For a given age category (for example, 5� or 65+), labor force participation has been declining slowly and steadily for decades-for men, at least. Do these time-series data show that recent generations of older workers have less work commitment than earlier ones? For reasons similar to those above, I think not. The work ethic may in fact be fading, but the trend toward earlier and earlier retirement does not prove it. The observed trends are also consistent with an unchanged or even increased respect for work. The reason for my agnosticism is that cohorts of Americans have become richer and richer over time. Other things equal, including attitudes concerning work, richer cohorts can afford to retire earlier. It is difficult to document this trend for at least three reasons. First, the concept I would like-lifetime income potential-is not mea­ sured. We do not have longitudinal data on income-much less income potential-on individuals over their work lives. Second, the official statistics which are gathered utilize narrow definitions of income. Earnings capacity is ignored, as are sources of in-kind benefits that are exceedingly and increasingly important to the elderly.6 And finally, the statistical interest in the elderly is quite

6 Earnings capacity, as introduced by Garfinkel and Haveman (1977), refers to the ability of an individual or family to generate income if its physical and human capital is used to capacity. It is a better proxy for the position of the income-leisure budget constraint because it is not affected by the actual labor supiJlY decision. Two individuals with the same options are "measured" the same, regardless of which items (points) on the menu they decide to pick. The in-kind benefits problem is particularly severe for older workers, since so many benefits-Medicare, Medicaid, public housing, food stamps-take this form. Marilyn Moon (1977) has tackled this problem with specific application to the aged, but historical data are unavailable. THE WORK ETHIC AND RETIREMENT 97

recent. The first major income and wealth survey concentrating on the older Americans was the Social Security Survey of the Aged, undertaken in 1963. Despite the lack of comprehensively measured data available over time, a convincing case can be made that older generations

· today are richer than older generations of the past. Real disposable personal income has been rising steadily and has nearly doubled since the mid-1940s. Current retirees have enjoyed three decades of real growth. And programs designed specifically for older Ameri­ cans have grown even more rapidly. Table 2 shows selected sources of income for the population aged 65 and over in the late 1930s, the early 1960s, and recently. The growth of the private pension system is reflected here. In 1937-1938, only 5 percent of this population received pension income. By 1980, the proportion had risen to 33 percent for married couples, and to 14 percent for those unmarried. In 1979, 56 percent of all full-time workers were covered by employer retirement plans, suggesting that the receipt of pension income will continue to grow (Beller 1981).

TABLE 2 Selected Sources of Income for the Noninstitutionalized Population, Aged 65 and Over (percent with a given source of income)

1962 1980

Nonmarried Married Non married Married 1936-37 Persons Couples Persons Couples

Earnings 13 24 55 13 37 Asset income 15 48 63 59 77 Social Security 0 62 79 88 91 Other public pensions 2 7 12 12 18 Private pensions 5 5 16 14 33 Sources: 193&-37, Shearson (1938); 1962, Epstein and Murray (1967) ; 1980, Grad (1983) . Social Security has grown even more dramatically, from nonexis­ tent to nearly universal. In 1980, 90 percent of Americans 65 and over received Social Security benefits. And Social Security has not merely transferred income over time, leaving a cohort's lifetime wealth unchanged. Due to growing population and real income per 98 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS capita, Social Security has resembled a chain letter and has resulted, up to now at least, in large intergenerational transfers. For example, Burkhauser and Warlick (1981) estimate that 1972 retirees received Social Security benefits equal to nearly four times what an actuarially fair return would have paid. Making the same point in another way, Moffitt (1982) has estimated that early recipients of Social Security benefits (during the 1940s) enjoyed real rates of return near 20 percent. By the 1960s, the real rate had fallen to 12 to 14 percent, and for 1977 recipients to 8.5 percent. But this is still far in excess of any long-run market rate of return. The net effect of the Social Security system has clearly been to transfer great amounts of wealth to older generations.7 None of these income series captures the tremendous growth of nonpecuniary transfers to the elderly. Medicare and Medicaid are the most important examples, but public housing, food stamps, and tax breaks have also improved the well-being of the elderly without showing up in most income series.8 Workers approaching retirement age today have a more attrac­ tive set of options than did earlier generations. Their own earnings histories would permit more of them to retire. In addition, they are supported by a wide range of transfer payments and social services that did not exist 40 years ago. Simple economic theory assumes that leisure is a good and predicts that wealthier generations will buy more of it. One form in which leisure is often chosen is retirement.

Summary An extreme version of the work ethic philosophy suggests that people should continue to work regardless of financial need. Against this measuring rod, most of the elderly come up short. Few men and very few women work beyond age 65. But this fact does not imply that their views about work have changed over their lifetimes, or that they are less committed than earlier generations. They are offered a different set of options, and they choose a different allocation of time.

7 Robert Barra (1978) has raised the interesting possibility that the older generation may return this largesse in the form of larger bequests to their children. In this case, the wealth transfer implicit in the Social Security system up to now will be temporary and the labor supply effects reduced. 8 Timothy Smeeding (1982) has written extensively on the desirability and technical feasibility of including in-kind transfer benefits in the Census data. THE WORK ETHIC AND RETIREMENT 99

Our current retirement income system penalizes those who continue to work beyond age 65, and penalizes some even earlier. To an economist, it is expected that people will take the time to understand these incentives, and it is rational that they will respond to them. Empirical evidence strongly suggests that this is the case. Economists are generally more interested in what people do than in what they say they will do. Jazunek (1978) reports that verbal commitments to work continue to run high. Eighty percent of the workers cited in Jazunek's article claimed they would continue to work if they inherited enough money to live comfortably. In other surveys cited, 81 and 89 percent answered what was essentially the same question in the same way. People overwhelmingly say they prefer working to collecting unemployment compensation, and that career commitment is an important part of life. But all these questions, by necessity, are vague on the actual details of the choice being investigated. And answers may be given without considerable thought. The economics literature strongly suggests that whatever one's personal beliefs, financial incentives are an important-though by no means the only-determinant in labor supply decisions. Older workers are no exception to this. This fact, which I find reassuring, makes generalizations about changes in the work ethic exceedingly difficult since these incentives change so dramatically over the life cycle and over time.

References

Barro, Robert J. The Impact of Social Security on Private Saving. Washington: American Enterprise Institute, 1978. Beller, Daniel J. "Coverage Patterns of Full-Time Employees Under Private Retire­ ment Plans." Social Security Bulletin 44 (July 1981), pp. 3-11. Burkhauser, Richard V., and Joseph F. Quinn. "The Effect of Pension Plans on the Pattern of Life-Cycle Compensation." In The Measurement of Labor Cost (NBER Studies in Income and Wealth No. 48), ed. Jack Triplett. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983a. --..,---· "Is Mandatory Retirement Overrated? Evidence from the 1970s." Journal of Human Resources 18 (Summer 1983b), pp. 337-58. Burkhauser, Richard V., and John Turner. "A Time Series Analysis on Social Security and Its Effects on the Market Work of Men at Younger Ages." Journal of Political Economy 86 (August 1978) : pp. 701-16. ---- · "Can Twenty-Five Million Americans Be Wrong? A Response to Blinder, Gordon and Wise." National Tax Journal 34 (December 1981), pp. 467-72. Burkhauser, Richard V., and Jennifer Warlick. "Disentangling the Annuity and Redistributive Aspects of Social Security." Review of Income and Wealth 27 (December 1981), pp. 401-21. Blinder, Alan S., Roger H. Gordon, and Donald E. Wise. "Reconsidering the Work Disincentive Effects of Social Security." National Tax Journal 33 (December 1980), pp. 431-42. 100 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

-----::::----::-· "Rhetoric and Reality in Social Security Analysis: A Rejoinder." National Tax Journal 34 (December 1981), pp. 473--78. Epstein, Lenore A., and Janet H. Murray. The Aged Population of the United States: The 1963 Social Security Survey of the Aged. Washington: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1967. Fuchs, Victor R. "Self-Employment and Labor Force Participation of Older Males." Journal of Human Resources 17 (Summer 1982), pp. 339--57. Garfinkel, Irwin, and Robert Haveman. "Earnings Capacity, Economic Status, and Poverty." Journal of Human Resources 12 (Winter 1977), pp. 49--70. Grad, Susan. Income of the Population 55 and Over, 1980. Washington: Office of Research and Statistics, Office of Policy, Social Security Administration, January 1983. J azunek, Jiri. "The Work Ethic: What Are We Measuring?" Relations Industrielles 33 (1978), pp. 66&--77. Moffitt, Robert. "Trends in Social Security Wealth by Cohort." Paper presented at NBER Conference on Research in Income and Wealth, Madison, Wis., May 1982. Moon, Marilyn. The Measurement of Economic Welfare: Its Application to the Aged Poor. New York: Academic Press, 1977. Motley, Dena K. "Availability of Retired Persons for Work: Findings from the Retirement History Study." Social Security Bulletin 41 (April 1978), pp. 18-29. Quinn, Joseph F. "Labor Force Patterns of Older Self-Employed Workers." Social Security Bulletin 43 (April 1980), pp. 17-28. ---- · "The Extent and Correlates of Partial Retirement." The Gerontologist 21 (December 1981), pp. 634-43. Shearson, Marjorie. "Economic Status of the Aged." Social Security Bulletin (March 1938), pp. 5-16. Smeeding, Timothy. Alternative Methods for Valuing Selected In-Kind Transfer Benefits and Measuring Their Effect on Poverty. U.S. Bureau of the Census Technical Paper 50. Washington: March 1982. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Almost 65-Baseline Data from the Retirement History Study. Washington: Social Security Administration, Office of Research and Statistics, 1976. U.S. Department of Labor. Employment and Tra ining Report of the President. Washington: 1982. CHAPTER 6

Commitment to the Work Ethic And Success in the Labor Market: A Review of Research Findings*

pAUL J. ANDRISANI Temple University

HERBERT s. PARNES The Ohio State University

If, as many appear to believe, the decrease in the rate of produc­ tivity growth in the past decade is attributable in part to a deteriora­ tion in the work ethic of American workers, two things must be true. First, there must have been a demonstrable change in the commit­ ment to the work ethic, and second, there must be evidence of a link between the strength of the work ethic and productivity. It is the second of these suppositions that this chapter addresses. More specifically, we inquire whether measures of commitment to the work ethic are related to conventional measures of success in the labor market, which may be regarded as proxies for productive efficiency, and whether there is, in turn, a feedback between the quality of labor market experience and strength of the work ethic. Although our evidence is drawn from a large number of studies, we focus mainly on those based on longitudinal data obtained from representative national samples-particularly the National Longi­ tudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience (NLS) and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). In the next section, we deal briefly with the definition of terms. In the third section we summarize research on the relation between commitment to the work ethic and labor market success, while in the fourth we address the reciprocal relationship between individ­ uals' labor market experience and the strength of their commitment

oWe would like to thank our colleagues, Thomas N. Daymont, James N. Morgan, and Melvin L. Kohn, for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this chapter. We, of course, are solely responsible for any errors or omissions. 101 102 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS to the work ethic. Some conclusions for future research and public policy are drawn in the final section.

Defining Terms: The Work Ethic and Labor Market Success The work ethic is a latent variable that has been conceptually defined and measured both narrowly and broadly. In the narrow sense, it has been defined and measured in terms of any one of its many aspects-that is, a variety of attitudes and beliefs that in some sense reflect a "positive attitude about work" (Cherrington 1980, p. 19). In the broader sense, responses to attitudinal questions have been combined into a single measure that purports to be a collective representation of the work ethic. The individual components typi­ cally include, for example, beliefs about the moral superiority of hard work over leisure or idleness, craft pride over carelessness, sacrifice over profligacy, earned over unearned income, and positive over negative attitudes toward work. Perhaps most importantly, the variety of attitudinal questions almost always includes beliefs about the extent to which hard work leads to success-for example, "anyone who is able and willing to work hard has a good chance at succeeding," "people who fail at a job have not tried hard enough," and "if a man works hard enough, he is likely to make a good life for himself" (Mirels and Garrett 1971, pp. 40-44). There are, of course, numerous measures (e.g., Buchholz 1978, Cherrington 1980, and Mirels and Garrett 1971), but most tend to be variations upon these same essential themes. However meritorious a multidimensional measure may be, it does not shed light on what dimensions of the work ethic, if any, are related to success in the labor market. As Cherrington (1980, pp. 20-21) has noted: " ...when talking about the work ethic, people could be referring to any of these attitudes. The concept is so difficult to understand because so many different ideas are thrown together. Although they might be related in the value systems of most people, these ideas need to be studied separately." Moreover, the most useful (lata bases for studying the economics of the work ethic-those with large national samples which provide longitudinal measurements of attitudes, work histories, and control variables­ were not designed specifically for this purpose. They therefore do not contain measures of every aspect of a concept that has been so broadly and oftentimes loosely defined as "the work ethic." Accordingly, and because there is no consensus as to the best or COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 103

most appropriate way to measure the strength ot individuals· commit­ ment to the work ethic, our approach is to summarize empirical research that focuses on any one or more of the many work-related attitudes and beliefs noted above that have been used to reflect an individual's commitment to the work ethic or a particular aspect of it. These include commitment to work,1 "intrinsic" vs. "extrinsic" orientation toward work,2 beliefs about whether hard work leads to success,3 aspirations to achieve in the labor market,4 attitudes toward the propriety of women and mothers working in the market vs. at home,5 and favorable vs. unfavorable attitudes toward one's work.6 The measures of "labor market success" are on the whole considerably more straightforward. We include in this review any of the aspects of labor market experience that are generally acknowl­ edged to reflect an individual's relative standing in the labor market and that may reasonably be regarded as proxies for productive efficiency-for example, earnings, occupational attainment, unem­ ployment, and labor force participation. The exclusion of noneco­ nomic aspects of labor market success is based on the judgment that

1 This is typically measured by responses to such questions as the following: "If by some chance you were to get enough money to live comfortably without working, do you think that you would work anyway?" 2 This is typically measured by responses to such questions as the following: "What would you say is the more imr.ortant thing about any job-good wages or liking the kind of work you are doing? ' Resl?,onses suggesting that work is important in its own right are classified as an "intrinsic ' orientation, while responses suggesting that work is more important for its instrumental utility are classified as "extrinsic." 3 Beliefs about whether hard work leads to success are typically measured by responses to such statements as: (a) "Becoming a success is a matter of bard work; luck bas little or nothing to do with it." (b) "What happens to me is my own doing." (c) "Most misfortunes are the result of lack of ability, ignorance, laziness, or all three." At times, responses to statements phrased in the first person are distinguished from those in the third person, since some individuals may feel differently about the efficacy of hard work for themselves as opposed to people in general. See Andrisani (1978, Cb. 4) for a further discussion of this distinction and its importance. 4 The occupational aspirations of youths are typically measured by responses to such questions as the following: "What kind of work would you like to be doing when you are 30 years old?" Responses are usually coded in terms of detailed Census occupational categories and oftentimes transformed further into hierarchical measures of occupational status using such indices as the Duncan Index of Occupational Status. They are frequently followed up by questions about the respondent's confidence in achieving the aspirations. See, for example, Andrisani (1978, Cb. 5) who uses NLS data in this manner. 5 These, too, are often measured in a variety of ways, and frequently with a distinction between a woman's ethic toward market work for women and mothers in general, as opposed to her ethic toward market work for herself. See the National Longitudinal Surveys Handbook (1982) for a discussion of the variety of questions on this subject available in the NLS. 6 These, too, are often measured in a variety of ways. See the National Longitudi­

nal Surveys Handbook (19• 82) for a listing of the items available in one major survey to measure them. 104 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS the social and psychological consequences of individuals' stated commitment to the work ethic are irrelevant to productivity unless they are reflected in one or more of the economic measures.

Recent Empirical Research: Would an Eroding Work Ethic Matter?

PSID Studies Perhaps the most vocal spokesmen for the belief that there is little connection between attitudinal measures of the work ethic and measures of economic success are James Morgan and his colleagues at the University of Michigan. Their research, based on the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), has consistently shown "little evidence that individual attitudes and behavior patterns affect individual economic progress" (1974, p. 339). For example, using data from the first five waves of the PSID for the entire sample, for the low-income members only, and for a number of large subgroups as well, changes in poverty status and in several measures of income were regressed on a set of demographic and work ethic attitudinal characteristics-for example, beliefs about the efficacy of hard work for success. Morgan (1974, p. 338) concluded that the work ethic attitudes of individuals: . . . affect almost none of the components of economic status and their change over time. It is not merely that these measures failed to show up for the entire sample of families either by themselves or when other variables were taken into account; they also failed to affect any of the important subgroups of the population. Insofar as we have segregated important subgroups, some of whom may have some opportunities to make adjustments in their situations, the negative evidence is impressive. Similar conclusions were reached on the basis of data from the sixth and seventh waves of the PSID relating to annual labor income of the household head, hourly earnings, annual earnings, and total family income relative to needs (Lane and Morgan 1975, Morgan 1976). Furthermore, in 11 separate tests among employed male heads of households, Duncan and Morgan (1981a) found no relation­ ship whatsoever between measures of work ethic and 1971-1978 change in hourly earnings, annual earnings, family income, and family income relative to needs. In five sepaFate tests for female COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 105 heads of households, they also observed no relationship between work ethic and 1971-1978 growth of family income, in either absolute terms or relative to needs. Still further, in a study of young men, Duncan (1979) found that those blacks who in 1971 reported a firmer belief in the importance of hard work had less growth in earnings between 1971 and 1976 than comparable blacks attaching lesser importance to the efficacy of hard work. A positive and significant relationship was observed for young whites, but this and two others (Duncan and Hill 1975, and Duncan and Morgan 1981 b) were the only PSID studies that observed any effects of aspects of the work ethic on subsequent changes in economic status. Even in these cases the effects were reported to be quite small and inconsistent with other findings on the subject in the same studies. In sum, according to Duncan and Morgan (1981b), PSID studies have shown almost no relationship between any aspect of the work ethic and labor market experience-either bivariate or multivariate, either cross-sectional or longitudinal, for either the full PSID sample or for important subgroups. Thus, their evidence leads to no expectation of any productivity effect of a change in the strength of the work ethic.

Evidence from NLS Studies Studies based on other longitudinal data sets both by economists and by sociologists and psychologists have led to quite different conclusions. At a National Commission for Manpower Policy con­ ference reviewing findings from the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS), Arvil V. Adams (1976, pp. 74-75) reported that NLS data: " ...have given strong support to the importance of attitudes in labor market behavior. Among these attitudes are the commitment to work and its relation to labor force participation; job satisfaction and its relation to interfirm mobility; and initiative and its relation to earnings and other dimensions of labor market success." Similarly, in his review of the major findings from the NLS, Herbert Parnes (1976, pp. 47-48) reported that older male workers with a strong work ethic-measured in terms of their commitment to work-subsequently improved their employment situations more than ostensibly comparable men with weaker commitment to the work ethic. Moreover, using a different measure of the work ethic-beliefs about the extent to which hard work leads to success- 106 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS such relationships were observed for black as well as white older inen, and for workers who remained with the same employer as well as those who shifted jobs. Andrisani (1977), using the same measure of strength of the work ethic, has shown similar relationships for young black and white men as well. Furthermore, Parnes (1976, pp. 50-51) notes that young women's beliefs about the relative impor­ tance of work in the market vs. home as measured before marriage are related to their labor force participation after becoming mothers several years later. Strong inverse relationships between a simple measure of com­ mitment to work and subsequent inclination to retire early among men in their forties and fifties have also been demonstrated with NLS data: " ...for example men (45 to 59 years of age) who in 1966 manifested a low commitment to the work role were, other things being equal, almost twice as likely to have retired by 1971 as those with high work commitment" (Parnes 1976, pp. 50-51). Similarly, other things being equal, the likelihood of early retirement during the next five years was significantly related to unfavorable attitudes expressed toward their jobs in 1966 (Parnes 1976, pp. 50-51). Andrisani's (1978) studies with NLS data examined the effects of several aspects of the work ethic on labor market success, as well as the issue of whether labor market success influences individuals' commitment to the work ethic. His analysis provides additional evidence that a number of facets of the work ethic have substantial labor market consequences-both for individuals and in the aggre­ gate, and particularly for youths, women, and older workers. For example, male youths who perceived payoffs to hard work and initiative subsequently experienced greater labor market success than their counterparts who perceived lower payoffs to their efforts (Andrisani 1978, Ch. 4). The same was also true for women and older workers. For example, white and black young men who in 1968 believed that hard work pays off were in better occupations and had higher earnings two years later than comparable youths with a weaker work ethic. Moreover, subscribers to the work ethic in both race groups outdistanced their counterparts both in growth of hourly earnings and in occupational advancement. The magnitude of the relationships reported by Andrisani (1977, p. 317; 1978, Ch. 4; 1981b, pp. 663-64) is clearly economically meaningful. For example, a COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 107 single point on a 13-point work ethic scale, which is only one-fourth of the way between "slightly" committed to the work ethic and "slightly" not, was equivalent to at least a full year of seniority and a full year of experience in the labor market in its effects on hourly earnings, annual earnings, occupational attainment, and changes over time in each of these aspects of labor market success. The findings are thus consistent with those of the Coleman Report (1966), which found that differences in these same attitudes about the importance of effort and hard work in attaining success were an important factor in explaining achievement among black youths. In fact, they were more important than all of the differences in school quality and family background combined. Differences among otherwise comparable workers in other aspects of the work ethic-for example, aspirations to achieve in the labor market, the belief that one's efforts will lead to the achieve­ ment of one's career goals, commitment to work, "intrinsic" vs. "extrinsic" orientation toward work, attitudes toward the relative importance of work in the market vs. home, and positive attitudes toward work-were also shown to be related to subsequent labor market experience (Andrisani 1978, Cbs. 5 and 2). In particular, young men with high aspirations enjoyed greater increases in annual earnings over the next three years than comparable youths who were less ambitious in their labor market goals. The aspirations of young white men to achieve in the labor market were also related to movement up the occupational ladder, to advancement in hourly earnings, to pursuit of formal occupational training, and to fewer weeks of unemployment. Among the black youths, however, and perhaps reflecting the effects of labor market discrimination in reducing the returns to a strong work ethic, only the relationship with the acquisition of formal occupational training prevailed. When the aspect of the work ethic is belief that one's effort will lead to attainment of one's own occupational goals, those who held such beliefs subsequently advanced to higher rungs on the occupa­ tional ladder than comparable youths with lesser faith in the efficacy of their efforts. In addition, the increase in their annual earnings over the next three years exceeded that of youths with a weaker work ethic by $825 to $ll50, depending on race, and they experienced three to four fewer weeks of unemployment. These relationships between work ethic and labor market success 108 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

are not confined to youth. Middle-aged men who were highly committed to work in 1966 had larger increases in hourly earnings, were less likely to encounter unemployment or to spend time out of the labor force, and were more likely to make a voluntary change of employer and receive formal occupational training over the next five years than comparable workers less highly committed to work. Among women, favorable attitudes toward work outside the home, commitment to work, and "intrinsic" orientation toward work were also associated with favorable subsequent labor market experiences. Since only women who worked in the labor market throughout the 1967-1971 period were included in most of the analyses, these effects generally ignore the (positive) effect of work ethic beliefs on the decision to work in the labor market itself. Finally, Andrisani's (1978, Ch. 2) evidence also suggests that negative attitudes toward work impose considerable costs on youths, women, and older workers in the forms of increased unemploy­ ment, decreased labor force participation, and below-average growth in annual earnings. Even among workers who did not change employers, Andrisani found that workers unfavorably dis­ posed toward their jobs were less likely than comparable workers who registered more positive attitudes to enjoy improvements in occupational status and earnings. Among those who changed em­ ployers, workers with negative attitudes generally suffered above­ average amounts of unemployment. The evidence thus suggests that negative attitudes often lead to reduced productivity and to less carefully planned mobility than that which characterizes comparable workers who are more favorably disposed toward their work. A number of other recent studies based on NLS data have come to essentially the same conclusion about the importance of various aspects of the work ethic. Becker and Hills (1980, 1981), for example, have shown that teenagers who perceived little payoff to hard work in 1968 had both lower earnings and longer periods of unemployment seven years later than ostensibly comparable youths who perceived greater payoffs to hard work. They also report that racial differences in these attitudes, although slight, account for a substantial portion of the racial differences in youth unemployment experience. Similarly, but for older men, Kalachek and Raines (1976) found strong relationships between these same attitudes and earnings, even in equations that included statistical controls for a COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 109 wide array of occupational and industrial variables and a host of human capital and demographic factors. In NLS studies of women, Statham and Rhoton (1981) found that the work ethic of married women was systematically linked to the number of weeks worked in the labor market over the next ten years, and Rudis, Macke, and Hayward (1981) likewise found that aspects of young women's work ethic affected their subsequent tendency to work outside the home. In other studies along the same lines, Statham and Larrick (1980) found that married women's perceptions of their responsibilities for financial support of their families were strongly related to their subsequent earnings, and Shaw (1979, p. 24) found that "changing family composition and changing attitudes toward women's roles were the most important factors contributing to the trend toward greater work attachment" among women over the 1966--1976 period. Freeman (1978) and Borjas (1979) have also used NLS data to show the economic importance of negative attitudes toward work, and Applebaum and Koppel (1978, pp. 206--207) report the follow­ ing:

...attitudes formed prior to labor force participation often continue to affect the experiences of young men and women during their early years at work. Among the women, the findings indicate that those who express a greater commitment to market work have lower hourly wages and lower annual earnings in the initial postschool period. The interpretation of this result is that these women are accepting jobs in which entry-level wages are lower but in which opportunities for training and advancement are greater ....Among the young men, occupational aspira­ tions affect the job status and the amount of unemployment of both races. Among blacks, they also influence income. Expectations of achieving one's occupational aspirations affect the job status and earnings of whites and the unemployment of whites and blacks. Finally, the type of work motivation is important to the amount of unemploy­ ment and, to some degree, to blacks' earnings.

These findings, in the main, are consistent with those previously summarized and with the conclusions of a recent research volume on this subject by Raelin (1980). They are also consistent with the 110 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS findings of Sandell and Shapiro (1980) that young women's prefer­ ences for future labor force participation vs. work in the home are significantly related to their subsequent accumulation of human capital and, hence, earnings growth. Similarly, Sandell (1977, p. 385) found that "the frequent omission of [work ethic] attitudinal vari­ ables in empirical estimates of labor supply functions probably yields upward biased estimates of own-wage elasticities." This is because women's attitudes toward the relative importance of work in the market vs. the home were found to be strongly related to both wages and labor force participation in the period following the birth of a first child. The fact that virtually all of the NLS studies reviewed above have used multivariate and longitudinal analyses increases our confidence that the observed relationships between various mea­ sures of the work ethic and labor market success are not reflecting the effects of associated background, human capital, or demograph­ ic factors, or a causal relationship that runs in the opposite direc­ tion-that is, from labor market experience to strength of the work ethic. Indeed, there is considerable reason to believe that these findings may understate the effects of the strength of the work ethic on degree of labor market success, since it usually has not been possible to isolate the indirect effects of the work ethic via invest­ ments that individuals make in education and other forms of human capital. Nor has it been possible to estimate the extent to which the effects of the work ethic are understated by using such crude and simplistic, and thus inherently less reliable, measures of the work ethic as are available in the NLS.

Other Evidence Finally, it should be noted that these NLS findings are generally consistent with those of sociologists and psychologists using data other than PSID or NLS-for example, Sewell and Hauser (1975), Alexander and Eckland (1974), Sewell, Haller, and Ohlendorf (1970), Sewell, Haller, and Portes (1969), Sewell and Shah (1967, 1968), and Schumann and Johnson ( 1976). Although the social psychological variables that these studies focus upon are not neces­ sarily equivalent to measures of the work ethic, they are related and similar and, hence, of relevance. Studies of Wisconsin youths, for instance, have led Sewell and Hauser (1975, p. 111) to conclude that " ...the inclusion of the social psychological variables has resulted in COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 111 a more complete explication of the attainment process in the educational, occupational, and economic spheres." Similarly, a long line of research by Melvin Kohn (1981, 1982) and his associates at the National Institute of Mental Health has convincingly demonstrated that attitudinal variables similar to indi­ viduals' beliefs about the work ethic are related to their subsequent behavior and attainments at work. And the numerous motivational theories of industrial psychologists-for example, "expectancy theory" -as well as the work of Herbert Simon, are all rooted in a firm belief that individuals' work ethic attitudes are crucial deter­ minants of their workplace behavior and performance (Simon 1947, March and Simon 1958, Cyert and March 1963, Vroom 1964, Porter and Lawler 1968).

Reconciling the PSID and NLS Evidence How can one account for the apparent inconsistency between the PSID evidence and that produced by other data sets on the importance of individuals' commitment to the work ethic? The issue has been the subject of a recent debate between Duncan and Morgan (1981b) and Andrisani (1981b). Briefly, the differences in findings may stem from the differences in sample selection, measure­ ment of the attitudes, coding of responses, and measurement of labor market success-particularly whether family or individual outcomes are measured and whether outcomes other than changes in earnings are included. Perhaps most importantly, they may also stem from the age differences between the NLS cohorts and the PSID sample. That is, unlike the PSID, the NLS cohorts do not include prime-aged males; thus, NLS respondents could possibly be in those particular stages of the life cycle where the strength of the work ethic matters most. Whatever the case, Morgan and his associates have recently been awarded a grant to use PSID as well as other data to reanalyze "the reciprocal relationship between attitudes and economic outcomes, allowing for measurement problems" and focusing on age-sex-race groups more similar to the NLS and different from those used in past PSID studies (Gurin et al. 1982, pp. i-12). Morgan and his colleagues thus appear still to harbor some doubts they described nearly a decade ago (Morgan et al. 1974, p. 339): "Perhaps we have not measured the right things or have not measured them well enough.Perhaps we have not isolated the autonomous groups for whom 112 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS individual factors can show their effects and not be dominated by other factors .... It is after all difficult to believe that there are not some situations where individual effort matters."

The Effect of Labor Market Experience on Individuals' Work Ethic The causal link between an individual's commitment to the work ethic and his or her economic success in the labor market is intuitively plausible. No less so is the belief that an influence may flow in the opposite direction as well-that is, that favorable labor market experiences may encourage (and unfavorable experiences discourage) commitment to the work ethic. A number of recent studies using longitudinal data have examined this issue, and with a considerable degree of consensus. Studies with NLS data on men 14-24 years of age provide evidence that unfavorable labor market experiences early in work careers can have an adverse effect on their work ethic, thereby reducing their chances of establishing stable and successful employ­ ment careers (Taggart and Davidson 1978, pp. 87-112). Moreover, the unfavorable experiences appear to stem from barriers to compe­ tition in the labor market, since they afflict young men who are ostensibly comparable to more successful youths-even in terms of their commitment to the work ethic prior to the occurrence of the unfavorable employment experience. Both white and black youths who were out of school and in more prestigious occupations in 1966, for example, and those who advanced the most occupationally over the next three years, raised their aspirations to achieve in the labor market between 1966 and 1969, while those initially in low-status jobs, and those who advanced the least or who were demoted, became less ambitious in terms of their labor market goals (Taggart and Davidson 1978, pp. 87-112). Furthermore, for this same NLS cohort of youths and for their female counterparts as well, there is evidence that negative attitudes toward work are correlated with real disparities in occupational attainment and promotional opportunities (Andrisani 1978, Chs. 2 and 3). Youths who attained higher status jobs and received promo­ tions as they moved through the labor market during the late 1960s (holding constant the income and security afforded by the jobs) were less inclined than otherwise comparable youths to have or ' develop negative attitudes toward their work. Thus, labor market COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 113 imperfections that cause comparable youths to vary widely in occupational attainment and promotions seem at least partially responsible for the negative attitudes that some youths develop toward work. A more comprehensive study of youths in their teens and twenties examined changes during the 1966--1976 period in several dimensions of the work ethic: aspirations to achieve in the labor market, commitment to work, and beliefs about the relationship between hard work and success-both for the youths themselves and for society at large (Andrisani 1981a, 1980). The sample for this study was restricted to out-of-school youths with 13 or fewer years of schooling in order to focus on the group most likely to encounter difficulties in making a successful transition from school to work. The findings support the generalization that the wide variation in the quality of early labor market experience among ostensibly comparable youths is systematically related to changes in the strength of their work ethic. More specifically, number of weeks of unemployment, number of weeks worked, wages, changes in wages, occupational status, and changes in occupational status over time all have some effect on the youths' commitment to the work ethic. To illustrate: those with the most unemployment and the fewest weeks worked generally experi­ enced the greatest weakening of the work ethic. Movement into lower paying jobs and failure to advance out of them also led to antiwork attitudes, while movement out of lower paying and into better paying ones had the opposite effect. By far the strongest links between labor market experience and work ethic, however, were seen in the data on occupational standing and advancement. Youths in lower status jobs at the beginning of the period, and those who moved into lower status jobs during the period, were more likely than comparable youths in more favorable occupational circum­ stances to lower their labor market ambitions and to decrease their commitment to the work ethic. Conversely, being in or advancing into the more prestigious occupations was associated with a strength­ ening of the work ethic. Analogous studies based on the NLS cohort of older men are also noteworthy because they suggest that the strength of the work ethic is not impervious to changes in labor market circumstances, even at later stages of the life cycle. In one such study (Parnes et al. 1975, Ch. 6), changes in beliefs about the payoffs to hard work over a 114 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS two-year period were found to be associated with upward occupa­ tional mobility, improvement in annual earnings, and the absence of unemployment. In a second study (Andrisani 1978, Ch. 4), changes in several aspects of the work ethic of older men were also seen to be linked to changes in their labor market circumstances. With respect to the NLS cohort of older women, Shaw (1981, p. 249) reports that women with nontraditional attitudes toward market work are more likely to work outside the home than those with more traditional attitudes, and "there appears to be some feedback from work experience [outside the home] to attitudes for both the women themselves and their husbands." Similarly, Spitze and Waite (1980) report that the sex-role attitudes and tastes for market work of young women are affected by early labor market experiences, especially earnings, even as these aspects of the work ethic them­ selves influence later labor market experience. The same authors in a later study (Spitze and Waite 1981b) have also found that labor market experiences influence changes in the preferences of young women for work in the labor market. Macke et al. (1978) also report that employment and aspects of the work ethic have longitudinal feedback effects upon each other, but the influence from labor market experience to attitudes is stronger than that operating in the opposite direction. Following upon this work, Statham and Rhoton (1981, p. 166) concluded, on the basis of a study of the NLS older women, that, "While the effect of work activity on attitudes is substantial and may even be getting larger, the impact of attitudes on work activity is becoming smaller and less significant." A methodological refinement was introduced in a study by Ferree (1981), which also built upon the earlier study by Macke et al. (1978) but accounted for the effects of measurement error. The Ferree study confirmed the existence of reciprocal effects of aspects of the work ethic and labor market experience, but, in contrast to the findings of Macke et al. (1978), reported that sex-role "attitudes seem to have more effect on subsequent employ­ ment than vice versa" (Ferree 1981, p. 15). This issue remains unsettled and appears to be a fruitful direction for future research. A variety of studies based on other data sources have also explored the reciprocal relationships between work ethic and work experience. Using PSID data and also allowing for measurement error, Duncan and Liker (1982) and Augustyniak, Duncan, and Liker (1983) estimated a set of models examining the reciprocal relation- COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 115 ships between earnings and one aspect of the work ethic-beliefs about the payoffs to work. Their results, consistent with an earlier analysis with PSID data by Duncan and Hill (1975) showed larger effects of changes in annual earnings on changes in belief in the payoffs to work than vice versa. In a very recent and important article in this same vein, Kohn and Schooler (1982) exploit longitudinal data for a national sample to demonstrate the existence of reciprocal effects between a wide variety of job conditions and a number of dimensions of workers' attitudes and beliefs, including some that are similar to aspects of the work ethic:

Almost every facet of self-conception and social orien­ tation we have examined affects at least one job condition . . . they demonstrate that the personalities of workers sooner or later do affect their conditions of work ....We now have strong evidence that job conditions actually do affect personality, and also that personality affects job conditions. Moreover these reciprocal processes are em­ bedded in an intricate and complex web. (Pp. 1275-81)

Kahn's previous studies of the reciprocal effects of work environ­ ment and workers' attitudes and beliefs provide additional evidence (for citations, see Kohn and Schooler 1982). In most cases, they utilize confirmatory factor analysis and multivariate models that account for simultaneity of relationships and measurement error. Along similar lines, Goodwin and Wilson's (1979) data showed that intentions to become economically independent were affected by previous work histories, and Bachman and O'Malley's (1977) longi­ tudinal study of youths showed that loss of employment lowered youths' perceptions of self-esteem.

Conclusions Our review of the literature can be summarized briefly as follows: the strength of individuals' commitment to the work ethic affects various measures of their success in the labor market, even as favorable labor market experiences have feedback effects on the extent to which individuals are committed to the work ethic. These findings are not inconsistent with the conclusions of Denison (1979), Kendrick (1982), or Perloff and Wachter (1982) denying an eroding work ethic as a source of recent slowdowns in productivity growth, 116 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS since these authors have not shown that the work ethic is unrelated to productivity, but have simply argued that the work ethic (and other unmeasurables) have apparently not changed enough to have had an appreciable effect. This conclusion, incidentally, is lent some support by the very high levels of positive attitudes toward work reported by Yankelo­ vich (1982) : 88 percent of all American workers feel it is personally important to work hard and to do their best jobs, 78 percent report an inner need to do their very best regardless of pay, and 75 percent would prefer to work even if they could live comfortably without working for the rest of their lives. It is also consistent with NLS data on the subject reported by Andrisani (1978, Chs. 2-5, 7). The belief that there are reciprocal relationships between com­ mitment to the work ethic and labor market success can be held with considerable confidence, for most of the evidence on which it rests comes from studies that have used extensive controls for the effects of a wide variety of other factors that are likely to be correlated with labor market experience and strength of the work ethic. Moreover, the studies reviewed here have been largely based on longitudinal analysis that has allowed the ambiguities about direction of causation that plague cross-sectional analysis to be substantially reduced, if not completely eliminated. Nevertheless, there remain a number of uncertainties for future research to grapple with. For one thing, the magnitude and the precise character of the reciprocal relationships that have been described remain in doubt; an important element of the uncertainty stems from the fact that many studies have used only limited facets of what might be regarded as a complete measure of strength of the work ethic. Future research should consider various aspects of the work ethic individually as well as collectively, since effects on labor market experience may vary depending on the specific facet under investigation. Similarly, labor market experience may affect some aspects of the work ethic but not others. While the existence of a feedback from work experience to work ethic seems well supported by empirical evidence, there are a number of additional and specific concerns that should temper one's confidence in any quantitative estimate. First,relative differences in the degree of measurement error between attitudinal and nonatti­ tudinal variables may affect the results (Ferree 1981, Andrisani 1978, Ch. 4). Second, NLS data show that age, sex, and race differences in COMMITMENT TO THE WORK ETHIC 117 several aspects of the work ethic are minimal, whereas they would surely be substantial if the work ethic were predominantly shaped by current or recent labor market experiences (Andrisani 1978, Cbs. 4, 5, and 1981b, pp. 660-61; Taggart and Davidson 1978). Third, NLS data also show that at least some aspects of the work ethic are insensitive to the major experience of crossing the threshold from school to work (Andrisani 1978, p. 174). Fourth, the parameter estimates observed in many of the studies, while statistically signifi­ cant, are quite small (e.g., Andrisani 1978, Ch. 4, and 1981a; Parnes et a!. 1975, Ch. 6). All of these matters require further attention. Whatever their limitations, the research findings have implica­ tions for public policy. As has been seen, they suggest that strength of commitment to the work ethic is an important element in conditioning successful adaptation to the labor market by both younger and older workers of both sexes. But the feedback effect of labor market experience on the work ethic means that the work ethic of individuals is not beyond the reach of public policy measures; it may be nurtured and cultivated by labor market policies that increase the payoffs to individual initiative and effort. Thus, public policy should at the very least be mindful of the potential influence on individuals' commitment to the work ethic and not itself contribute to its erosion. Public policy must seek to avoid loose labor markets and to attempt to offset their effects when they occur, so that workers of all ages will be able to expect payoffs to individual effort, hard work, and investments in skills over the course of the life cycle.

References

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Gurin, G., J. Morgan, M. Hill, P. Bowman, M. Corcoran, G. Duncan, and J. Liker. Motivation and Economic Mobility of the Poor: Intragenerational and Intergener­ ational Effects on Individuals and Families. Grant application to the Office of the Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in Response to Their Request for a Transfer Policy Study of Motivation and Economic Mobility of the Poor, 1982. , Hoerr, John. "A Warning That Worker Discontent is Rising." Business Week (June 4, 1979), pp. 152, 156. Hudis, Paula M., Anne S. Macke, and Mark D. Hayward. "A Longitudinal Model of Sex-Role Attitudes, Labor Force Participation and Childbearing." Columbus: Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, 1981. Mimeo. Kalachek, Edward, and Fredric Raines. "The Structure of Wage Differences Among Mature Male Workers." Journal of Human Resources 11 (Fall 1976), pp. 484-506. Kendrick, John W. "Survey of the Factors Contributing to the Decline in U.S. Productivity Growth." Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (1982), pp. 1-25. Kohn, Melvin L. "Personality, Occupation, and Social Stratification: A Frame of Reference." In Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, eds. Donald J. Treiman and Robert V. Robinson. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1981. Pp. 267-97. Kohn, Melvin L., and Carmi Schooler. "Job Conditions and Personality: A Longitudi­ nal Assessment of Their Reciprocal Effects." American Journal of Sociology 87 (1982), pp. 1257-86. Lane, Jonathan P., and James N. Morgan. "Patterns of Change in Economic Status and Family Structure." In Five Thousand American Families-Patterns of Economic Progress, Vol. II, eds. Greg J. Duncan and James N. Morgan. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1975. Macke, Anne, et al. "Sex-Role Attitudes and Employment Among Women: A Dynamic Model of Continuity and Change." In Women's Changing Roles at Home and On the Job, ed. Isabel Sawhill. Special Report No. 26. Washington: National Commission for Employment Policy, 1978. March, J., and H. Simon. Organizations. New York: Wiley, 1958. Mirels, Herbert L., and James B. Garrett. "The Protestant Ethic as a Personality Variable." Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 36 (1971), pp. 40-44. Morgan, James N. "A Seven-Year Check on the Possible Effects of Attitudes, Motives and Behavior Patterns on Change in Economic Status." In Five Thousand American Families-Patterns of Economic Progress, Vol. IV, eds. Greg J. Duncan and James N. Morgan. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1976. ----=---· "Multiple Motives, Group Decisions, Uncertainty, Ignorance, and Con­ fusion: A Realistic Economics of the Consumer Requires Some Psychology." American Economic Review 68 (May 1978), pp. 58-63. Morgan, James N., et al., eds. Five Thousand American Families-Patterns of Economic Progress, Vol. I. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1974. National Longitudinal Surveys Handbook. Columbus: Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, 1982. Parnes, Herbert S., Arvil V. Adams, Paul J. Andrisani, Andrew I. Kohen, and Gilbert Nestel. The Pre-Retirement Years, Vol. IV. Manpower Research Monograph No. 15. Washington: U.S. Department of Labor, 1975. Parnes, Herbert S. "The National Longitudinal Surveys: Lessons for Human Resource Policy." In Current Issues in the Relationship Between Manpower Research and Policy. Special Report No. 7. Washington: National Commission for Manpower Policy, 1976. Pp. 25-71. Perloff, Jeffrer, M., and Michael L. Wachter. "The Productivity Slowdown: A Labor Problem? ' Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (1982), pp. 115-42. Porter, L., and E. Lawler III. Managerial Attitudes and Performance. Homewood, Ill.: Irwin-Dorsey, 1968. Raelin, Joseph A. Building a Career: The Effect of Initial Job Experience and Related Work Attitudes on Later Employment. Kalamazoo, Mich.: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 1980. 120 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Sandell, Steven J. "Attitudes Toward Market Work and the Effect of Wage Rates on the Lifetime Labor Supply of Married Women." Journal of Human Resources 12 (Summer 1977), pp. 379--86. Sandell, Steven J., and David Shapiro. "Work Exr,ectations, Human Capital Accumu­ lation, and the Wages of Young Women. ' Journal of Human Resources 15 (Summer 1980),, pp. 335-53. Schumann, Howard, and Michael P. Johnson. "Attitudes and Behavior." In Annual Reviews 2, eds. A. lnkeles, J. Coleman, and B. Smelson (1976), pp. 161-207. Sewell, William H., A. Haller, and A. Partes. "The Educational and Early Occupa­ tional Attainment Process." American Sociological Review 34 (February 1969), pp. 82-91. Sewell, William H., A. Haller and G. Ohlendorf. 'The Educational and Early Occupational Attainment Process: Replication and Review." American Socio­ logical Review 35 (December 1970), pp. 1014-27. Sewell, William H., and Robert Hauser. Education, Occupation, and Earnings. New York: Academic Press, 1975. Sewell, William H., and V. P. Shaw. "Socioeconomic Status, Intelligence and the Attainment of Higher Education." Sociology of Higher Education 40 (Winter 1967), pp. 1-23. ----· "Parents' Education and Children's Educational Aspirations and Achieve­ ments." American Sociological Review 33 (April 1968), pp. 191-209. Shaw, Lois B. Changes in the Work Attachment of Married Women, 1966-1976. Columbus: Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, 1979. Shaw, Lois B. ed. Dual Careers: A Decade of Changes in the Lives of Mature Men. Columbus: Center for Human Resources Research, Ohio State University, February 1981. Simon, Herbert. Administrative Behavior. New York: Macmillan, 1947. Spitze, Glenna D., and Linda J. Waite. "Labor Force and Work Attitudes: Young Women's Early Experiences." Sociology of Work and Occupations 7 (February 1980), pp. 3-32. ----,,----:· "Wives' Employment: The Role of Husbands' Perceived Attitudes." Journal of Marriage and the Family (February 1981a), pp. 117-24. ----- · "Young Women's Preferences for Market Work.' Research in Population Economics 3 (1981b), pp. 147-66. Statham, A., and D. Larrick. Perceived Responsibility for the Family's Financial Support and Women's Occupational Success. Columbus: Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, 1980. Statham, A., and P. Rhoton. "Attitudes Toward Women Working: Changes Over Time and Implications for the Labor Force Behaviors of Husbands and Wives." In Dual Careers V, ed. Lois B. Shaw. Columbus: Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State University, February 1981. Taggart, R., and N. Davidson. Conference Report on Youth Unemployment: Its Measurement and Meaning. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1978. Pp. 87-112. Vroom, V. Work and Motivation. New York: Wiley, 1964. Yankelovich, Daniel. "Does the American Work Ethic Work?" Chicago Tribune, May 16, 1982, Section 2. CHAPTER 7

The Work Ethic: An I nternationa I Perspective*

OLIVER CLARKE Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

A comparative study of the work ethic faces formidable difficul­ ties. The concept itself is hard to define. The great differences between countries' social systems, traditions, and degrees of indus­ trial development compound the difficulty. There is no agreed form of measurement reflecting the work ethic itself or even its major components. There is a lack of comparability amongst most of those indicators which might be thought to yield at least secondary evidence. And the work ethic itself forms only part of the wide­ ranging systems of values that people hold individually and demon­ strate in their wider societal relationships. Yet changes in the work ethic have important implications for styles of management (not forgetting that managerial work ethics are liable to change, as well as those of blue- and white-collar workers), industrial organization, national economic performance, and social harmony. The consequences of such changes are impor­ tant to the well-being of workers themselves. It seems desirable to try to understand what changes are taking place and the reasons for them, both as between countries and within countries over time. The present chapter suggests one way of looking at the subject and tries to bring together some of the more useful sources of evidence available. Nevertheless, to make even this apparently modest task manageable, it will confine itself almost entirely to evidence from the advanced industrial market-economy democra­ cies (and particularly those for which evidence is reasonably easily accessible in English and French), though study of the work ethic in

• The views expressed in thischapter are theauthor's and are not necessarily those of the OECD. 121 122 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS centrally-planned economies and in developing countries would be likely to be no less rewarding. Lastly, attention will be focused on work in employment, and no attempt will be made to explore work in the home. It is not necessary to repeat here the history of views about work as they developed from their largely Greek, Roman, and Judaic origins, as analyzed by Tilgher (1931) and de Grazia (1962) and many writers since, and more or less common to all the countries considered here except Japan. Suffice it to say that the long­ established and largely still prevailing notion in all of these countries is that for most people, work is an activity necessary to achieve even a humble standard of living, that through it the worker secures a certain status in society, and that it can satisfy both the creative need and the need to be associated with others in carrying out a purposeful task. These positive values are mirrored in the loss of self-esteem and the isolation that often follow loss of a job. The work ethic will be regarded here as the bundle of values, beliefs, intentions, and objectives that people bring to their work and the conditions in which they do it. How can this concept be assessed? There seem to be three com­ plementary approaches towards an informative, if rough, indicator. Firstly, the direct but subjective: what people say about work in response to surveys of workers' attitudes or wider public opinion surveys which, as lnglehart (1977, p. 27) has pointed out, may not be an ideal instrument with which to study basic attitudes and values, yet has certain advantages. Secondly, the indirect but objective: an assessment of the evidence of workers' actions, such as their decisions to enter employment, to absent themselves, or to transfer to other jobs; their willingness to undertake training; their quitting the labor force, by retirement or otherwise; their propensity to leave certain jobs to immigrant labor; and other indicators of acceptability or dislike of work. Thirdly, more indirectly: the objective collective evidence from changes in conditions selected by workers as objec­ tives, made by managements to meet perceived relevant needs, or initiated by governments in response to needs voiced by the public or by organized groups, or to maintain or improve industrial efficien­ cy, or as a contribution to social progress, be it by legislation or by encouragement, fiscally or through a state-financed or subsidized agency. Each of the subindicators selected reflects a different facet of the THE WORK ETHIC : AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 123 work ethic and either has been subject to measurement or has given rise to observable social movements. Clearly, they do not add up to a measure of the work ethic itself, but if their general trend is in the same direction there is at least an inference that the work ethic is moving in that direction. If the trend is the same across all countries, considered, it suggests common causation; if different, it invites enquiry as to the roots of the differences. These three approaches will be considered in turn. No claim is made that the presentation is much more than impressionistic, but it offers a start on a subject which has hitherto not received much attention on a comparative basis.

Subjective Attitudes Information about workers' attitudes and views is available from government-sponsored, employer, academic, and general public opinion surveys, and from workers' own accounts of their work, reported or self-told. The mass of data is very difficult to evaluate as the populations covered, the questions asked, and the methodology employed vary enormously. There are linguistic difficulties, too. And there are few international comparisons on a uniform base and few time series. The purposes of surveys differ. For instance, governments are interested in attitudes as a means of helping them to formulate policies that meet people's needs, or because they are concerned, for instance, about productivity1 or absenteeism. Em­ ployers use them as a means of detecting grievances and improving management, and academic surveys tend to concentrate on explor­ ing one or a small range of elements of workplace life-or differ­ ences between particular groups of workers. Since the rest of this book is based mainly on American data, the emphasis in this chapter will be on foreign experience. As some of the sources may be unfamiliar to the American reader, a note about the material readily available is appended to this chapter.

General Findings of Surveys What can be generalized from the assorted mass of attitudes recorded in surveys? Workers may, of course, give replies to

1 The relationship between job satisfaction and productivity is not a strong one, and there is no proof that job satisfaction produces high performance. See Brayfield and Crockett (1955) , Vroom (1964) , and Thurman (1977) . Of course, job satisfaction is important not only to the worker, but also to theemployer through its relationship with absenteeism, labor turnover, and strikes. 124 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS questionnaires or interviewers which are not borne out by their subsequent behavior. On the overall question of satisfaction there may be some reluctance to admit that such a central element of life as work is not satisfactory, or reported contentment may be relative to low expectations about the satisfaction that the respondent may realistically expect to find in his work. Then, too, questions posed about general satisfaction with work may be seen in rather vague terms, not distinguishing between the work itself, the physical conditions under which it is done, the exercise of authority, and social relationships at the workplace. But with all reservations made, it is clear that a great majority of workers in the countries covered here are satisfied with their jobs. It is uncommon to find less than 80 percent of workers expressing themselves as "very satisfied" or "satisfied." The "dissatisfied" and particularly the "very dissatisfied" minority, though small in per­ centage terms, does, as Rosow (1974, p. 1) has pointed out, represent a large number of workers. The last major American examination reported 88.4 percent of respondents as, all in all, very or somewhat satisfied (Quinn and Staines 1979, p. 210). Chelte et al. (1982) report roughly correspond­ ing figures from other surveys as 87 and 79 percent for the same and the succeeding year, respectively, the last figure representing the top three ratings on a seven-point scale. For Japan, the 1977 survey (Japan, Ministry of Labor 1977) recorded only 52.1 percent of workers as considerably (4.7 percent) or slightly (47.4 percent) satisfied with workplace life. The marked difference between Japan and other advanced industrial countries has been noted by Thurman ( 1977), who attributes it to Japanese workers according their jobs a higher place in their lives than other workers, and therefore demanding more of work,2 and to the practice of lifetime employment making it difficult for many workers to change jobs. That is to say that the Japanese worker will continue to seek a way of continuing to work in his enterprise when an American worker would simply change jobs. The European Communities' survey of 1977, covering nine countries, recorded an overall 92 percent of respondents reporting high or average satisfaction with their work, the highest satisfaction

2 Which is borne out by the higher level of involvement of the Japanese worker with the company, as noted by Takezawa and Whitehill (1981, p. 5). THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 125 being recorded in Ireland, Denmark, and Belgium and the lowest in France and Italy (EEC 1979). The Australian survey of 1973 and the Canadian survey of 197 4 reported corresponding figures of 83 and 82 percent, respectively (Emery and Phillips 1976, Burstein et al. 1975). Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers (1976, p. 302) have assessed the attributes yielding job satisfaction as, in descending order, interesting work, good pay, opportunity to do as one likes, job security, and adequate time to complete work. Satisfaction with components of working life is frequently less than satisfaction with the job generally, as Thurman (1977, p. 254)has noted. The findings of the British General Household Surveys suggest that part-time workers are slightly more satisfied with their jobs than full-time workers. Evidence from Countries As already indicated, the different national surveys are not such as to permit of accurate comparison, but it is worthwhile to see what kind of profile relevant to the work ethic can be obtained from them. This review will be limited to certain major surveys carried out in the U.S., the European Community, Japan, Australia, and Canada. Taking first the American quality of employment survey of 1977 (Quinn and Staines 1979), we find that while overall satisfaction continued to be high, work-related problems were not uncommon. A total of 39.6 percent felt that time dragged at work, 35.7 percent said that their skills were underutilized, and 12.8 were disturbed by the substandard product or service provided. Of the respondents, 37.1 percent considered the physical conditions at the workplace to be unpleasant. A high level of assiduity was reported, with little time off for meal or refreshment breaks; 45 percent reported taking no time off at all to talk to friends, do personal business, or merely relax. However, 38.1 percent of the respondents agreed that their main satisfaction in life came from their work. Asked how often they thought about their job when they were busy doing something else, 29.7 percent replied "often" and 36.4 percent "sometimes." When addressing a statement that they would be happier if they didn't have to work at all, 76.3 percent disagreed; 71.5 percent would continue to work even if they had enough money on which to live as comfortably as they would like for the rest of their lives. 126 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Among these workers, 71.4 percent reported that their job required them to work very hard and 48.6 percent said that they put a lot of effort into their jobs beyond what was required; 49.6 percent considered that what they did at work was more important to them than the money they earned. However, 47.3 percent agreed that their main interest in work was to get enough money to do the other things they wanted to do, while 93.2 percent got a feeling of accomplishment when they did their job well and 95.1 percent felt better about themselves. In the (then) nine member countries of the European Communi­ ty (EEC 1979) in 1978, 77 percent of the workers surveyed rejected the statement that their work was not interesting (88 percent in Germany, the highest country figure), while 70 percent felt that their abilities were being properly used. Fifty-two percent reported that they were worn out at the end of their day's work. However, only 36 percent felt that they had any chance of promotion (28 percent of women, 41 percent of men). Women were more likely than men to feel that their work was not interesting, that their abilities were not properly used, and that their jobs were not highly regarded by other people. Sixty-five percent of men and 57 percent of women (62 percent of all respondents) would still like to find a job even if they had enough money to live comfortably without working. A particularly great interest in workers' attitudes and motivations has long been taken in Japan, and that interest is reflected in the volume of evidence available. The Ministry of Labor Survey of 1977 included a section on Employees' Consciousness of Working Life. As already noted, only 52.1 percent of workers reported themselves as considerably or slightly satisfied with workplace life (for that matter, only 48.9 percent expressed satisfaction with their private lives). However, 68.6 percent were satisfied with human relations at their workplace, and 53.0 percent were satisfied with their working environment. (In each of these cases, women expressed less satisfac­ tion than men.) Questioned about the content of their job, there was more than a little doubt about the utilization of workers' capacities and recognition of their merit. The importance attached by Japanese workers to work and their opinions about the content of their jobs are shown in Table l. Of males aged 19 and under, only 17.9 percent felt their human capacities were adequately utilized and only 14.7 percent that their human capacities and merit were justly recognized (15.6 percent for THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 127 males and 9.5 percent for females). The same enquiry sought to ascertain employees' demands in future working life. Here higher wages (67.4 percent) were most prominent, the next priorities being increased holidays (37.0 percent) and diffusion of welfare facilities (19.3 percent). Only 7.6 percent demanded the chance to find a new job.

TABLE 1 Employees' Consciousness of Working Life: Japan

Men Women Total

Thinking of job: For realization of a life worth living 20.2� 12.0� 17.7� For an enrichment of life 32.2 39.6 34.5 For maintenance of a living cost 28.1 29.7 28.6 As a duty of a member of society 15.5 11.4 14.2 As nothing of a special meaning 3.2 6.5 4.2 Not returned 0.8 0.9 0.8

Contents of job Human capacities are adequately: Utilized 47.9 29.0 42.1 Not utilized 21.4 22.4 21.7 Hard to say 29.9 47.6 35.3 Not returned 0.9 1.0 0.9

Human capacities and merit are justly: Recognized 32. 1 18.2 27.9 Not recognized 24.5 21.1 23.5 Hard to say 42.0 59.1 47.2 Not returned 1.4 1.6 1.5

A different survey (Public Opinion, Survey on National Life, carried out by the Public Relations Office of the Prime Minister's Office; see Japan EPA 1981, p. 272) reported that less than 3 percent of workers questioned "found no worthwhileness in work." The major Australian survey (Emery and Phillips 1976) gave a finer breakdown of job satisfaction than most national surveys. Asked how they felt about their present job, II percent "loved it," 16 percent were "enthusiastic about it," 24 percent "liked it very much," and 32 percent liked it on the whole; for 12 percent, it did not "get them" one way or another, and 5 percent either didn't like it, disliked it, or hated it. Features of work found deficient were that there was little or no freedom (46 percent}, variety (37 percent), learning (29 percent), or getting ahead (27 percent). An interesting feature of the Australian survey was that it examined the relationship between degree of bureaucratization and job dissatisfaction, finding 128 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSI S a marked positive relationship to the point of suggesting that "bureaucratizing an organization would, on average, create a four hundred percent increase in dissatisfied workers" (p. 52) . The authors also found a clear association between job dissatisfaction and poor health. Asked why they worked, 55 percent gave their reasons as economic necessity or, in a few cases, security. Reasons of personal interest and liking for the job itself were reported by only 29 percent. The social climate at the workplace was judged more favorably (very good) by women (37 percent) than by men (26 percent); a good social climate was most often associated with good jobs. The Canadian surveys of the work ethic and job satisfaction (Burstein et al. 1975) found 57 percent of the male labor force considering that work was the means (the others offered were church, family, friends, and union) which allowed them to achieve the most important goals in their lives. For the female labor force, family (51 percent) rather than work (40 percent) was the reported means. (Ranking of commitment, on the other hand, showed both having a much higher commitment to the family than to work, with 79 percent of employed males and 84 percent of employed females citing family, and 14 and 9 percent, respectively, citing work.) Seventy percent of the male sample in the labor force and 73 percent of the female agreed that. they worked more because they liked to than because they had to. Asked if they agreed that work was a way to make money and that one did not expect to get any special satisfaction or enjoyment from doing it, 28perce nt disagreed somewhat and 56 percent disagreed strongly. But if those questioned depended on work for success and, to an extent, self-fulfillment, it was overwhelmingly the family on which they depended for personal satisfaction (56 percent}, which yielded them the greatest respect (69 percent), which never let them down (71 percent), and which gave them the greatest enjoyment (72 percent}. According to the same survey, 95 percent of Canadians preferred working to never working; 97 percent disagreed that they would rather collect unemployment insurance payments than work. About half of the self-defined employed in the Work Ethic Survey agreed that they often worked overtime to get their work done, without extra pay. If they had to decide all over again whether to take the job they then had, 61 percent would do so without hesitation. This lightly drawn sketch has shown a lot of similarities and some THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 129

differences across countries. Unfortunately it is not possible within the scope of this brief review either to deepen the general picture or to explore further such important elements as differences between male and female attitudes or the differences between attitudes in relation to different industries or occupations or according to educational levels. One further element, however, must be consid­ ered-age.

The Young Worker The story is often told of the archaeologist deciphering the writings of some long-dead Middle-Eastern civilization, coming across a tablet deploring that the values of the young had so much declined from those of the last generation. To take a more recent example, but one still more than 50 years old, a historian of work wrote, "Every country resounds to the lament that the work-fever does not burn in the younger generation, the post-war generation ..." (Tilgher 1931, cited here from Burstein et al. 1975) . There have, no doubt, always been differences between the attitudes and values of young and old. As the young get older, their lives and outlooks also change. It is to be noted in the disaggrega­ tions by age of many of the surveys reported above, that apart, perhaps, from an initial enthusiasm for finding himself or herself in the grown-up world, satisfaction is relatively low amongst the younger respondents, but tends to increase steadily with age.3 Sever­ al forces seem to be at work. No doubt for many, with the attachment

3 The relationship is particularly clear from the Japanese figures. Thus, in the 1977 survey (Japan, Ministry of Labor 1977}, male respondents expressed themselves as considerably or slightly satisfied with working life as follows:

Cohort 19 2D-24 25--29 3Q-34 35--39 4D-44 45--49 5Q-54 55-59 60t Percent satisfied 41.9 38.1 47.3 54.5 60.2 60.4 61.2 67.9 62.7 69.2 For the European Community (EEC 1979) , the degree of satisfaction on a score of 10 was recorded as:

Cohort 15--24 25--39 4Q-54 55+ Satisfaction 6.64 6.67 6.95 7.09

The findings of the Canadian survey (Burstein et a!. 1975, p. 37) concerning first ranking of commitment to work, family, and friends (percentage distribution by age for self-defined employed) are very striking, as follows: 130 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS that often comes from long familiarity with the job, the likelihood of being entrusted with more challenging work and a greater span of discretion-and the pleasure of established social relationships in the work community-real satisfaction does increase with age. Equally important, however, may be that for many young people there is a considerable gap between expectation (or at least hope) and reality. Reported job satisfaction amongst older workers may represent not so much enthusiasm as resignation, particularly if the realistic alternative to the job is a worse one or unemployment. What does the most recent evidence show about work and the young? An OECD study of "The Educational Response to the Changing Needs of Youth" (forthcoming) considers that "Fears that the 'work ethic' is being rejected by young people do not seem well-founded. Most young people view work as a normal and necessary part of adulthood." To take two typical statements, a young Belgian is cited as saying, "Avoir un boulot, c'est essentiel pour vivre. Aucune societe ne peut vivre si elle n' est basee sur le travail. D'ailleurs, on a besoin d'un metier, non seulement pour des raisons financieres mais aussi pour communiquer avec les autres, pour jouer un role dans Ia societe." And an Australian pupil is recorded as saying, 'Til get a job somehow. No, I won't go on the dole, no matter what happens." A useful transnational survey provides some interesting relevant comparisons of young people's views (Japan, Youth Bureau 1978). The survey covered 11 countries, including eight of those considered in this chapter. The samples were of young men and women between the ages of 18 and 24 on September 1, 1977. Reported satisfaction ("satisfied" or "more or less satisfied") with place of work was high, for those in full-time work, ranging from lows of 59.7 percent in Japan and 74.3 percent in France to 89.1 percent in Switzerland and 91.7 percent in Germany (Federal Republic). A considerable proportion had never changed jobs (from 23.0 percent in the U.S. and 41.4 percent in the United Kingdom to 56.1 percent in Germany and 71.5 percent in Japan). Questioned about which factors were important in choosing a job, between 55.0 percent (Germany) and 69.6 percent (Australia) agreed that it should be a

Respondent's Age Item 16-19 20-24 25-34 35--44 45-54 Work 10 13 11 12 18 Family 74 75 83 84 80 Friends 14 13 7 4 2 THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PE RSPECTIVE 131 job through which they could develop their individuality and abilities. Secure work also rated highly: between 25.2 percent in Switzerland, 35.1 percent in Germany, and 64.5 percent in Sweden (57.7 percent in Australia) cited it. A high salary was deemed particularly important in Germany and the U.K. (49.2 percent), but not so important in Sweden (25.6 percent) or Australia (33.2 percent). A big majority (from 63.7 to 83.4 percent except for Sweden-33. 7 percent) opted for a tough, busy job, with responsi­ bility and authority, whereas a minority of from 11.6 percent in Switzerland to 24.4 percent in France (except for 50.2 percent in Sweden) preferred a job without responsibility and authority, but that was easy to do and did not push them too much. Asked which gave them more satisfaction-their job or their life outside the job-from 20.4 percent in Australia to 30.5 percent in Japan replied "the job," while from 48.7 percent in Japan to 70.7 percent in the U.S. opted for life outside the job. Though the evidence of a generally positive attitude to work on the part of the young is strong, the OECD study (OECD 1983) found a certain amount of criticism-for instance, of physical or monotonous work, pressure on the job, and the mismatch between educational qualifications and job requirements. Survey evidence also suggested that a disturbingly sizable minority expressed little positive values at all. However, on the whole, if critical, the young were ready to adapt, and indeed there was evidence of an apprecia­ ble change in attitudes in adjusting to the increased difficulty, in the late 1970s, of finding a job. Taken altogether, the evidence from the surveys suggest that, apart from its importance in securing the wherewithal to live, work continues to be valued by, and to engage the interest of, a consider­ able majority of employed people.

Indirect Objective Evidence There is not the space here to discuss all the actions of workers that bear witness to their work ethic. Two of them will have to serve as illustration-absenteeism and the propensity to quit the labor force.

Absenteeism A worker with a strongly positive work ethic may be expected to absent himself from work as little as possible. Rates of absenteeism 132 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS are therefore an indicator of the strength and trend of the work ethic. Unfortunately, there is no internationally followed definition of absenteeism and there are few reliably comparable surveys. Such surveys as there are may suggest startling variations at different points in time because of changes in reporting procedures or because, for instance, of changes in payments made under sickness payment arrangements. (Rises in absences following increases in sickness payment entitlement in the Federal Republic of Germany have been ascribed both to the reduction of cost of absence and to waves of influenza following the changes.) There is, however, a mass of data, albeit on considerably varying bases, that permits some tentative generalizations to be offered. Thus, across countries, at least over the 1960s and early 1970s, absenteeism either increased (sometimes substantially) or showed little change. It seems to have stabilized in the late 1970s (ISSA 1981, p. 152) . In no country does it appear to have decreased overall across the years. Series for absence on account of illness, by far the greatest proportion of unscheduled absence, for six countries over 20 years, collated by J.-P. Poullier (unpublished), suggest very little change for France, Germany, or the U.S., but substantial increases in the Netherlands, Sweden, and the U.K. Thus, in the Netherlands, the 1960 figure of 5.3 percent rose to 10.0 percent in 1977, 1978 and 1979, though it fell to 8.5 percent in 1981. The Swedish figure of around 13 percent at the beginning of the 1960s stood at 22.8 percent in 1978 and 1979. And the British figure, at around 14 percent at the beginning of the 1960s, reached levels of 20 percent in 1980 and 1981. As to the components of absence, women were absent substan­ tially more than men, though, of course, women's traditional role in the family is largely responsible for this. The young (more short absences) and the old (more longer absences) are more often away than are those of intermediate age. Absenteeism differs by occupa­ tion, with executives and professional people having low rates, followed by white-collar workers, and with manual workers gener­ ally having the highest rates. It differs also between industries and regions within the country, tends to increase with the size of the employing organization, and is often considered an indicator of the state of human relations at the workplace. As already stated, absenteeism varies considerably between countries. A German study (Salowsky 1980), using data for various years between 1975 and 1979, produced figures of 1.95 percent for THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 133

Japan, 3.5 percent for the U.S., 7.7 percent for the Federal Republic of Germany, 8.3 percent for France, 10.6 percent for Italy, 12 percent for the Netherlands, and 13.8 percent for Sweden. A study by a French journal (lntersocial, December 1979), using data prepared for 1975 by Eurostat and the UN Economic Commission for Europe, found 7.4 percent for the Federal Republic, 7.9 percent for Italy, 9.6 percent for the U.K., 11.1 percent for Denmark, and 20.7percent for the Netherlands, withsome startlingdifferences between the absences of men and women-to take the largest, 5.6 and 19.9 percent, respectively, for Belgium. There are many factors to take into account in considering the significance of absenteeism. It might be thought, for instance, that improved and-in most countries-more accessible medical care and more generous holidays should have reduced absences. On the other hand, higher and longer payments during absence for sickness have enabled workers to take time off when they have felt unwell instead of struggling on with their work to the longer-term detriment of their health-a social gain even if it has an economic cost. What can be deduced about the work ethic from this short discussion of absenteeism? On the face of it, workers have become more relaxed, at least in several countries, about taking time off from their work. Though the explanations are complex, it would seem that at least to some extent conscientiousness about attendance has diminished over the years.

Incidence of Retirement The individual worker's decision to retire, if it is not a forced one, may be based on one or more of a variety of reasons. He may feel not up to doing his job any longer; he may have interests to pursue and want to be free of employment to pursue them; he may wish to escape from an unhappy situation at work; he may have a sick family member to look after; he may simply prefer leisure and feel that he has contributed his quota to society. Financial factors will play some part in his decision. Before pension schemes became usual, a worker might feel compelled to continue until he could no longer do the work, or until the employer was not prepared to employ him any longer. Now the worker will make his decision on the balance between desire to quit and willingness to live on whatever pension and savings are available to him. The introduction of pension schemes with a somewhat rigid 134 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS pensionable age tended to dominate decisions as to when to retire, but with the increase of arrangements for early retirement in recent years, more and more workers have availed themselves of the possibility, particularly as favorable conditions have been offered with the objective of making jobs available for unemployed work­ ers. Judged against this background, retirements are by no means a definitive indicator of a change in attitudes to work, but they are at least worthy of examination, particularly when subjective evidence is available from surveys to fill in the picture.

TABLE 2

Male Activity Rate by Age Cohort (Percent)

Germany Age Cohort (Federal and Year France Republic) Japan U.K. u.s.

55-59 1960 88.9 96.9 88.3 1970 82.5 89.5 91.2 95.3 88.3 1980 80.9 81.7 91.2 91.1 80.9 6

Sources: OECD Labour Force Statistics and various national statistics. a Estimate.

Table 2 reports activity rates for a cross-section of five countries.4 In interpreting Table 2, it should be borne in mind that the raising of retirement age to 60 years has long been a social objective in Japan, which explains the increased activity rate of the 55-59 cohort in that country. The main reason given for the high propensity of the over- 60s to work is economic, with the suggestion that in earlier times the family might have taken care of the elderly, but now it is increasing-

4 Figures prepared, from various sources, by T. Teramoto. THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 135 ly "necessary even for the aged men to earn the livelihood of them­ selves and their spouses" (Japan, EPA 1981, p. 158). The level of pen­ sion payable is also clearly a factor, and this in turn has been influ­ enced by the fact that many older people had not established the necessary years of qualification for benefit under the public pension schemes. Only 4.3 percent of Japanese workers aged 60--64 and 6.3 percent aged 65--69gave their reason for continuing to work as "for a life worth living and involvement in society" (Japan, EPA 1981, p. 160). Japan apart, the fall-off in activity rate in the other countries listed in Table 2, over two decades, is marked. The trend is borne out by more generalized statistics. Thus, it was found (OECD 1982, p. 17) that between 1960 and 1975, participation rates declined from 77 to 71 percent on average for men between ages 55 and 64, and from 33 to 23 percent on average for those aged 65 and over. The trend in female participation rates was less homogeneous, though the rates of those 65 and over showed an average fall from 11 percent in 1960 to 7 percent in 1975. The evidence from surveys is more useful to report here than in the earlier section devoted to attitudes. A survey of the attitudes of the working population to retirement in the countries of the European Community was carried out in 1977 (EEC 1978). Thirty-two percent of the population surveyed stated that the normal age of retirement in their jobs was 60, while for 51 percent it was 65. Of these workers, 29 percent felt rather uneasy about the prospect, 40 percent looked forward to it, and 31 percent did not know. The percentage who thought about retirement sometimes or often rose steadily from 17 percent in the 15-19 group to a peak of 81 percent in the 50-54 group, and then started to fall. Satisfaction about the prospect of retirement varied from 24 percent of workers in Denmark to 53 percent in the Netherlands and 70 percent in Luxemburg. Seventeen percent out of the 24 percent who said that they would try to get a paid job when they reached retirement age said that it was because they wanted to stay active. The 33 percent of workers wanting to stop working before the normal age were asked why. For 17 percent it was to enjoy their leisure time, for 7 percent it was reasons of health, leaving only 9 percent giving other reasons. The survey showed clearly that the lower the score for job satisfaction, the stronger the intention to retire. The proportion wanting to stop working complete­ ly at retirement age, or even before if possible, varied from 13 percent 136 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSI S in Ireland to 41 percent in the Netherlands. The EEC survey found lowering the retirement age to be one of the two preferred means of reducing working hours-the other, of a similar order, being shorter daily or weekly hours. Parnes and his colleagues (1981, p. 17), in their major longitudinal study, have illustrated the increased propensity to retire in the United States.5 The picture of workers' desires concerning retirement is a mixed one, containing some who want to leave their jobs as soon as they have enough to live on, while others are anxious to continue working regardless of their economic position. But certainly work is not considered a central life interest by, at least, most elderly workers.

Collective Objective Evidence Workers' feeling about work are also reflected by the needs or desires concerning work that they articulate collectively, through their trade unions, or politically. Though priorities have changed over time, and some elements have assumed new dimensions, these needs and desires have a continuous and continuing basis: workers want the highest wages and fringe benefits they can get, they want protection from adverse change-notably from dismissal, they want safe and healthy working conditions, they want defense against arbitrary management decisions, they want shorter working hours, and they want control over the job, especially over the workload. Two particularly interesting subjects that are relevant to the work ethic-workers' participation and work organization-have been prominent over the past 15 years or so, and a third-working time-has come to the fore in most countries with recession and the growth of unemployment. Discussion of these subjects will serve to illustrate the third approach to the work ethic.

Participation The debate about workers' participation in management is, fundamentally, an old one (Clarke et al. 1972, Ch. 1), but starting with the introduction of measures of codetermination in the Federal

5 Thirteen percent of the white men and 17 percent of the blacks in Parnes's sample who had retired voluntarily subsequently reported that they would choose to retire later (Parnes 1981, p. 267). Parker (1982, p. 109) illustrates this mood well with two views expressed by British workers. Thus, a former truck driver, aged 64, said about being a pensioner: ''I've always been active. I hate the thought of it." And a �2-year-!?ld former salesman said: "I hate it because I was never an idle person in my hfe .... THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 137

Republic of Germany in the early 1950s, it came to be greatly amplified in the late 1960s. The reasons were complex, but the main ones were probably as follows: Over the period of, say, 194�1968, a new generation entered the labor force. They were better educated than their fathers and often educated in a way that led them to question traditional practices and values. The development of the welfare state and prevailing low levels of unemployment strength­ ened their confidence and bargaining power. Distribution of the fruits of economic growth fostered the notion that continuous advance could be expected in most aspects of working life. While these tendencies were developing, employing enterprises were often becoming larger, and sometimes more subject to remote decision-making. Change-the sort of technological and organiza­ tional change that was facilitating growth-was becoming more marked. For workers, these developments were often disturbing. In these circumstances it was natural that workers and their unions should seek more control over the work situation, be it through collective bargaining or by some form of institutionalized participation in the enterprise. This is not to say that the movement was a universal one. Even in countries where interest was attached to institutional forms, there were frequently unions that preferred to keep away from institutionalized participation, either because they saw it as acceptance of capitalism or because they wanted to safeguard their traditional adversary role. By the mid-seventies an appreciable number of advanced indus­ trialized countries, particularly in northwest Europe, had introduced worker representation on company boards and/ or had strengthened the powers of works councils within the enterprise. Since 1976, however, the pace of such changes has slackened somewhat, though the tendency remains to strengthen rather than weaken participa­ tion. The movement towards formal participation was pursued mainly through the legislative channel. Most of it was resisted by employers and their organizations, who were worried about possible effects on efficient decision-making, but employers were also concerned about another manifestation of the broad general attitudinal changes outlined above. The "new worker," as he was sometimes called in the literature, not only often wanted more say in how the workplace was run, he was also selective as to the work he was prepared to do (in a number 138 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS of countries immigrant labor was brought in primarily to do the more unpleasant jobs) and increasingly seemed to expect interest and challenge in his work.

The Organization and Conditions of Work These changes necessarily evoked attention on the part of govern­ ments and employers. The NATO Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society called for an enquiry into problems of work motivation (Wilson 1973). The OECD initiated a whole series of projects, including its conference on "Work in a Changing Industrial Society" (OECD 1974, Barbash 1975) and leading to a formal statement on policies for life at work (OECD 1977). The International Labour Organisation formulated its PIACT (so named from the French acronym) Program on the improvement of working conditions. And the EEC's consideration led to the establishment, near Dublin, of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The first major conference of international experts on the quality of working life was held at Arden House, N.Y., in 1972 (Davis and Cherns 1975) and the International Council for the Quality of Working Life was established. In the United States interest led to the Senate Subcommittee on Employment, Manpower, and Poverty's Hearings on Worker Aliena­ tion in 1972 and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare's Work in America Report of 1973. The interest of European govern­ ments led to the establishment of several continuing national insti­ tutes, research units, agencies, and some generously financed pro­ grams for encouraging the improvement of work organization and working conditions. More recently, an active center has been established in Ontario, Canada. This flow of interest brought attention to some striking advances that had been made since the war by behavioral scientists in respect of worker motivation and the organization of work, notably at the Tavistock Institute in London, the Work Research Institutes in Norway, and a number of American universities. Several employers' organizations and many individual firms were also actively concerned with new thinking about work organi­ zation and working conditions and putting it to use to ease problems of recruitment, absenteeism, and dissatisfaction and to improve productivity. Job enrichment became a fashionable term in mana­ gerial circles. THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 139

Trade unions had some hesitations. Naturally they supported any movement to improve working conditions and their members' satisfaction at work, and certainly they wanted a say in it. But they had an uneasy feeling that employers were not making changes out of the goodness of their hearts and that some of the changes proposed might strengthen the bonds between workers and employ­ ers to the detriment of union support. For some union leaders, if employers wanted to enrich the job, they would do best to enrich the pay packet. However, whatever their misgivings, they tended to be cooperative when innovations were suggested. In at least one country, Italy, some union officials took a lead in promoting improvements in work organization.

Work or Leisure? Thirdly, something needs to be said about the trade-off between work and leisure. A worker wishing to improve his conditions has many options, but usually the main ones are increased pay and reduced working hours. In the 19th century the very long weekly hours and few days off provided a strong motivation to aim at reducing working time. Wages were often so close to subsistence level that they were commonly paramount in workers' ambitions for improvement, but issues of working time arose from time to time and, unlike gains in wages, reductions in working time, once achieved, were not often lost when economic conditions worsened. Since the war, weekly hours have substantially decreased, and vacation and holidays substantially increased, in most countries. It is difficult to say under what circumstances reduction of working time comes to take precedence over wages as a bargaining objective, or an objective to be pursued through political channels, in preference to others. Judging from history, there has been some tendency for change to come in spurts, though a slight continuing tendency towards reduction of hours has been apparent over something like a century. The present trend to shorter hours-ap­ parent in many countries in legislation andin collective agreements, or in both-has a clear motivation. Reduction is usually regarded as a desirable social goal in itself, but it is also viewed as a potential means of reducing labor supply at a time of high unemployment. Further, employers frequently having low order books, some union negotiators may consider the time propitious to put emphasis on working time rather than on wages. 140 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Apart from the significance of claims for shorter hours pressed on parliaments and employers alike (and sometime pressed with vigor as in the major disputes in the German steel industry at the end of 1978 and in the Australian metal trades in 1981), there is evidence as to workers' priorities from attitude surveys. A number of such surveys, made in various countries, were reviewed in an OECD Report (OECD 1982, pp. 54-67) which concluded that though the degree of popularity of different forms of worktime reduction was likely to vary, and though no single option predominated, all the options had relatively strong support (they included shorter weekly hours with the same pay, shorter weekly hours with reduced weekly pay, longer vacations/more holidays/sabbatical leaves, and early retirement). In a straightforward choice between shorter hours and better pay in the European Community, more respondents to a survey favored the former-both overall and in six countries out of the nine (EEC 1978, pp. 36, 37). The same survey reported views on the best way of reducing working time, showing that 37 percent of workers favored a shorter working day or week, 25 percent longer holidays, and 33 percent earlier retirement. What is the significance for the work ethic of the brief review of participation, work organization, and working time, just presented? The evidence of studies of workers' participation in management suggests that workers generally certainly do desire to have some say in decisions that affect them. If the decision is one affecting the workgroup or the whole work community of the enterprise, and particularly if major policies or technical questions outside their competence are involved, they will wish to participate through their trade union rather than directly. Their objective in wanting to partici­ pate is probably mainly to try to shape the decisions in a way favor­ able to their own interests, but they commonly also want to contri­ bute their practical know-how and good will in the interests of efficiency. The likely origins of the participation movement which achieved such prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s have been sketched above. With high unemployment and difficulty in maintain­ ing, let alone improving, real wage levels, less is heard of the movement, but greater participation remains a political and indus­ trial objective in several countries, and one likely to return to the fore when the conditions are less adverse. Though participation is partly concerned with the distribution of power in countries, in part, THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 141 too, it represents a genuine desire by workers to improve efficiency and the quality of work produced. As such, it is evidence of continued personal investment in work. Though unions retained their habitual interest in safegurding and improving the working conditions of their members, the movement to improve the quality of working life in most countries emanated largely from governments and employers, with strong support from behavioral scientists. It had roots similar to those of the participation movement and, with a changed economic environment, there are now few signs of fresh major inputs. But though the extent of change has not fulfilled the hopes of enthusiasts, the various public agencies continue their steady work and many progressive managements have absorbed, and are putting to good use, the lessons of work reform (Jenkins 1981). The reorganization of work has not become a workers' objective, but workers' reaction to proposed changes has usually been very positive-and commonly the changes made have elicited increased commitment on their part. It is not easy to find evidence in the quality of working life movement of any decline in the work ethic and much to suggest that it is strong. Interested as one may be in one's work, the strongest advocate of the traditional work ethic would not suggest that there are not other sources of satisfaction in life, and the undoubted support for shorter working time need not be regarded as deprecatory of work. Even workers who are enthusiastic about their work are likely to favor a reduction in scheduled working hours, since it gives them greater freedom of choice as to the use they make of their time. Some may choose to work outside scheduled hours anyway, as do many executives and the many Japanese workers who do not use up their full holiday entitlement. It seems unlikely that desires for shorter working hours can be attributed to any change in the work ethic: no doubt the workers of the 1880s felt strongly about reducing them too, though admittedly they started from the basis of a working year far more tiring and constraining than that of today. On the whole, the evidence of working time seems neutral as to the maintenance of the traditional work ethic.

Conclusions and Reflections Reservations were noted at the outset as to the difficulties of interpreting the diverse sources of information reviewed in this 142 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSI S chapter. Three more reservations must now be added about its con­ tent. Firstly, the greater part of the evidence relates to those actually in the labor force; people who have opted for unconventional life styles or have not been able to work in employment have received little attention here (for a view about the former, see Best 1973, Ch. 16). Neither has it been possible to examine, in this context, the concept of post-materialist values, as discussed by lnglehart (1977) . Secondly, the recent wave of technological change has brought the possibility, at least for some people, of new ways of work, with fewer constraints of time and place; there has been no space here to discuss the likely evolution of work tasks or the wider possibilities of indus­ trial development (Gershunny 1978) . And, thirdly, it has not been possible to consider, particularly since the material used necessarily dates mainly from the late 1970s, the possible implications of current economic conditions, including the impact on the work ethic of long spells out of the labor force6 and the growth of the subterranean economy (the latter suggesting a rather strong work ethic!). These reservations noted, what can be said to draw the threads together? The economic growth and social evolution of the postwar period led, by the closing years of the 1960s, to widespread doubts, in the advanced industrialized market economies, about traditional values and institutions, including anxiety about the work ethic. A decline in the work ethic, it was feared, would be likely to result, through loss of productive efficiency, in economic decline. The impairment of the will to work would lead to the loss of markets and lower standards of goods and services. Even if technological advance continued, it might be difficult to maintain living standards at existing levels. This view, though quite widely asserted, was not often heard from workers themselves. And there were people who did not feel that decline of the work ethic, even if followed by lower material living standards, would be a disaster. Mankind has a choice between-to take two somewhat arbitrary poles-hard work, conscientiously performed and purposefully coordinated, with a high material standard of living, and a casual attitude to work, with an easy pace, and lower standards of living. Some, if a minority, would prefer the latter. Such thoughts apart, the work ethic has to be seen against the specific social and economic conditions prevailing in a country at a

6 Jahoda (1979) has pointed to the importance for personal status and identity of the structuring effect of regular working hours, shared experiences and contacts, and links to communal goals and purposes thatwork provides. THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 143 particular time, and in the event, to the extent that values and attitudes to work were moving, a decade ago, away from the old Calvinistic concept, the movement was largely checked by the economic setback that started in 1974. What would have happened if the impetus of sustained economic growth had continued we cannot know, but the economic climate since 1974 has offered barren soil for a relaxed work ethic. It seems likely that there have been some shifts of values concern­ ing work-as there have been shifts, for instance, about sexual val­ ues-over the postwar years and that these shifts may have differed somewhat between countries. And, as an OECD report put it, referring to the years of high rates of economic growth:

It is reasonable to assume, like Inglehart, that the genera­ tions which reached adulthood during this altogether excep­ tional period will have fairly different value priorities from those of their elders who grew up in quite a different context. These changes could be augmented by the ignor­ ance of the past demonstrated by the younger generations, what some authors have called absence of memory. (OECD 1979, p. 102)

There is, indeed, nothing immutable in values and attitudes, those brought to work among others, and it would be surprising if, given favorable conditions, workers did not seek to profit from them. But the present survey suggests that the great majority of people in advanced industrial market economies have nonetheless continued, and will continue, to value their work and to try to perform it well. The quality of working life movement has not only produced a number of initiatives in work organization, but has undoubtedly influenced many of the new generation of managers. Taylorism and traditionally rigid time schedules are being slowly eroded. The his­ tory of work is the history of adaptation between economic/tech­ nical needs and human needs. Adaptation is commonly not painless and the mediation of problems requires effort. There is no ground for complacency. But, with the continued quite strong will to work demonstrated by the evidence, and the possibilities available for adapting traditional forms of work, there is no reason to suppose that our societies are not capable of responding to the challenge of the work ethic. 144 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Appendix: Surveys of Workers' Attitudes** As to official or semi-official surveys, apart from the United States' surveys on working conditions and quality of employment, there is substantial information available from Japan, Britain, France, Australia, Belgium, Canada, and Ireland. For Japan, useful sources are the Y earbook of Labor Statistics published by the Japan Ministry of Labor (see particularly the Yearbooks for 1971, 1974, and 1977) and the Annual Reports on National Life of the Japan Economic Planning Agency. For Britain, surveys of job satisfaction are to be found in the General Household Surveys (Office of Population Censuses and Surveys, annual). A number of enquiries have been conducted in France by the Centre de Recherche pour !'Etude et !'Observation des Conditions de Vie (CREDOC). A study "Living at Work" has been carried out for the Australian government (Emery and Phillips 1976). The Belgian Employment Ministry has published a survey in its official journal (Ministere de l'Emploi 1976). A Canadian survey reviewed work values and job satisfaction (Burstein et al. 1975) and a survey carried out by the Irish Economic and Social Research Institute examined employment conditions and job satisfaction (Whelan 1980 and 1982) . Some other studies are cited by Thurman (1977). On the international level, at a time when it was widely consid­ ered that important changes were taking place in workers' attitudes (Revans 1972), the OECD considered the desirability of promoting surveys (Barbash 1976) and also considered the possibility of measuring job satisfaction in the context of its development of social indicators (Portigal 1976, OECD 1976) . The Commission of the European Economic Communities has carried out some develop­ ment work and published occasional surveys of attitudes to various aspects of work in its member countries in its regular series of six­ monthly opinion polls known as Euro-Barometer (EEC 1979; see also Inglehart 1977, who used the EEC surveys for his study of changing values). Surveys conducted by employers and their associations are usually made for their internal use and not published. One exception is a survey made by the German metal trades employers (Gesamt­ metall 1980) . A very unusual case of a survey of workers in one

• • All works mentioned are listed in the followingreference section. This review should be regarded as indicative rather than comprehensive. THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 145 company (the FIAT automobile firm) was carried out on the initiative of the Italian Communist Party (Partito Communista Italiana 1980). The attitude surveys made on a comparative basis in many countries by a particularly sophisticated American multina­ tional company have been considered by Hofsteder (1980) in a study of values. Early American surveys of workers' attitudes have been collated by Herzberg et al. (1957) . Japanese workers' attitudes have been examined by Takezawa (1975 and 1981) and recently briefly re­ viewed by Hanami (1982) . See also Takezawa (1982) . Informative studies by, respectively, an American, a British, and a Dutch observer are contained in Cole (1971), Clark (1979), and van Helvoort (1979). British studies include the detailed "affluent work­ er" analysis by Goldthorpe et al. (1968) . British work on particular aspects includes Ingham's (1970) study of the relevance for workers' behavior of size of organization and Wedderburn and Crompton's study of attitudes and technology. For France, the survey by Adam et al. (1970), dealing basically with political and trade union attitudes, is particularly valuable, and the study by Hamilton (1967) is still a useful English language source, though it relates to the 1950s. The results of a survey made in September 1978 are reported in the journal, Le Nouvel Economiste (1978) . German workers' attitudes are briefly reviewed by Noelle-Neumann (1982) and Stegman (1982), and Swedish by Zetterberg and Frankel (1981). Cross-national academic studies are few. The most useful are probably the Japanese-American comparisons carried out in 1960 and 1976 (Whitehill and Takezawa 1968 and Takezawa and Whitehill 1981) and that of Cole (1979); there is also the British-Japanese comparison by Dore ( 1973) . Accounts of the experience of American workers working in Europe throw useful light on national differ­ ences (Schrank 1979) . Amongst views on work reported by workers themselves, includ­ ing participant observers or as they emerge from interviews, are Terkel (U.S., 1974), Coleman (U.S., 1974), Schrank (U.S., 1978), Satoshi (Japan, 1982) [though this has been reported to be rather biased; see Takezawa 1982, p. 159], Fraser (U.K., 1968 and 1969), Fremontier (France, 1971), and Palm (Sweden 1977) . The attitudes of young people to work emerge from the break­ downs by age group in many of the general surveys. They have also been the subject of special analysis and surveys. Thus, on an 146 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS international basis the OECD has reviewed attitudes in the course of a project concerned with the changing needs of youth (OECD forthcoming, and Husen 1981). Special attention has been given in Japan through surveys of "The Youth of the World and Japan." For Germany there is rich material in the surveys sponsored by German Shell (Deutschen Shell 1980 and 1981), and Piotet (1977) has reviewed youth attitudes in France. The attitudes of the young in Italy have been investigated by the Italian Institute for the Develop­ ment of Workers' Occupational Training (ISFOL 1977) .

References

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Atteggiamenti dei Giovani nei Confronti del Lavoro. N 38-39. Rome: April-May 1977. Jahoda, Marie. "The Impact of Unemployment in the 1930s and 1970s." Bulletin of the British Psychological Society 32 (August 1979}, pp. 309-14. Japan, Economic Planning Agency. Annual Reports on National Life. 1980 Report, The Changing Society and How People Are Facing It. Tokyo: EPA, 1980. 1981 Report, In Search of a Good Quality of Life. Tokyo: EPA, 1981. Japan, Ministry of Labor. Yearbook of Labor Statistics. Tokyo: The Ministry, 1971, 1974, 1977. Japan, Youth Bureau, Prime Minister's Office. The Youth of the World and Japan. The Findings of the Second World Youth Survey. Tokyo: Prime Minister's Office, 1978. Jenkins, David. QWL-Current Trends and Directions. Issues in the Quality of Working Life No. 3. Toronto: Quality of Working Life Centre, December 1981. John Paul II. Laborem Exercens. Encylical Letter of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II on Human Work. London: Catholic Truth Society, 1981. Kahn, Robert L. "The Meaning of Work, Interpretation and Proposals for Measure­ ment." In The Human Meaning of Social Change, eds. A. Campbell and P. E. Converse. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1972. Pp. 159-203. Levitan, Sar A., and William B. Johnston. Work is Here to Stay, Alas. Salt Lake City, Utah: Olympus, 1973. Linhart, Daniele. "Pour une Prospective du Travail." Sociologie du Travail (2:1982), pp. 178-91. McCarthy, W. E. J., and S. R. Parker. Shop Stewards and Workshop Relations. Royal Commission on Trade Unions and Employers' Associations, Research Papers 10. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1968. Mann, Michael. Consciousness and Action Among the Western Working Class. London: Macmillan, 1973. Marsh, Robert M., and Hiroshi Mannari. Modernization and the japanese Factory. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1976. Ministere de l'Emploi et du Travail. "Le Travailleur et le Travail." In Revue du Travail. Brussels: The Ministry, February 1976. Noelle-Neumann, Elisabeth. "Post-industrious Germany." Across the Board (March 1982), pp. 62--66. Nosow, Sigmund, and William H. Form, eds. Men, Work, and Society. New York: Basic Books, 1962. Le Nouvel Economiste. "Les Nouveaux Ouvriers." Le Nouvel Economiste, October 23, October 30, and November 6, 1978, pp. 41-50, 44-53, and 46-54. Office of Population Census and Surveys, Special Survey Division. General House­ hold Survey. London: H.M. Stationery Office, annually since 1971. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Education and Work: The Views of the Young. Report of Project on the Educational Responses to the Changing Needs of Youth. Paris: OECD, forthcoming. ----· Labour Supply, Growth Constraints and Work Sharing. Paris OECD, 1982. ----· Flexibility of Retirement Age. Paris: OECD, 1970. --:-:---::· Facing the Future: Mastering the Probable and Managing the Unpredict- able. Paris: OECD, 1979. ----·Measuring Social Well-Being. Paris: OECD, 1976. ----·New Patterns for Working Time. Paris: OECD, 1975. ----· Policies for Life at Work. Paris: OECD, 1977. ---- ·· Socio-Economic Policies for the Elderly. Paris: OECD, 1979. ----· The Welfare State in Crisis. Paris: OECD, 1981. --:--- ·· Work in a Changing Industrial Society, Documents Prepared for an International Conference. Paris: OECD, 1974. Palm, Goran. The Flight from Work. London: Cambridge University Press, 1977. Parker, Stanley. The Future of Work and Leisure. London: Macgibbon and Kee, 1971. ----·Work and Retirement. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1982. ----,--· WorkplaceIndustrial Relations, 1973. Office of Population Censuses and Surveys. London: II.M. Stationery Office, 1975. THE WORK ETHIC: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE 149

Parnes, Herbert, ed. Work and Retirement, A Longitudinal Study of Men. Cam­ bridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1981. Partito Communista Italiano. "Ricerca di Massa sulla Condizione Operaia alia FIAT." Mimeo, 1980. Piotet, Francoise. "Que Signifie le Travail pour les Jeunes?" Pro;et (ll5:1977), pp. 552-62. Popitz, H., H. P. Bahrdt, E. A. Jueres, and A. Kesting. ''The Worker's Image of Society." In Industrial Man, ed. Tom Burns. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1969. Portigal, Alan H. Towards the Measurement of Work Satisfaction. Paris: OECD, 1976. Quinn, Robert P., et al. ]ob Satisfaction: Is There a Trend? Research Monograph No. 30. Washington: U.S. Department of Labor, 1974. Quinn, Robert P., and Graham L. Staines. The 1977 Quality of Employment Survey. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1979. Revans, R. W. The Emerging Attitudes and Motivations of Workers. Paris: OECD, 1972. Rix, S.E., and P. Fisher. Retirement Age Policy: An International Perspective. New York: Pergamon, 1982. Rosow, Jerome, ed. The Wor ker and the ]ob. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974. Salowsky, Heinz. Individuelle Fehlzeiten in Westlichen Industrieliindern. Koln: Deutscher Instituts-Verlag, 1980. Here cited from "L'Absenteisme en Europe, aux U.S.A. et au Japan," Intersocial (January 1981). Satoshi, K. ]a pan in the Passing Lane: An Insider's Account of Life ina] apanese Auto Factory. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1982. Schrank, Robert, ed. American Workers Abroa d. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1979. �---:-·Ten Thousand Working Days. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1978. Sheppard, H. L., and S. E. Rix. The Graying of Working America: The Coming Crisis in Retirement Age Policy. New York: Free Press, 1977. Staines, Graham L., and Robert P. Quinn. "American Workers Evaluate the Quality of Their Jobs." Monthly Labor Review 102 (January 1979), pp. 3--12. Stegman, Heinz. "Symptoms of the Change in Attitudes in Relation to Work" (in German). Paper presented to the Symposium of the International Institute for Labour Studies, Vienna, April l982. Strauss, George. "Workers: Attitudes and Adjustments." In The Worker and the ]ob , ed. Jerome Rosow. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974. Strumpel, Burkhard, ed. Subiective Elements of Well-Being. Papers presented at an International Seminar. Paris: OECD, 1974. Takezawa, Shin-ichi. Improvements in the Quality of Working Life in Three Japanese Industries. Geneva: International Labour Office, 1982. ----:::----:-· "Changing Workers' Values and Implications of Policy in Japan." In The Quality of Working Life, Vol. I, by Louis Davis and Albert B. Cherns. New York: Free Press, 1975. Takezawa, Shin-ichi, and Arthur M. Whitehill. Work Ways, japan and America. Tokyo: Japan Institute of Labour, 1981. Terkel, Studs. Working. New York: Random House, 1974. Thurman, J. E. "Job Satisfaction: An International Overview." International Labour Review 117 (November-December 1977), pp. 249-67. Tilgher, Adriano. Work: What It Has Meant to Man Through the Ages. London: Harrap, 1931. . UNESCO. International Social Science journal. "Work." Vol. XXXII, No. 3, 1980. U.S. Department of Labor. ]ob Satisfaction: Is There a Trend? Washington: 1974. van Helvoort, Ernest. The japanese Working Man: What Choice? What Reward? Tenterden, Kent: Paul Norbury, 1979. Vroom, V. H. Work and Motivation. New York: Wiley, 1964. Wedderburn, Dorothy, and Rosemary Crompton. Workers' Attitudes and Technol­ ogy. Cambridge: The University Press, 1972. Whelan, Christopher T. Employment Conditions and ]ob Satisfaction: The Distribu­ tion, Perception and Evaluation of Job Rewards. Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute, October 1980. 150 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

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CHAPTER 8

The Work Ethic and Work Organ ization

SHOSHANA ZUBOFF Harvard University

The problem of work emerged originally as the problem of life. For traditional societies, the round of activities necessary for the sustenance of the human community was not conceptualized as distinct from other forms of social intercourse.1 The concept of "work" as a generic description of meaningful, productive activity typically emerges only after the introduction of cash crops and wage labor (Schwimmer 1980). That is, when productive activity was severed from the inherited fabric of village life, it presented itself as a new and special problem. The context of meanings that held people together could no longer be counted upon to provide what we now think of as "intrinsic work motivation." Extracted from this context and made to stand separate, the work created by the industrial revolution seemed odd and foreign. The elemental features of industrial capitalism as it emerged in 18th century Britain-increased productivity, accumulation of sur­ plus, profit incentives, wage labor-fundamentally contradicted the subsistence mentality of the rural or cottage laborer. Facing the demands of the new work, people asked themselves why they should do it. The reasons were not obvious. It fell to the new class of owner-employers to create answers compelling enough to triumph over the complacency of the traditional mind. Employers needed a new theory of productive behavior, one that offered some promise of engaging the spirit as well as the body of the worker. The conceptualization they embraced, later immortalized by Weber as the Protestant Ethic, was to be reflected in the forms of work

1 For three discussions of the value of work in traditional societies, see Neff (1962) , Firth (1962), and Evans-Pritchard (1940) . 153 154 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

organization they invented and the behavior they sought to reward and punish. Managers of every era have searched for an ideological frame­ work that could help them travel the critical distance from worker to output. These ideologies have changed during the course of industrial history, but in each period some theory of the linkage between these two points, some "work ethic," emerges to dominate managerial discourse. Innovations in work organization emerge primarily in response to expanding markets, new technology, shifting patterns of demand, population growth, changes in transportation and communication, etc. But as innovations displace older forms of work organization (for example, the mill replacing cottage work, the assembly line replacing the shop), they stimulate the need to rethink the underly­ ing logic of work motivation. Such logic, once crystallized, can then be translated into further considerations of work design and manage­ ment. Thus the various elements of work organization-supervision, division of labor, vertical and horizontal differentiation and integra­ tion-can be seen to evolve first as a response to broad patterns of economic and social change. Later, managers can more finely orchestrate these organizational elements in accordance with their beliefs as to what will make people work. These dynamisms are not isolated from culture as a whole. New sensibilities generated in the religious, aesthetic, political, and social domains form the materia prima from which a work ethic is continually recast. Nor is the reigning managerial ideology likely to be a solipsistic fantasy. To the extent that its values, and the concrete practices that emerge from it, are actually experienced as "motiva­ tional," it can be considered to reflect sentiments and meanings that have currency for the wider society. The problem for managers has been to use the available features of work organization to persuade workers that they have good reason to put forth effort. But workers have to convince themselves as well, and it is this interdependence, though typically uneasy and imperfect, that allows a "work ethic" to take shape. In this chapter I shall highlight managerial conceptions of work motivation as they give definition to three broad periods in industrial history: (1) early industrialization during which craft processes were left largely intact, (2) scientific management and the increasing rationalization of production, and (3) the period following the THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 155

economic expansion of the 1950s and early 1960s that saw important changes in patterns of education and income.2 Each of these periods are characterized by distinct perspectives on why people work. They reveal patterns of change in the way managers approached work organization as an opportunity to implement their vision of a work ethic.

Early Industrialization Even before the spread of factories, the British Parliament, faced with an expanding market for British exports, attempted to conquer the subsistence mentality of the cottage workers. A succession of laws stipulated ever shorter turnaround times for finished materials, increasingly severe punishment for failure to meet these deadlines, and stiff sanctions against embezzlement (Wadsworth and Mann 1931, pp. 395--401). Geography made it difficult in practice for employers to enforce these laws, but of deeper significance was the fact of two mentalities, traditional and capitalist, caught in opposing relationships to history.

A man does not "by nature" wish to earn more and more money, but simply to live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as is necessary for that purpose. Wherever modern capitalism has begun its work of increas­ ing the productivity of human labour by increasing its intensity, it has encountered the immensely stubborn resis­ tance of this leading trait of precapitalistic labour.3 (Weber 1958, p. 60)

As Weber has framed the problem in this passage, the work behavior envisioned by the new capitalists called for a different understanding of self and work. Workers did not think of their labor as a commodity, and therefore were not motivated by a desire to maximize their income. While wage demands were modest accord­ ing to the strength of tradition and guild hierarchies, expectations regarding the sources of pleasure in life ran counter to the demands of capitalist working conditions. A worker did not look to the promise of social mobility through the accumulation of wealth or

2 This division is meant to facilitate some broad comparisons within the confines of this essay. There are additional analytical distinctions that can be made to identify distinct sequences and trends within each of these periods. See, for example, David Montgomery's discussion in his Workers' Control in America (1979} , pp. 1-8. 3 For a fascinating anthropological update on thisthe me, see Taussig (1977) . 156 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS status, as life's pleasures were available in what the ordinary day had to offer-the drinking, singing, games, and festivities of a traditional community. While work was necessary and often filled with hard­ ship, intensified productivity at the expense of other activities was not understood as the road to a better life.4 The religious ideology of the reformation provided crucial support to the new employers (and their counterparts in the ministry, education, and government) in their efforts to construct an interpretation of productive behavior that would deliver some measure of motivational punch. Calvinism had already articulated a utilitarian ethic in which labor in the service of "impersonal social usefulness" was considered to promote the glory of God. Only through worldly activity, "a life of good works combined into a unified system" could certainty of God's favor be achieved, while an unwillingness to work signaled a distinct lack of grace. Such new interpretations of value were to make their way into the culture largely through contemporary social commentary and ministerial writing and preaching. An increasingly specialized and methodical approach to work was considered the proper response to the Divine Call. Wealth and accumulation, as long as their end was not merely idle sensuous enjoyment, were taken to be evidence of the talent and insight that heaven can bestow. Idleness, the spontaneous enjoyment of life, and other forms of apparently disorganized behavior were impediments to the fulfillment of a calling.

The religious valuation of restless, continuous, syste­ matic work in a worldly calling, as the highest means to asceticism, and at the same time the surest and most evi­ dent proof of rebirth and genuine faith, must have been the most powerful conceivable lever for the expansion of that attitude toward life which we have here called the spirit of capitalism. (Weber 1958, p. 172)

The early British industrial capitalists were men deeply affected by this world view. Many of them, born into the lower middle class, embraced this spirit of asceticism and accumulation as they wrenched their families out of the locative world inherited from feudalism. Their willingness to innovate and their understanding of rational

4 For further discussion, see Thompson (1966) , pp. 314-31. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 157

economics provided the drive necessary for a radical reinterpreta­ tion of work and the worker. The elements of work organization characteristic of this period helped to make available a set of tools with which the employers could concretize and implement their emerging vision of self and work. The sheer weight of the behavioral demands exerted by the new forms of work organization played a major role in shaping a workforce able to accommodate to an inten­ sified production process. Early factory organization confronted some of the most basic, taken-for-granted features of collective behavior. Chief among these was the need to broaden the acceptability of centralization as an essential characteristic of the new work arrangements. Only if work were transferred from home to workshop or mill would it be possible to impose the level of supervision necessary to increase the pace of production and monitor the flow of materials.5 Soon, the widespread use of steam power would create an irreversible demand for centralized production. Together with centralization went the increasing need for synchronization, as the presence of overseers and machinery required a shared work schedule. These two basic elements of factory work organization-central­ ization and synchronization-expressed the need for greater predict­ ability and control in the labor process. Elaborate systems of fines were developed to reinforce desired behaviors and reflected the employers' visions of the consistency of effort that was required by factory work. Spontaneous nonpurposeful actions, such as wander­ ing from one's work station, gazing out the window, washing, whistling, talking with others, swearing, drinking, lateness, and "seduction," were all subject to heavy fines (Pollard 1965, pp. 181-92; Hammond and Hammond 1918; pp. 19-20; Boyson 1970, pp. 95-112). The Law Book of the Crowley Iron Works set forth an entire civil and penal code to regulate its workforce. It stands as an illustration of the determination with which the specifics of work organization were imbued with the moral vision of the Protestant work ethic: "Some have pretended a sort of right to loiter, thinking by their readiness and ability to do sufficient in less time than others. Others have been so foolish to think bare attendance without being employed in business is sufficient ..." (Thompson 1967, p. 81).

5 For two detailed arguments on this subject, see Gras (1930) and Marglin (1974) . 158 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Crowley insisted that a strictly enforced 13 hours of work was to be calculated "after all deductions for being at taverns, ale houses, coffee houses, breakfast, dinner, playing, sleeping, smoking, singing, reading of news history, quarreling, contention, disputes, or anything foreign to my business, any way loitering" (Thompson 1967). The Ashworth cotton mills "made use of large rule boards, prominently displayed, which drew attention to the virtues of thrift, order, promptitude, and perseverence" (Boyson 1970). Workers were required to be washed, to change their shirts twice weekly, and to attend Sabbath worship. Time sheets, time-keepers, clocking-in, fines, and informers were all utilized by the employers to impose their time sense on the workforce. While these disciplinary measures helped to reshape broad contours of work behavior, the employers did not, for several generations, attempt to reorganize the "interior" of the labor pro­ cess.8 It was this fact, together with the opportunities created by the specific patterns of relationships between workers and employers, that made it possible for workers to experience some meaning in the work ethic of the employers. Fundamental to the classic work ethic were conceptions of individual effort, pride in work, and reward for achievement. Weber (1958, pp. 161-62) discusses the Puritan transformation of the Lutheran concept of a calling as one that rejected the idea of submission to labor as a necessity and replaced it with a glorification of a specialized occupation. In this conjunction, the pursuit of wealth was seen as a responsibility. With the advancing seculariza­ tion of American society in the 19th century, the moralists and reformers preached the importance of socially useful work, and the property-owning middle class embraced the dignity of work as a means of assuming upward mobility (Rodgers 1978, pp. 9-10). More than anything else, the image of the self-made man working his way to fortune and respectability from lowly beginnings through tireless effort, discipline, ambition, self-control, and persistence expressed the seductive power of the work ethic. It was a power that derived from a key assumption of classical economics-that freedom and prosperity were twinborn. Adam Smith (1904, p. 43) consolidated that vision:

6 See the discussion in Giedion (1969), pp. 100-101. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 159

The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition, when suffered to exert itself with freedom and security, is so powerful a principle, that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.

These beliefs offered some motivational force as long as actual conditions lent some degree of credibility to their claims. Pollard's analysis (1965, pp. 122-25) of early British industrialization notes the acute shortage of technically competent managers in all of the rapidly growing industries, including textiles, mining, engineering, and pottery. This meant that managers, typically sons or other relatives of owners, had to depend upon the know-how of their workers. In addition, it provided considerable opportunity for the skilled worker able to exert discipline over his fellows: "All fast­ growing industries had to recruit some managers from the ranks, a method which would at least guarantee some technical knowledge, and almost certainly led to the selection of men of character who could keep discipline" (Pollard 1965, p. 125). Pollard's data on the textile industries show that by 1830 foremen to worker ratios averaged about one to thirty. However, foremen were not much elevated beyond the skilled worker in terms of either status or pay. Middle managers were few in number and did not emerge as a significant class until the late 1800s (Pollard 1965, p 135). This meant that, during most of the 19th century, men from the lower classes could be tapped for management positions, if they had accumulated the right mix of technical skill and business sense. It was thus a period of considerable social mobility within industrial firms (Pollard 1965, p. 157) . In America, home and workshop continued to be the principal centers of production as late as 1850. Rodgers (1978, p. 19) refers to data indicating that approximately 50 percent of all Boston workers were employed in shops of ten or fewer employees, while 80 percent worked in shops with 20 or less. In these circumstances, supervision was either nonexistent or informal, and a considerable degree of independence could be assumed (Rodgers 1978, p. 21).7

7 See also Gutman (1976), pp. 20, 37, 58. 160 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Within the larger industrial enterprises, such as iron works and textile mills, craft processes remained intact through the late 19th century. Many workers enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in determining how their work would be organized and executed. Montgomery (1979, pp. 11-12) has documented practices among iron rollers in which teams of workers collectively determined task allocations, the hiring and development of workers, and pay rates. Stone's (1974) work on the steel industry reveals a similar pattern of worker autonomy. At the turn of the century, textile mills, America's earliest symbols of machine-paced production, were still dominated by patterns of family life. Knowledge of the production process was shared among relatives, and family members often worked together with little supervision.8 It would seem that the moral incentives offered by the work ethic met with some success, because, despite the radical demands of the new forms of work organization, there remained considerable opportunity for continuity with older craft traditions. Though mid- 18th century British moralists complained of the lack of industrious­ ness among workers transplanted to the factories, many workers continued to feel bound by the sense of fair play that had regulated guild life and were indignant at the thought of deliberate slacking.9 Well into the 19th century it was still difficult for British workers to think of their labor as a commodity-as something to be withheld in order to enhance its market value.

Scientific Management As the size of enterprises grew and work became more minutely subdivided and dependent upon machinery, there was a greater need for labor discipline. Massive resistance to the increased regi­ mentation of the larger factories is evidenced in the American data on quit rates and turnover figures during the early part of this century. Between 1905 and 1917, most industrial workers changed jobs at least every three years (Rodgers 1978, p. 163). Armour's large meatpacking plant in Chicago hired 8000 people each year just to keep a daily payroll of 8000 workers (Rodgers 1978) . Surveys of textile mills, auto plants, machine works, and steel mills showed equally high turnover.

R See, for example, Hareven and Langenbach (1978), pp. 118--19. 9 See George (1965), p. 211, and Hobsbawm (1964), p. 351. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 161

Because the moral vision of American society had been based upon the image of the independent, self-employed person, many social critics feared that people would be less likely to work hard under the wage system and, even worse, that something in their very natures might change. A nation of wage-earners seemed an eerie prospect, contrary to the country's self-understanding. Yet the rate at which industrial work organization displaced self-employment was astonishing. In 1820, self-employed labor accounted for 80 percent of the work­ force; by 1870 it was 33 percent, it was 20 percent in 1940, and by 1970 the self-employed were only 10 percent of the labor force. The pri­ mary cause of this reduction was already evident in 1870 as the core of the American economy began to shift from agriculture to manufac­ turing. This trend is clear in the regional breakdown of self-employ­ ment statistics in 1870. Aggregate figures for the northern labor force show a rate of 30-40 percent self-employed. A largely agricultural state such as Indiana had a 50 percent self-employment rate, while Pennsylvania's was only 25-35pe rcent and Massachusetts, one of the earliest states to industrialize aggressively, had a self-employment rate of only 1�25 percent (Rodgers 1078, p. 37) . Another major factor in these trends is the sheer size of workplaces and their tightened hierarchical structures. By 1919 in the northern states, 75 percent of all employees were in shops with more than 100 workers, and 30 percent were in shops employing more than 1000 (Rodgers 1978, p. 20) . More than any other single theme, efficiency became the domi­ nant creed of those who managed these larger and more complex workplaces. To achieve efficiency, it would now be necessary to penetrate the interior of the labor process and force it to yield up its secrets. It was Frederick Taylor who became the symbol and spokesperson for this effort. Taylor's goal was to be able to systematize the performance of tasks so that perfect identity and repeatability could be established across similar tasks repeated by the same individual, and across individuals engaged in the same task. This necessitated a new and deeper level of control of work. The methods of scientific management would make it possible to raise the level of output by making ever more exacting demands over minute aspects of behavior. Scientific management thus made the uniformity of products possible initially by providing for the uniformity of human activity. Standardization, as a fact of mass 162 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS production, required an exacting work discipline: "Interchangeabil­ ity demands from all concerned rigorous discipline and submission to given directives. The initiative of the individual worker is almost completely suppressed" (Touraine 1974). The second development in the organization of work that was brought to a new level of intensity by the achievements of scientific management was a more detailed division of labor. It was necessary for management to possess detailed knowledge of each step of a task if it were to be simplified and hence made uniform and repeatable. This meant that the greatest asset a worker had-knowl­ edge-was both accessible and owned by management. Henry Ford was among the first of the major industrial employ­ ers to apply this new capacity for specialization in his assembly-line operation.10 He did not anticipate the violent reaction that workers would have:

Ford's men had begun to desert him in large numbers as early as 1910. With the coming of the assembly line, their ranks almost literally fell apart; the company soon found it next to impossible to keep its working force intact, let alone expand it. It was apparent that the Ford Motor Co. had reached the point of owning a great factory without having enough workers to keep it humming. Ford admitted later that his startling factory innovations had ushered in the outstanding labor crisis of his career. The turnover of his working force had run, he was to write, to 380 percent for the year 1913 alone. So great was labor's distaste for the new machine system that toward the close of 1913 every time the company wanted to add 100 men to its factory personnel, it was necessary to hire 963. (Sward 1948, p. 32)

Scientific management and rationalization, because of their de­ monstrable ability to increase productivity, spread rapidly through industry. As a result, it became increasingly difficult to walk out of a job like the one at Ford and find another that still provided some control over the details of the work process. Those jobs that maintained craft integrity were on the wane. Faced with this situation, many people found themselves willing to accept financial compensation for the difficult conditions of mass production. Ford

10 See the discussion in Merkle (1980) , p. 96. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 163 was able to recruit workers for his plant only by offering $5.00 a day, far above ordinary wages at that time. Ford's solution can be seen as a symbolic turning point for the classic work ethic. As long as work retained something of its intrinsic meaning, it could be justified within the ideological framework of the self-made man. But as the engines of mass production geared up and work organization began to emphasize a minute subdivision of labor, close supervision, and increased hierarchical control, what was needed was a new work ethic that would substitute extrinsic rewards for intrinsic satisfaction. The new message of work organi­ zation was the integration of the worker into a more mechanical and interdependent production process. As Giedion (1969, p. 99) has put it, the human being came to be conceived of as a lever within a complex chain of activities. What the managers of these new enterprises now needed to induce was obedience and efficiency, not the questioning stubborn ways of the autonomous crafts person idealized by the old work ethic.11 The rhetoric of the classic work ethic faded slowly-its force and utility are even now undeniable. Yet employers and workers alike experienced a new dissonance between the traditional image of a productive craftsman and the increasingly complex exigencies of interdependent, mechanized, large-scale industrial production. Managers gradually developed a new concept of worker motivation, one that emphasized the economic benefits that would accrue from the rationalization of work-benefits to be shared with workers in the form of steady employment, higher wages, and an improved standard of living.12 A direct relationship between success and effort was more difficult to promulgate in a bureaucratized enterprise with its narrow task demands. Upward mobility would most likely result from adapting to the rules of the workplace and winning the incremental promotions that could carry a worker from hourly wages to the genteel world of the salaried employee.

1 1 For a discussion of this shift, see Bendix (1974), pp. 254-340. In addition, Stephen Meyer (1980) has described the characteristic obedience and docility that Ford managers tried to develop in their immigrant workers. Randall Miller (1981) notes that by the mid-19th century, southern mill owners had already declared a preference for slave hands in their factories over New England workers. Slaves were considered more obedient and easily trained "without entering into any philosophical inquiry as to the method of doing it." 12 See Rodgers (1978) , pp. 56-57,73, 125-26, and Bendix (1974), pp. 274-81. 164 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

American workers were not marked by the same degree of class consciousness as their British counterparts, but there were some similarities in their responses to the new factory conditions. They launched an effort to limit working time, increase wages, and win formal rights to collective bargaining. At the same time there was a turn toward life outside of work for those pleasures that had been exorcised from the workplace. Antagonisms developed that led to formal and informal practices of slacking or work banking, generally accompanied by workers' efforts to maximize whatever social interaction or playfulness could be squeezed into the working day. The formal strategy of limiting worktime represented a discontinuity with the past, expressing a loss of hope regarding the possibilities of work: "The upshot of the ascetic energies poured so earnestly into the factories to wall off the discipline of work from the hazards of life was ultimately to turn the essential allegiance of most Americans away from their jobs and into the more satisfying and work free business of leisure" (Rodgers 1978, p. 163). Bill Haywood's motto for the working class was "the less work the better," and it was this sentiment that dominated the labor movement from the 1860s well into the 20th century. Strikes, crusades, shutdowns, violence, and demonstrations punctuated these decades as surely as the steady ring of the factory bells. While a host of economic arguments attended the battle for shorter hours and higher wages, behind all the arguments was the basic drive for less time at work, more time free of it. In its earliest years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics set itself to polling workers' opinions regarding shorter hours:

Who these nameless workers were and how their opin­ ions found their way into print is not clear, but, taking opinion samples as they come, none more closely ap­ proaches the rank and file of labor than these. And when they posed the working-hours question, the surveys re­ peatedly turned up strong, often overwhelming support for the short hours demand. "We go into the factory too young and work too hard afterwards." (Rodgers 1978, p. 157)

Even nonunion workers were in favor of shorter hours. As Samuel Gompers put it, "However much they may differ upon other matters ...all men of labor ...can unite upon this" (Rodgers 1978, THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 165 p. 156). Hobsbawm (1964, p. 351) has considered the period be­ tween 1880 and 1914 in Britain as marking the first well developed theories of free market bargaining or systematic slacking of the worker's labor effort. The second, more informal, strategy to humanize work through social interaction was an expression of continuity with the past. Work had become the modern public house, the gathering place, the watering hole. In seeking distraction from the foreign tasks imposed upon them, workers persisted in leaving their mark. Conversation, games, rituals, humor, and the intrigue of relationships became the sometimes subversive compensation for tasks shorn of meaning.13 Two centuries ago the Methodist John Wesley had foreseen the potential contradiction in capitalism's reliance on the formula of hard work and material accumulation: "For the Methodists in every place grow diligent and frugal. Consequently they increase in goods. Hence, they proportionately increase in pride, in anger, in the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life" (Weber 1958, p. 175) . Three decades into the 20th century, having faced the growing legitimacy of collective bargaining and the formalization of adversarial relationships in the workplace, Ameri­ can employers began to wonder if the dysfunction inherent in the tradeoff between intrinsic satisfaction in work and extrinsic rewards might not be too costly. Reinhard Bendix (1974, pp. 309-19) has credited Elton Mayo with providing the synthesis needed by the managerial community as it confronted these growing contradictions in its theory of worker motivation. It was Mayo's work that argued for an understanding of the worker as a psychological self whose motivation depended upon the fulfillment of social and emotional needs. Mayo used his field studies to argue that worker motivation is only rarely guided by the calculus of economic self-interest. Instead, attitudes, feelings, and social bonds constituted a hidden logic with which worker behavior could be understood and predicted. Mayo and his coworkers recast management's task-they believed that the success of a complex industrial organization depended upon cooperation between man­ agement and labor. If managers were to achieve such cooperation,

13 For extensive descriptions of the role of social interaction in the workplace, see Schrank (1974, 1978). Further discussion and examples can be found in Parker (1922), Palm (1977) , King (1976), and Roy (1959-1960). 166 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS they would have to become competent in deciphering the psychologi­ cal map of the workforce and harnessing workers' sentiments in support of the organization as a whole.14 Mayo provided solid footing for a new psychologized work ethic. His was a theme that would be woven into managerial discourse throughout the early postwar period. By 1958, a prediction study carried out at the Harvard Business School by Zaleznik, Christenson, and Roethlisberger, entitled The Motivation, Produc­ tivity, and Satisfaction of Workers, attributed the persistence of labor-management conflict to a model of work organization that reflected an obsolete conception of the work ethic. The rationaliza­ tion of work, these authors argued, had created efficiencies and, thus, abundance. As a result, the basic needs of workers had been met. But human beings have higher order needs, inducing desires for membership, achievement, and self-fulfillment, that are released when basic needs are satisfied: "By satisfying workers' basic needs [management] has lost its conventional controls for motivating them. It has realized new wants which its motivational tools cannot satisfy. Moreover, it has unwittingly organized its work in ways which do not provide the conditions that would allow these new needs to be satisfied" (Zaleznik et al. 1958, p. 403) . The next management challenge, they reasoned, would be to discover ways of organizing work that would provide opportunities for workers' psychological development and the fulfillment of their higher order needs. By introducing the language of psychological needs, Zaleznik, Christiansen, and Roethlisberger consolidated the framework of a new and modern work ethic. The journey between the two points of worker and output was no longer an economic one. If they were to reach their final destination, managers would have to understand their workers as psychological selves in search of fulfillment and provide them with the requisite opportunities for nurturance and challenge.

The Reinterpreted Work Ethic It was the early 1970s that saw the psychological reinterpretation of the work ethic emphatically take hold. The growing ascendancy of this point of view drew strength from important shifts in the

14 See the discussion in Scott and Homans (1947) . THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 167 landscape of American culture and the economy. Chief among these was the ballooning number of college-educated people. By 1976 one out of four persons ages 25 to 29 had received a bachelor's degree as compared with one out of twenty in 1940. Many of the new graduates found their way into the professions. The Current Population Survey for 1977 showed 13.7 million professionals, as compared with 7 million in 1958, representing a 97 percent increase. Simultaneously, the number of managers and administrators increased to 9.7 million in 1977, a 42 percent increase over the 6.8 million in 1958. As Ginzberg has documented (1979, p. 50), this figure conceals something of a "social revolution in the ranks of U.S. managers and administrators. In this 20 year period the number of self-employed managers (principally small businessmen) declined by 51% . . . while the number of salaried managers increased ...more than llO%." Together, these two occupational groups now account for one-fourth of the U.S. labor force. Just as the classic work ethic had been a middle-class invention, the middle class would again exert a power beyond its considerable numbers through the dissemination of its values and beliefs. Fueled by postwar existential philosophy and its various reiterations by the popular psychologies of the 1960s and 1970s, these values empha­ sized the sacredness of the self and taught that individual moral calculations provided sufficient criteria upon which to embrace or oppose discrete aspects of organized social life. Self-fulfillment became everyone's problem: with the right opportunities, one might turn the self into a work of art, but a routinized existence could threaten stunted failure. The new class of educated professionals introduced the language of the self into public discourse, demanding greater responsiveness from political and educational institutions­ demands that gradually spread to private enterprise as well.15 It seems now that workers first took up these new demands as a way to oppose their employers. Automobile workers at Lordstown staged a strike that became a national symbol of the absorption of counter-cultural values by the working class.16 High levels of absen­ teeism, turnover, and walkouts were considered to be evidence of growing blue-collar dissatisfaction. Work in America, a study pub­ lished by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in

15 See the discussion in Bell (1979) as well as in Bell (1976). 16 For relevant accounts of the Lordstown strike, see the collection of articles assembled in Kanter and Stein (1979), pp. 206-25. 168 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

1973, became an immediate cultural artifact when it declared that significant numbers of men and women in virtually every occupa­ tional category were alienated from their work (USDHEW 1973, pp. 13-23). By 1978 a study of beliefs about work (Bucholz 1978) found that, on average, members of distinct occupational categories (clerical, blue-collar, and managerial) shared a belief in "the importance of finding personal fulfillment and satisfaction in one's job, of having a chance to learn new things on the job and grow in the knowledge of oneself" over more traditional conceptions of the work ethic. These signs of the diffusion of middle-class values are also supported by changing economic relationships. As Bell (1979) has argued, the hedonism stimulated by, and necessary for, mass consumption worked to create one consumer culture in which traditional class cleavages are obscured: "The standard demographic variables that sociologists have used for social class identification ...are less reliable as the culture increasingly fosters 'discretionary social behavior,' and individuals choose to 'make themselves' on the basis of varied images drawn from the mass media" (p. 22) . In a comprehensive updating of the Lynds' classic Middletown study, Caplow et al. (1982) found that marked differences in 1925 between "business-class" and "working-class" families had eroded by 1977: "Working-class people play golf and tennis, travel in Europe for pleasure, and send their children to college. Business­ class people do their own laundry and mow their own lawns" (p. 15). By the mid-1970s there was a growing managerial awareness of the challenges that would be posed if the aspirations of the new managers, professionals, and their working-class counterparts were to be successfully harnessed to the goals of private enterprise. As Ginzberg (1979, p. 53) stated the problem:

No establishment can ensure its survival without the recruitment of talent from outside its ranks. If it does not succeed in the full co-optation of the newcomers, however, it may leave itself vulnerable to them as they proceed to advance their own interests and aims and succeed in usurping decision-making power. It remains to be seen whether the demands of the new American mandarins can be met without subversion of the risk-taking, profit-seek­ ing, efficiency criteria on which the country's business system has long rested. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 169

During this period, business leaders finally seemed ready to embrace a new interpretation of that crucial linkage between the worker and work, and several of them riveted media attention with their public attempts to state a psychologically grounded theory of work motivation. By 1974, Irving S. Shapiro, chairman of DuPont, would say in a speech to the National Association of Manufacturers in New York City:

The whole thrust of our society is toward greater individuality and better utilization of human potential. This is all but certain to continue and to have an influence on everybody in industry. Our people are going to need a great deal of personal breadth and versatility. Our institu­ tions are going to have to be flexible and offer a diversity of incentives and rewards ....We talk about giving high potential people a piece of the action financially. That's a good incentive. It's even better to give them a piece of the decision-making action along with the money ....It's the type of incentive industry can offer to employees at many subordinate levels ....We in management should take a new look . . . to see if we can do more to meet people's intangible as well as material needs.

Sidney Harman, the CEO of a firm with an automobile mirror plant in Bolivar, Tenn., that had received considerable press attention for its work improvement program, told one journalist:

We knew that productivity gains would develop as a by-product. The primary objective had to be human development. Without that as our principal goal and con­ cern, the experiment at Bolivar was certain to fail. Fortun­ ately, it succeeded because we based the program on encouragement of greater employee participation in deci­ sion-making. It succeeded because we ensured that all employees would be treated fairly, be given an opportunity to develop their capabilities to the fullest, and feel secure about their jobs and their futures.17

The volatile economic climate of the 1970s revealed new sources of strain for the industrial bureaucracy. Many managers began to believe that their organizations needed to respond more flexibly to

17 See "Worker Productivity: Technology or People?" an interview with Sidney Harman, in Personnel journal (April l979) . 170 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS changes in consumer tastes, challenges from foreign competition, or sudden shifts in the cost of energy and raw materials. The flexibility they sought could not be achieved in a rigid standardized production environment in which workers and managers alike had long agreed that limited worker initiative was the price of a good paycheck. The Volvo company was in the forefront in creating more flexible assembly operations that reflected as well a vision of a new work ethic. The president of Volvo, Pehr Gyllenhammar, led Swedish managers in giving expression to a modern conception of work motivation. In his book, People at Work (1977, p. 10), he wrote:

Creating educated automatons is unacceptable if you view people as adults who can develop in a number of directions as human beings with enormous potential. Given this view, which I hold strongly, it is cruel to the individuals and wasteful to society to expect people to spend more than half their waking hours each day without stimulus of any sort, simply acting as efficient machine tenders.

Private-sector leaders like Shapiro, Harman, and Gyllenhammar became cultural emissaries within their traditionally narrow and conservative business domains. They sensed that society had moved on once again and offered their managerial peers an interpretation of the work ethic that fully accepted the worker as a psychological self with intangible needs demanding fulfillment. If work is to get done, they argued, it must be perceived as providing opportunities for this fulfillment to occur. Only with such an approach would it be possible to integrate the masses of educated workers into the various technical and administrative roles necessitated by the production processes of an advanced industrial society. The link between the new work ethic and work organization was not lost on managers like Harman and Gyllenhammar. In the same interview noted above, Harman (1979, p. 253) remarked: "One of the by-products of a humanizing program that works is a lessened need for the very elaborate and expensive superstructures of super­ vision and quality control. You begin to scale down this superstruc­ ture and that means lower costs, greater profits, and improved productivity." Gyllenhammar (1977, p. 53) discusses in detail several new Volvo THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 171

plants designed to embody this understanding of the relationship between work motivation and organization: By 1969 the employee turnover rate reached 52% and absenteeism was increasing. Management began to pay more attention to social, sociological, and psychological factors ....Now we have not one but five plants organized in a nontraditional way, all scaled for 600 employees or less. These cost a little more to build than traditional factories of similar size, but they are already showing good productivity. We believe productivity will continue to increase because the people who work in them have better jobs ....We hope the employees will continue to be motivated to give more of themselves, their ideas, and their creative energy to the endeavor. In the context of this managerial leadership, social scientists were invited to design, advise, and evaluate work arrangements that could provide psychologically enhancing experiences. One of the most cogent thinkers in the effort to translate the new work ethic into innovative design practices was Richard Walton of the Harvard Business School. A now classic statement of his work on the design of a new Gaines pet food plant in Topeka, Kan., "How To Counter Alienation in the Plant," forthrightly articulated the conceptualiza­ tion that was to link workers to work, and thus to enhanced business outcomes. Employees, he asserted, want challenge, mutual influ­ ence, interesting work, and less emphasis on competition. These desires will have to be fulfilled if productivity is to grow and social costs are to be minimized: "We must coordinate the redesign of the way tasks are packaged into jobs, the way workers are required to relate to each other, the way performance is measured, and rewards are made available, the way positions of authority and status symbols are structured, and the way career paths are conceived" (Walton 1972). One key element of work design at Topeka was the autonomous work group providing self-management opportunities related to task distribution, coordination, training, and problem-solving. Such teams integrated into their operations support functions such as mainte­ nance, quality control, and even some engineering and personnel responsibilities. Tasks were designed to include functions requiring activities such as planning, problem diagnosis, and coordination. 172 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Pay systems were established that would reward workers for increasing their range of skills. Instead of the traditional foremen, team leaders were selected to facilitate team development and decision-making. Managerial information was shared with teams in order to allow them to make decisions formerly reserved for their supervisors. Finally, the physical design of the workplace was intended to minimize status differences and facilitate social interac­ tion among workers. Much has been written on the results of the Topeka effort. At various stages it has been proclaimed either a success or a failure. However, most of the data seem to indicate that substantial business savings were achieved, while maintaining a work culture that created more worker commitment than the typical blue-collar operation. Topeka's enduring contribution, however, comes from the legitimating role model it provided to literally hundreds of other work-restructuring efforts around the globe:

Extrapolating from available information, I estimate that an important minority of the Fortune "500" companies are attempting some significant work improvement proj­ ects. And, not surprisingly, the companies that have greater commitment to and experience with such projects are among the leaders in their respective industries: General Motors, Procter & Gamble, Exxon, General Foods, TRW, and Cummins Engine ....Less prominent but similarly well managed companies . . . have become increasingly proactive in this area. (Walton 1979, p. 91)

Many new plant start-ups have used some mix of the design elements first implemented at Topeka. In his review of new plant designs, Lawler (1978) lists six key elements that all of the innovative plants have in common. They include (I) physical design of facilities that are congruent with social objectives, (2) job designs that give emphasis to self-managing teams, (3) compensation systems that reward skill development, (4) organization structures that minimize hierarchy, supervision, and functional specialization, (5) a heavy emphasis on training, personal growth, and career development, and (6) a management style that allows decision-making to be pushed to the lowest levels of the organization. While financial results are not easily assessed in many of these situations, he argues that the fact that many major corporations are now designing all of THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 173 their plants in accordance with some or all of these design elements suggests their economic power. One such organization is Procter & Gamble which, as Lawler notes, "has closed its new-design plants to researchers and others because it believes that it now enjoys a competitive advantage and it doesn't want to share it" (Lawler 1978, p. 7). Some new plants have designed their compensation and career development systems to explicitly parallel Maslow's "needs hier­ archy," representing a concrete attempt to develop specific organi­ zational policies and practices that address the worker as a develop­ ing psychological self. New principles of work organization have also reached into the heart of the auto industry. During the 1970s Volvo pushed its new vision of the worker further than other major industrial organiza­ tions. The new assembly plant at Kalmar used team organization as the backbone of its assembly process. The team was conceived of as the cultural crucible of a more personal work culture within the larger plant. Gyllenhammar saw the team as a structural device that would allow the worker to "feel identification with the products, to be aware of quality responsibility and also be in a position to influence their working environment" (Frampton 1976, p. 21). American auto companies joined the movement to create forms of work organization that could engage the traditional adversarial sentiments of the automobile worker. Their efforts have centered less on restructuring work tasks than on changes in forms of supervision and on creating opportunities for workers to engage in problem-solving and quality control activities. At the same time it should be noted that efforts to decrease rigid stratification within the organization and increase opportunities to experience more richness within a particular job are countervailing forces in the vast tide of bureaucratization that has engulfed industrial organization throughout the 20th century. Between 1947 and 1975, the ratio of nonproduction to production workers has grown dramatically in virtually every industrial sector.18 In manufac­ turing as a whole, this ratio was estimated at 40.6 in 1975 (Edwards 1979). Edwards has calculated these ratios for two major American corporations, AT&T and Polaroid. He found that between 1958 and 1976, AT&T's ratio of salaried employees to production workers rose from 71.8 to 98.7. From 1961 to 1977, the same ratio at Polaroid

1 8 Edwards (1979), table p . 224. See also the discussion in Bendix (1974), pp. 211-26. 174 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS increased from 105.9 to 123.6. One consequence of this growth in nonproduction personnel has been the general increase in the number of supervisory positions. Though the actual authority and span of control of the typical foreman in a manufacturing operation has decreased since the early part of the century, by 1970 their relative numbers had increased to approximately one foreman for every 20 workers across all U.S. manufacturing companies. Most of this increase has occurred in recent decades, as the numbers of foremen in manufacturing grew by only 15 percent from 1910 to 1940, but by 67 percent between 1940 and 1970 (Edwards 1979, p. 135). Some observers see these indices of bureaucratization as repre­ senting the necessarily dominant thrust of work organizations,'since managers must improve efficiency and control if their companies are to compete in profitability.19 Such critics have seen work restructuring as ultimately in conflict with capitalistic objectives and, therefore, destined to be short-lived. Mendner, a Swedish analyst, discusses work humanization from a Marxist perspective. He identifies five levels of complexity in work reform efforts, including (1) job rotation, (2) job enlargement, (3) technological autonomy through buffering, (4) job enrichment, and (5) autono­ mous workgroups (technical and administrative autonomy).20 While he views the latter two as historically significant reforms, he does not believe they can be anything but temporary phenomena. Mendner argues that managers undertake these reforms in order to avoid the "costs of class struggle" as expressed in absenteeism, sabotage, strikes, higher wage demands, etc., but the costs of the reforms themselves will eventually dissuade managers from this approach. Corporations will, he predicts, return to the basics of scientific management and automation as it provides greater effi­ ciency and cost control. In a review of the theoretical literature on worker participation, Greenberg (1975) criticizes managers and humanistic reformers who espouse participation without questioning basic assumptions related to managerial prerogatives and the profit motive. He wonders whether participation at work is actually a passivity-inducing co­ optive activity. Witte (1980) conducted a careful case study of one

19 For a lengthy exposition of this view, see Berg, Freedman, and Freedman (1978). 20 The Swedish work of Mendner is referred to in Mortensen (1979) , pp. 1�59. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 175 corporation's quality of work life program. In considering the potential of participatory forms of work organization, he concludes:

Future prospects also depend on weakening the profit norm. This change must go beyond the plaintive cry of human relations advocates that humanism and democracy are "good business." The belief must be encouraged that the nature of activities and human interaction in the work place are an independent consideration, a value to be considered completely apart from profitability. To my mind the chances that such a conversion will take hold rapidly are very slight.

One weakness of these arguments is that many large organiza­ tions that have sought to motivate employees with more humanistic forms of work organization have developed a complex appreciation of the many interdependent factors that contribute to profitability. For many American and European managers facing the increased pressures of international competition, operational flexibility and product quality have become preeminent goals. These managers are looking for ways to increase their options for shifting employees across jobs and redefining functions in order to be better able to respond to changes in markets, inventory levels, global capacity, or new opportunities for technological upgrading. Intensified competition has also meant that product and service quality can be important determinants of a firm's chances for survival in the marketplace. For example, General Motors, which has made a substantial investment in its quality of work life activities in plants around North America, has assiduously measured the effects of its programs on key outcome variables. Comparing these outcomes to overall measures of quality of work life activity within each plant, GM researchers found significant relationships between QWL involvement and such "class struggle" outcomes as absentee­ ism. More strikingly, their results indicate statistically significant relationships between the level of QWL activity and such outcomes as monitored quality, body quality, chassis quality, customer accep­ tance rating audits, mechanical reliability, overall interior workman­ ship, overall body workmanship, and plant efficiency.21 Since the

21 These data were made available by the GM organizational research unit to an Executive Education Program in Human Resource Management held at the Harvard Business School in August 1982. 176 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

content of quality of work life activities can vary greatly among GM plants, it is difficult to pinpoint the exact structure of the relationship between innovations in work organization and quality improve­ ment. Nevertheless, the higher levels of worker involvement, moti­ vation, and morale derived from these activities has netted quality improvements whose economic value seems likely to outweigh whatever efficiencies have been lost in the relaxing of strict hierarchi­ cal control. The salience of organizational flexibility, cooperation, and quali­ ty of product and service as top priority business outcomes is further illustrated in the success of the personnel practices in the large nonunion corporations studied by Foulkes (1980). He found that firms which successfully maintained themselves as nonunion were characterized by powerful top management philosophies espousing trust, cooperation, equal treatment, mutual respect, and a concern for the individual development of the employee. The sophisticated psychological sensibilities required of managers in one of the most successful nonunion companies, IBM, is illustrated in the following quote from an IBM manager: "The development of people is without question one of the highest priorities that a manager at IBM is given. It is his responsibility to hire good people, train them, and improve them, and motivate them to accept greater responsibility." If an employee doesn't succeed at his job, "They'd never think of firing him. IBM is very sensitive to those kinds of things. They would not just rip his chevrons off. He would go back to a job like his old one, but probably in another department in another building, if he feels it would be embarrassing for him to see his old buddies."22 The managers in Foulkes's study believed that by avoiding unioniza­ tion with appeals to employees' "higher order needs," they achieve greater flexibility in the utilization of people, reduced resistance to technological change, a more favorable employee climate, and lower absenteeism and turnover rates. In a comprehensive review of 600 field-based empirical studies of work improvement efforts, Srivasta et al. (1975) concluded that intrinsic motivation of the worker is increased when features of work organization provide "a clear contract of worker discretion over specified activities; immediate nonevaluative feedback con-

22 "How IBM Stays Non-Union,'" Industry Week (November 26, 1979), p. 84. THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 177 trolled by those workers possessing autonomy; increased interper­ sonal or group skills to facilitate autonomous actions; and worker­ controlled innovation opportunity." In a recent survey of 84 Scottish top managers, Dickson (1982) attempts to understand the relationships between these managers' beliefs about work and the value they place on encouraging employee participation. He concludes:

The group of key power holders who formed the respondents saw the principal rationales for participation in terms of decision acceptance, decision quality, employee morale, and two-way communication between them and their employees. These rationales are all "socially desirable" outcomes as far as top managers in organizations are concerned. It is possible to infer that for top managers, participation is valuable to the extent that it produces desired organizational outcomes, rather than desired em­ ployee outcomes or desired societal outcomes. Do these findings suggest that the reformist managerial vanguard is correct in its assessment of the power of work redesign and enlightened supervision to create a renaissance of worker motiva­ tion? The fact that numerous companies do seem to achieve significant positive results with respect to outcomes, such as decision quality, product or service quality, and cooperation, would seem to indicate that many employees want to be treated as adults with complex psychological needs and aspirations. There appears to be a deep running sentimental vein that can be tapped by the new work ethic, just as earlier work ethics drew upon the bonds people felt toward the image of the craftsperson or, later, the energy and willingness to sacrifice that many workers shared in response to the promise of upward mobility. An example that powerfully supports this view is drawn from the emerging data on the 11,500 air traffic controllers who chose to illegally strike against the federal govern­ ment in 1981. Shortly after the strike, a three-man task force was appointed to investigate its sources and offer recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration. David Bowers, a task force member, has summarized some of the key findings of a comprehen­ sive survey commissioned by that group. In a recent article, Bowers (1983) characterized the controllers as the quintessence of the "new 178 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS worker"-highly educated, technically expert, and likely to respect a supervisor on the basis of demonstrated competence rather than formal authority. He concludes :

A formal test, using a system of structural equations, suggests that the individual's decision to strike or stay was in substantial measure the result of four major factors: • The organizational climate conditions which he or she had experienced, particularly the degree of concern for people, communication flow, and the organization of work. • The degree of alienation or goal integration which he or she felt . • The frequency of acutely stressful episodes which he or she had experienced . • The degree of burnout which he or she felt. Taken together, these factors explain over half of the variance in individual strike or stay decisions.

The task force's report strongly points to the conclusion that FAA management failed to understand (or refused to consider) their employees as psychological selves, and thus ignored the potential sources of motivation and commitment within the workforce. The FAA's militaristic approach to work organization and autocratic management style reflected an interpretation of the work ethic that might have been adequate for a workforce of the 1930s. In 1981, however, 11,500 air traffic controllers experienced this approach as so injurious as to warrant an illegal strike that cost them well-paying jobs with the single employer of their highly specialized skills. The record of results of those companies that have moved aggressively in re-envisioning the link between work and the worker is compelling. If Foulkes's companies have been able to remain nonunion, if GM has experienced significant improvements in product quality, if hundreds of other organizations have come to see their work reform efforts as an important competitive advantage, it suggests that innovative forms of work organization have begun to succeed in responding to a new work ethic. Whether or not all of the workplace innovations have fulfilled their espoused claims, and independent of their potential as catalysts of broad political change, they represent a managerial reinterpretation of the work ethic based upon a new belief in the worker as a psychological self. These efforts signal the recognition that work organization encompasses a THE WORK ETHIC AND WORK ORGANIZATION 179

set of design choices with which to translate and implement this new psychological vision in order to achieve what has always been the ultimate goal-work.

References

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CHAPTER 9

The Ma nagerial Work Ethic in America

MICHAEL MACCOBY Project on Technology, Work, and Character

What Is the Work Ethic? Different observers define "the work ethic" differently. How do we make sure of these views? For example, a Washington Post reporter, visiting a typical midwestern city (April 22, 1979) writes about the "erosion of the work ethic" and quotes a union leader: "Guys used to have pride in work ....Not anymore." The sociologist, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, has a different view: "The so-called work ethic of the past was really a 'progress ethic,' a conviction that hard work would pay off in future gains: a house in the suburbs, a crack at the move from mail room to management" (New York Times, January 28, 1979). Does the work ethic mean pride in performance, or the belief that hard work pays off, or both? The difference is important inasmuch as it implies differences in social character. Our studies, based on Erich Fromm's concept of social character, explore the values that determine the orientation toward work and the response to different types of work situations. On the one hand, if the work ethic means pride in workmanship, this implies the character of a craftsman who wants to build products of the highest quality. Such an individual would be most alienated by a job which did not engage his pride in workmanship. He or she would resent an assembly-line operation which allowed only a minute or so for a repetitive task, and did not provide the satisfaction of building something and taking responsibility for its quality. On the other hand, if the work ethic means payoff for hard work, the type of work done would matter less than would chances for advancement. The ambitious worker would become most alienated by a dead-end job. Such an employee might not mind an assembly- 183 184 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS line job for a while, if there were chances to move up in the hierarchy. The difference between these two views of the. work ethic implies significant differences in ways of organizing work to be most productive. The craft ethic would imply job enrichment, greater autonomy and responsibility for individual workers, and organizing production so that the individual worker can build a complete product. The career ethic might involve more rapid advancement and mobility within the firm, chances for training, and counseling for career development. It might lead to a system of rank in person rather than job, based on level of skill and accomplishment. Which is closest to the truth? The answer we believe is that both are accurate descriptions of what the work ethic means and has meant to some, but not all, workers and managers. There is no way to study the distribution historically of different work ethics. The hypothesis presented here is an interpretation based on both history and our present-day studies of managers and workers in both industry and government.1 We have found that most do seek meaning in their work, especially the most productive and interested individuals. Some workers who appear to work merely for pay find meaning in unpaid work done outside the workplace, for example, as parents or part-time farmers or craftsmen. In exploring American history, we can discern four definitions of the work ethic that represent changing socioeconomic periods, and a changing American character. At any time, there is probably a mix of ethics, with more than one existing side by side, but with one dominant. The four are: (1) the Protestant Ethic, (2) the Craft Ethic, (3) the Entrepreneurial Ethic, and (4) the Career Ethic. At the present, a

1 See reports from the Project on Technology, Work & Character: (Maccoby) "Changing Work: The Bolivar Project," Working Papers (Summer 1975); (with the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research) "The Bolivar Project of Joint Management-Union Determination of Change According to Principles of Security, Equity, Individuation, and Democracy," May 1973-January 1974, Final Technical Report to the National Commission on Productivity, February 1972; (Maccoby, Margaret Molinari Duckles, and Robert Duckles) "Study Project to Improve the Quality of Work Life at the Department of Commerce," July 1, 1977-0ctober 31, 1978; (Maccoby) "The Bolivar Project: Productivity and Human Development," Human Futures (Winter 1978); (unpublished report by Barbara Lenkerd) "Why Is It Frustrating to Work at ACTION Headquarters? or Attitudes Toward Work at ACTION Headquarters"; (Maccoby) "Management Styles at the Department of State," 1981. THE MANAGERIAL WORK ETHIC IN AMERICA 185 fifth ethic, a self-development ethic, is emerging. The work ethic in America is changing, but it has changed before. Our studies indicate that most corporate managers express a combination of the career and entrepreneurial ethics (Maccoby 1976, 1981). But, as we shall see, a new orientation to self is changing management values.

The Protestant Ethic The Protestant ethic in America grew out of Calvinistic and Quaker individualism and asceticism. To some extent, this religious imperative to work at a calling for the glory of God was later secularized in the craft ethic of Benjamin Franklin which served as the ideal for generations of Americans. The Puritan ethic supported a highly individualistic character, oriented to self-discipline and saving, antagonistic to sensuous culture, and oriented to deferred rewards. Unlike the Lutheran view of a calling as one's fate that should be accepted with good grace, the Calvinistic-Puritan view demanded constant work at one's "calling" as proof of one's faith and membership in God's elect. Citing the parable of the talents (Matthew 25), the Puritan was urged to prosper: "You may labor to be rich for God, though not for the flesh or sin." As Max Weber points out in The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (1930), this appealed most to small farmers and craftsmen moving up in society and was functional for their success. The Protestant ethic supported the development of a new man, with the individualistic character adapted to early capitalism where the individual could control a farm, business, or workshop. Trust no man, repeated the Puritans. Only God should be your confidant. But there are no magical ways toward salvation through priestly inter­ vention. Science and technology, combined with faith and industry, became the spirit of early America. The social character that supported this spirit was controlled, independent, and driven to overcome all doubts about salvation through work.

The Craft Ethic More than a century and a half after the Puritan colonization of America, Benjamin Franklin provided a rational ideology for this 186 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS hoarding-productive character in his list of ideal virtues (traits) and in the sayings of Poor Richard. In so doing, he defined the craft ethic.

These names of virtues with their precepts were: 1. Temperance. Eat not to dullness. Drink not to eleva­ tion. 2. Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling conversation. 3. Order. Let all your things have their places. Let each part of your business have its time. 4. Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought. Per­ form without fail what you resolve. 5. Frugality. Make no expence but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing. 6. Industry. Lose no time. Be always employed in some­ thing useful. Cut off all unnecessary actions. 7. Sincerity. Use no hurtful deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8. Justice. Wrong none by doing injuries or omitting the benefits that are your duty. 9. Moderation. A void extremes. Forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10. Cleanliness. Tolerate no uncleanness in body, clothes, or habitation. 11. Tranquility. Be not disturbed at trifles or at accidents common or unavoidable. 12. Chastity. Rarely use venery but for health or off­ spring-never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another's peace or reputation. 13. Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates. ("I cannot boast of much success in acquiring the reality of this virtue," wrote Franklin.) (Lemisch 1961, p. 95)

These traits served a society of independent craftsmen who rejected all bosses. We must "oversee our own affairs with our own eyes, and not trust too much to others," writes Franklin under the name of "Poor Richard Saunders." Unlike the Puritans, Franklin's craftsman no longer works for God's glory, but for himself. "In the affairs of this world, men are saved not by faith, but by the want of it," states Franklin, but he concludes: "God helps those who help themselves." THE MANAGERIAL WORK ETHIC IN AMERICA 187

The craft ethic was the basis for a nation of self-reliant, indepen­ dent, and mobile individuals, no longer part of a religious communi­ ty. The negative traits of the craftsman's character not mentioned by Franklin include obstinacy (the negative of resoluteness), stinginess (the negative of frugality), and the inability to cooperate (the negative of imperturbability, silence, and in general of the rugged individualism so admired in a young nation of refugees from authority). Franklin's moderate, thrifty, independent craftsman distrusts the pursuit of quick wealth. Borrowing is to be avoided: "When you run in debt, you give another power over your liberty." "There are no gains without pains." The essence of the work ethic for a nation in which 80 percent of the workforce were self-employed, mainly as farmers and craftsmen, is Franklin's resolve: "To apply myself industriously to whatever business I take in hand, and not divert my mind from my business by any foolish project of growing suddenly rich" (Lemisch 1961, p. 183).

The Entrepreneurial Ethic In the beginning of the 19th century, a new spirit of the frontier and the industrial revolution began to infuse the nation's business. A combination of gambling and building, of egalitarianism and ambi­ tion, emerged in the America of Andrew Jackson. Studying Americans in the 1830s, Tocqueville questioned why the American shipping industry was able to navigate at a lower rate than those of the Europeans. The reason was not that they had cheaper ships, or paid less for labor. American ships cost almost as much to build as European vessels, and pay for the American sailor was higher. "How does it happen, then, that the Americans sail their vessels at a cheaper rate than we can ours?" Tocqueville asked. "I am of the opinion that the true cause of their superiority must not be sought for in physical advantages, but that it is wholly attributable to moral and intellectual qualities" (Tocqueville 1958, p. 441). "The whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle. As the same causes are continually in operation throughout the country, they ultimately impart an irresist­ ible impulse to the national character" (Tocqueville 1958, p. 443). Francis J. Grund, a German visitor around the same time, was also impressed by the spirit of American business: 188 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

There is, probably, no people on earth with whom business constitutes pleasure, and industry amusement, in an equal degree with the inhabitants of the United States of America. Active occupation is not only the principal source of their happiness, and the foundation of their national greatness, but they are absolutely wretched without it, and instead of the "dolce far niente," know but the horrors of idleness. Business is the very soul of an American: he pursues it, not as a means of procuring for himself and his family the necessary comforts of life, but as the fountain of all human felicity; and shows as much enthusiastic ardor in his application to it as any crusader ever evinced for the conquest of the Holy Land, or the followers of Mohammed for the spreading of the Koran. (Grund 1837, p. 202.) The frontier offered drama, hopes, and opportunities for the ambitious. The new entrepreneur had lost the craftsman's traits of caution and moderation. As Tocqueville pointed out, Americans wanted to live well, and they were natural businessmen. After the Civil War, the acceleration of the industrial revolution, exploitation of technology and resources favored the rise of a new social character, new ideals, and the new version of the work ethic. In the era of the Puritan and craft ethics, technology could be created and employed by individuals. The individual craftsman, like Paul Revere, designed, built, and marketed his products, sometimes with the help of apprentices. Factories were essentially workshops in which craftsmen worked together. The first new entrepreneurs were merchants, not manufacturers, and the entre­ preneurial ethic first emerged in a commercial rather than an industrial context. Then the creation and use of productive technol­ ogy outgrew the reach of single individuals or groups of craftsmen. The entrepreneurs were able to organize and control the craftsmen. Through the division of labor and organized skills, they were able to employ unskilled farm labor and the immigrants from Europe. As Benjamin Franklin states the craft ethic, so the heroes of Horatio Alger exemplified the entrepreneurial ethic for Americans, and became the models for success in a society increasingly domi­ nated by rapidly growing business, and full of immigrants seeking employment. In contrast to the conservative, self-contained, and taciturn craftsmen, like Poor Richard, Alger's heroes, like Ragged Dick, are smart talking, tricky, entrepreneurial, liberal spenders with a taste for elegance. They are poor, but tough and honest, THE MANAGERIAL WORK ETHIC IN AMERICA 189 neither mean nor lazy. Dick works hard and charges more than the other boys for his shoe shines, because his service is better. In a way, the heroes of Horatio Alger represent the successful barons' version of an inner-directed climb from poverty that justifies their riches.2 Real-life Horatio Alger type success stories included Andrew Carne­ gie, John D. Rockefeller, and craftsmen-entrepreneurs like Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and George Eastman. But small businessmen also identified with these entrepreneurial strivings. However, as the frontier closed, the trend kept moving toward larger and more powerful business, and small businesses became less secure and less of a realistic possibility particularly in areas in which entrepreneurs had created large technological systems. The entrepreneurial ethic-the idea that a person with the right attitude could make it on his own-became a justification for inequality, and an answer to those who complained about submitting to the discipline of organizations. Auto workers interviewed by Eli Chinoy as late as the early fifties dreamed of opening up their own gas stations or garages (Chinoy 1955). Yet, during the period 1800 to 1970, the number of self-employed in America fell from 80 to 8 percent of the workforce. This trend implies that it is harder and harder for an individual entrepreneur to prosper. Although some opportunities still remain, such as in advanced technology, special services, or the leisure industries, the competition is tough. The scientist-engineer must have a brilliant idea, be able to raise enough capital, and learn how to market his product and to administer according to government regulation. The restaurant owner needs a special attraction or elegance, since new "greasy spoons" cannot compete with the technology and organization of McDonalds. Furthermore, the small businessman must be able to handle increasingly costly and complicated government regulations. Char­ acter traits that used to serve a certain type of independent small businessman in the market are no longer so adaptive when he has to compete with large corporations. The willingness to work long hours and keep the store open on Sundays and holidays used to contribute to success. But what is the use of such sacrifice and durability when large chains such as Safeway decide to remain open

2 In the works of Horatio Alger, there is the beginning of the career ethic, since successful entrepreneurs like Ragged Dick are often recognized and promoted by a paternal industrialist. 190 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS on Sundays? In this market, self-employment becomes a realistic possibility only for the very brilliant entrepreneur, not for the average American whose work future more often centers in a large corporation (Maccoby and Terzi 1974). Although the self-employed are still, on the average, more satisfied with work than wage-earners, an increasing percentage of the self-employed themselves perceive disadvantages to self-em­ ployment in excessive responsibility, long hours, and economic insecurity, as compared to a career in organizations.3

The Career Ethic As the economic system changed and, with it, the traits necessary for success, the entrepreneurial ethic no longer expressed the strivings of many of the most talented and highly motivated individuals. At the same time, new technological systems required increased division of labor and complex organizational hierarchies. Success in the large organization depended on administrative rather than entrepreneurial skills. Business schools began to train manage­ rial technicians with a new managerial-career ethic, replacing the entrepreneurial ethic. Rather than hoping to establish their own businesses, these people sought jobs in the large organizations in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. Their goal was to move up in the organization, toward increased responsibility and organizational status. In the 1950s, the career ethic seemed the managerial ethic in organizations; in the seventies, it appeared to some observers as the work ethic for the whole workforce. The career ethic implies technology that is less craft-like, more dependent on codified and systematized knowledge which can be applied somewhat independently of a specific organizational con­ text. In entrepreneurial business, cumulative experience pays off, whereas in organizations using new and changing technology,

3 The University of Michigan 1977 Survey (Quinn and Staines 1979) reports figures on the declining appeal of self-employment between 1973 and 1977: 1973 1977 Differences There are only advantages to self-employment 42. 1$ 31.9$ -10.2$ There are both advantages and disadvantages to self-employment 56.3 63.5 +7.2 Type of advantage-independence 41.9 38.6 -3.3 Type of disadvantage- Excessive responsibility 19.2 26.6 +7.4 Excessive hours 15.2 22.6 +7.4 Economic insecurity 11.6 16.2 +4.6 THE MANAGERIAL WORK ETHIC IN AMERICA 191 theoretical knowledge becomes more significant than experience, especially experience within a particular organization (Bell 1973). This ethic belongs especially to the "new class" of professionals and technicians who make their living by their ability to solve problems, to apply the latest information, and to manage.4 As more young people enter the workforce with high school and college educations, aspirations for careers emerge in traditionally blue-collar workers. These people expect the workplace to be a meritocracy: anyone who demonstrates the indicated skills and abilities should be able to rise up the organization. Talent and hard work should earn success and promotion into management. The meritocracy implies a system based on opportunity and fairness. Rights in the workplace are guaranteed. The element of chance and luck should be eliminated. Daniel Bell and Daniel Yankelovich have written about the sense that the educated feel that they are entitled not only to a job, but to a chance for advancement. The meritocracy fosters a new "psychology of entitlement" (Yankel­ ovich 1974, p. 30), especially for those who pass the tests. Those with the credentials who do not move up fast enough feel cheated. Those who fail to make the grade become resentful and turned off to work. Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1979) writes:

Connected with this stronger rights consciousness is the frustration younger workers express about not getting more and further faster. The apocryphal story of the Harvard Business School MBA who expects to go from entry-job to the executive suite in six months now has its counterpart at every level of the organization. My col­ leagues and I surveyed 150 factory workers at a leading manufacturing company to learn about current reactions to their jobs, as the first step in a process of change. One of the most significant findings was the overwhelming sense of disappointment most of them had about not having enough opportunities for development and advancement. The workers thought advancement occurred too slowly, if at all. Yet this company is one that is well known for promoting people at all ranks relatively rapidly. ---- 4 In 1974 Daniel Yankelovich (1974, p. 22) wrote: "The professional managerial and technical categories are the fastest growing occupational groupings in the country ...increasing numbers of young people are heading straight for these upper-level niches, their eyes fixed on the goal marked 'successful career.' " 192 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Career is the central concern for most managers. As long as there is a payoff, careerists are motivated to prepare for positions and to do what is necessary to move up. However, the career ethic has the negative consequences of narrowing intellectual development. Brighter individuals subordinate their learning to the requirements of career, suppressing natural curiosity in college to take courses they will do well in and which will pay off in the workplace. Almost all of the 250 managers from technology-based compa­ nies interviewed for The Gamesman (Maccoby 1976) were oriented to career, motivated by opportunities to advance and by fears of falling behind. Those who were least motivated by career consider­ ations were lower level managers with the craftsman orientation, driven by the desire to build products of the highest quality and to be rewarded fairly for their work. A special type of careerist who reaches the top of elite companies such as IBM, AT&T, GM, etc., must also have an almost religious belief in the company as representing values beyond profit, such as service and excellence. Each work ethic implies a different social character, different satisfactions and dissatisfactions at work, and a different critique of society. The Protestant ethic implies a character driven to work, consciously to show membership in the elect, unconsciously to overcome any doubts about faith. The Puritan worked for the glory of God, and his own salvation, and reward in heaven. His goal was a community of the elect needing neither kings nor bishops, and he would not tolerate unethical and undisciplined behavior. The craft ethic implies a hoarding-productive character oriented to saving and self-sufficiency, to independence and self-control, and to rewards on earth. The craftsman is most satisfied by work which he controls, with standards he sets. He believes that only he is close enough to the details of technology to make the right decisions about what should be built and how. But industrial organization is designed to enable ideas conceived by talented people to be carried out by ordinary people. The craftsman's critique is of bosses, either entrepreneurs or company men, who tell him what to do and threaten his independence. He distrusts bigness and power, even though technology has grown too large to be created and controlled by individuals. The entrepreneur implies a bold, risk-taking character, with an orientation toward exploiting opportunities and using people. The THE MANAGERIAL WORK ETHIC IN AMERICA 193

entrepreneur is most satisfied by the opportunity to build his own business. Some entrepreneurs are satisfied with economic inde­ pendence; others seek wealth and are motivated by the gambling spirit. The entrepreneur's critique is of a society that strangles free enterprise and individual initiative. He is critical of bureaucracy, red tape, and regulation, and of people who choose security ahead of adventure. He dislikes unions which he feels destroy his relationship with employees. The career ethic implies an other-directed, ambitious, marketing character. Such an individual is most satisfied by work which gives him the chance to get ahead, to develop himself in a way which fits the requirements of career, to become a more attractive package, worth more in the market. In an organization, the entrepreneur demands complete loyalty from his helpers and, in return, rewards and protects them, turning against them only if they are disloyal. The careerist expects fair play in his assigned role, and wants to know the rules of the game, what is expected of him, and what he will receive in return. His critique is of a system which blocks him, which leaves him "stuck" in dead-end jobs, powerless to move ahead and develop himself. The career ethic challenges both unionism and paternalism with their emphasis on seniority and loyalty because moving ahead to the careerist is based on winning a game with fair rules. More than any other type, the career ethic thus involves a critique of the whole organization and its principles. This critique can call for changes in the organization of work, to increase fairness in promotions and to provide opportunities for learning and devel­ opment. The careerist may recognize that to enjoy greater freedom to make decisions, he must move up the ladder. Failure to do so may also mean loss of respect from others and self-respect. On a deeper level, many successful careerists suffer from anxiety, guilt, and depression. They are anxious about constantly being judged and evaluated and worried about saying or doing the wrong thing. They feel guilty about giving in too much to others, having to judge others, betraying their own beliefs, including a craftsmanlike sense of integrity, and stretching the truth in order to look good. And they are depressed about the competitiveness and unfriendliness of organizational life (Maccoby 1976). The extent of self-alienation resulting from the career ethic has 194 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS driven many individuals to question its value. Even some who have reached the top criticize the costs of careerism to family life and the underdevelopment of the emotions. Recent surveys indicate that a concern with both life outside of work and intrinsic aspects of work is challenging the career ethic.5 Jerome M. Rosow (1979, p. 23) reports that only 21 percent say that their work is more important than leisure activities. The 1977 Michigan survey found that one-third of married workers feel that their jobs interfere with family life (Walfish 1979, pp. 1, 14-15), and more than half complain they lack the time for leisure activities (Quinn and Staines 1979, pp. 264, 276).6 Surveys by both Yankelovich and the University of Michigan indicate that a large percentage of Americans want work that is "challenging" and/or allows the opportunity for "self expression" and "growth."7 This would seem to contradict the flight from work to leisure activities, unless we assume that a reason for turning away from work is the lack of opportunity for growth, and/or that people want challenge, but not so much as to make work all-absorbing.

5 The following responses from the 1977 Michigan Survey (Quinn and Staines 1979, p. 245) strongly support this conclusion:

� in agreement The most important things that happen to me involve: �� G family life 95 leisure activities 45 6 Is this new? Is family leisure more important now than in the past? We do not have trend data. On the one hand, there are examples of companies like McDonalds for the first time giving workers longer paid vacations rather than a bonus (Washington Post, June 27, 1979). On the other hand, in the 19th and early 20th century, fears were expressed that Americans preferred consumer enjoyments to work and that the fruits of their industry were undermining the work ethic. See Rodgers (1978). 7 Yankelovich (1974) writes: "Despite some difference in future outlook there are remarkably few differences in the job criteria of blue-collar, white-collar, and college-trained, professional people. While blue-collar workers as a group place greater emphasis on good pay (blue-collar 65 percent, white-collar 60 percent, professional/executive 53 percent), they are only slightly less committed to meaning­ ful and interesting work than other young workers. "The top job criteria for the majority of all young working people include: Friendly, helpful co-workers (70 percent). Work that is interesting (70 percent) . Opportunity to use your mind (65 percent). Work results you can see (62 percent). Pay that is good (61 percent). Opportunity to develop skill/abilities (61 percent). Participation in decisions regarding job (58 percent). Getting help needed to do the job well (55 percent). Respect for organization you work for (55 percent). Recognition for a job well done (54 percent)." THE MANAGERIAL WORK ETHIC IN AMERICA 195

Yankelovich believes that the work ethic is being challenged by what he calls a "self-fulfillment" ethic. A growing number, especially the younger, more educated, and affluent, are concerned with personal growth and enjoyment of life at both work and leisure.8 Studies by Ann Howard and Douglas Bray (1980) show that young managers (in their mid-twenties) in the Bell System are less motivated by career advancement than were their predecessors a generation ago. Although the authors found no differences between the two groups either in ability or in the desire to do a good job, the new managers-men as well as women-are less driven by the promise of promotion and status. They are not attracted to power, nor do they defer to it. " 'The hierarchy be damned' is the joint message here," write Howard and Bray. "They don't want to lead; they don't want to follow." They want interesting work and satisfy­ ing emotional relationships, characterized by " 'kindness,' 'sympa­ thy,' 'understanding,' and 'generosity.' " ("With all due respect to the virtues of human warmth and kindness,'' write the authors, "who is going to run our corporations in the future?") When these strivings take priority over consideration of career, large organizations which count on the career ethic are in trouble. The career ethic implies that employees will strive for promotions and perform even when their work is not particularly interesting or satisfying. Driven by anxiety and their desire to prove their own worth by symbols of success and validation by the organization, they will sacrifice other satisfactions (family life, vocational interest, even integrity), overcoming their guilt to adapt themselves to organizations.

8 Evidence of the importance of nonwork time is available in several studies. A few examples will suffice: 62 percent say their main satisfaction in life does not come from their work (Quinn and Staines 1979, p. 239); between 35 and 60 percent would like to spend less time working and more time with their family, even if it meant earning less money (Quinn and Staines 1979, p. 268) ; only 21 percent say work is more important to them than leisure (Rosow 1979, p. 23) . Unfortunately we lack trend data to see how much of a change this is. There is evidence to suggest that this phenomenon is occurring in other countries as well. A Canadian study (Lefebvre 1979) finds similar work attitudes among Canadian youth, namely, a desire to work, but not at just any job. To be satisfying the job should offer a chance to develop oneself, participate in decisions, and share in responsibility. If they can't find it, they may prefer unemployment to a job they find alienating. A Swedish study reportedly arrived at comparable findings. Swedish men were asked in 1955 and 1977: "Which gives your life the most meaning-your family, your work or your leisure?"; they showed a pronounced shift toward leisure and away from work. In 1955, 33 percent chose work, 13 percent leisure, 45 percent family. By 1977 it shifted to just 17 percent work, 27 percent leisure, and 41 percent family (Rosow 1979, p. 23). 196 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

But what would happen if the career ethic lost its grip on American management? Although a total transformation is unlikely, the new orientation of managers fits strivings of workers for more participation in management. This comes at a time when new technologies of microelectronics and information services are again transforming the workplace. Successful firms will require employees who can work interdependently and are responsive to demanding customers. The challenge of management will be to maintain the motivation to work by providing opportunities for intellectual stimulation and emotional satisfaction as well as career advancement. To engage a new generation, the work ethic again needs redefinition.

References

Bell, Daniel. The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society. New York: Basic Books, 1973. Chinoy, Eli. Automobile Workers and the American Dream. Boston: Beacon Press, 1955. Grund, Francis J. The Americans in Their Moral, Social, and Political Relations. Boston: March, Capen & Lyon, 1837. Howard, Ann, and Douglas Bray. "Continuities and Discontinuities Between Two Generations of Bell System Managers." Paper presented at the Annual Conven­ tion of the America! Psychological Association, Montreal, September 1980. Kanter, Rosabeth Moss. "A Good Job is Hard to Find." Working Papers (May/June 1979) . Lefebvre, Robert. "Young People Want to Work, but . ... " The Quality of Working Life, Canadian Scene (Winter 1979). Lemisch, Jesse L. Benjamin Franklin: 'The Autobiograph y' and Other Writings. New York: New American Library, 1961. Maccoby, Michael. The Gamesman: The New CorporateLeaders. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1976. ---:--· The Leader. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1981. Maccoby, Michael, and Katherine Terzi. "Character and Work in America." In Exploring Contradictions: Political Economy in the Corporate State, eds. Phillip Brenner, Robert Borosage, and Bethany Weidner. New York: David McKay, Inc., 1974. Quinn, Robert P., and Graham L. Staines. The 1977 Qualit y of Employment Survey. Ann Arbor: Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1979. Rodgers, Daniel T. The Work Ethic in Industrial America 1850-1920. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Rosow, Jerome M. "The Workplace: A Changing Scene." VocEd (February 1979) . Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America . New York: Vintage Books, 1958. Walfish, Beatrice. "Job Satisfaction Declines in Major Aspects of Work Says the Michigan Study: All Occupational Groups Included." World of Work Report 4 (February 1979) . Weber, Max. The Protestant Eth ic and The Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1930. Yankelovich, Daniel. "The Meaning of Work." In The Worker and the ]ob , ed. Jerome M. Rosow. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974. ----· The New Morality: A Profile of American Youth in the Seventies. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974. CHAPTER 10

The Work Ethic: A Union View

Gus TYLER International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union

Work is a curse, according to Western tradition. The Bible said so. Because Adam had eaten the forbidden fruit, he and his descendants would all have to earn their daily bread in the sweat of their brow. Whether the story of the Fall and the exile of Eden is fact or fiction, it served to set an ethic. Work must be done gladly because it is the penalty man must pay for his sin against God. For working people, this ethic was always easy to live by. There was no alternative. For people of means, this ethic was hard to live by because they could luxuriate without laboring. So instead of turning to hard labor, they opted to do good work, to be the Lord's overseers on earth, toiling mightily to see to it that their employees paid proper respect to the divine injunction to sweat their way to the grave and ultimate salvation. As one Caribbean unionist, oft-quoted by AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland, put it: "If hard work were really such a great thing, the rich would have kept it all to themselves." Instead, the affluent proffered this privilege to their underlings-a neat division of labor before the eyes of the Almighty. Hence, there are at least two work ethics: that of the overseer and that of the overseen. In the statements of the former, there is much preaching about the work ethic-as we shall soon note. But, among the millions of resolutions passed by unions over many generations in many countries, there probably is not a single one that refers to the "work ethic." This does not mean that unionists are opposed either to "work" or to "ethics." They favor both: "work" to stay alive and "ethics" for fair treatment at the workplace. But work per se as an ethical imperative gets little, if any, attention because to 197 198 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS union people work is such a necessity that it is almost unnecessary to construct a system of values, with theologic overtones, to "justify" labor. To the typical worker and his or her union, work plays the same role in the laboring universe as Ananke played in the realm of the Greek gods. When Ananke, the God of Necessity, entered, all other gods bowed down, whether Love or Hate, Peace or Discord, or even the sovereign Zeus. To folk who live by their labor, whether self-employed or employee, work is a must, in and of itself, and needs no outside authority to rationalize its importance. Hence, it is no surprise that there are no formal motions "resolving" that work must be performed in response to some ethical injunction handed down from on high. The nearest thing to a formal ethic on the part of American labor was probably summed up in the old slogan: "A fair day's pay for a fair day's work." The concept is so patently "fair" that there hardly appears occasion for dispute. Yet, over the key word "fair," have many contests been fought. Whatever the outcome, the basic philosophy of organized labor is that wages and salaries are in exchange for work done and that there ought to be some "fair" relationship between input and income-however sloppily the system operates. Although there is little in labor literature that extols the ethicality of toil, one can find countless statements denouncing the unethical behavior of those who live, and live luxuriously, without working. The parasitical classes are excoriated repeatedly because they draw their overabundant "profits" from the sweat of those who labor, toil, and create the world's goods. The injustice inherent in the disparate rewards of those who live by labor and those who live in leisure was put grandiloquently by the Philadelphia Mechanics' Union of Trade Associations in 1827. In a compelling ethical appeal to the commu­ nity for support, the union declared:

We appeal to the most intelligent of every community and ask-Do not you, and all society, depend solely for subsistence on the products of human industry? Do not those who labor, while acquiring to themselves thereby only a scanty and penurious support, likewise maintain in affluence and luxury the rich who never labor? Do not all the streams of wealth which flow in every direction and are THE WORK ETHIC: A UNION VIEW 199

emptied into and absorbed by the coffers of the unproduc­ tive, exclusively take their rise in the bones, marrow, and muscles of the industrious classes? In return for which, exclusive of bare subsistence (which likewise is the product of their own labor}, they receive-not anything! (Italics mine.)

The New England Association of Farmers, Mechanics and Other Workingmen (1831) echoes the plaint, noting "the low estimation in which useful labor is held by many whose station in society enable them to give the tone to public opinion." Lashing out at the schemes of their nonproductive critics, the Association declared:

All who can do so resort to some means of living without hard work, the learned professions are crowded, and combinations are formed by that portion of society that have money and leisure, or who live by their wits, to maintain and increase their own relative importance, whilst the more industrious and useful portion of the community, who are too intent upon their daily occupation to form combinations for mutual advantage, or to guard against the devices of their better informed and enterprising neighbors, are reduced to constant toil, stripped of the better share of their earnings, holding a subordinate if not degraded situation in society, and frequently despised by the very men, and women and children, who live at ease upon the fruits of their labor. (Italics mine.)

In a circumlocutory way, organized labor was voicing a "work ethic," a sentiment that those who "produced" were the good people and those who did not were the evil-at least the less desirable-person­ ages. The "work ethic" -defined here as the superior moral claims of those who created things-was implicit in the philosophy, stated or unstated, of the early American labor organizations. They re­ peatedly drew the line between the working poor and the idle rich as a way to unite the various forces, unions, federations of working people. In doing so, the unions were not at variance with commonly accepted economic theory about the origin of wealth. "Labour," wrote Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, "is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities ....Labour is the only 200 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

universal, as well as the only accurate measure of value ....In this state of things, the whole produce of labour belongs to the labourer." This "labor theory of value" was extended by John Locke to the labor theory of "property" when he wrote Concerning Civil Govern­ ment: "Though the earth and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a 'property' in his own 'person.' The 'labour' of his body and the 'work' of his hands are properly his. Whatsoever, then, he removes out of the state that Nature has provided and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with it, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property." At a later time, Karl Marx carried this to what he believed was its logical conclusion: namely, that labor could enjoy the full fruits of its toil only when the capitalist class-those idlers-was eliminated. But the many statements of unions, claimbg ":,nore" for those who worked, were not based on anyone's ec•.mnmic theory, be it Smith, Locke, or Marx. The sentiments flowed �uite naturally from people who did not think it fair for a few to reap wha.t the many had sowed. The employing class, on whom the claims for "more" were made, had its own version of the work ethic. If i.hepoor were poor, it was due to their laziness or drunkenness or to some form of unethical behavior for which God was punishing them. Spokesmen for the economic elite did not deny that the "industrious" deserved the greatest wealth. They merely argued that it man's riches proved his industry. Thus John Hay: "That you have property is proof of industry and foresight on your part or your father's; that you have nothing is a judgment on your lazi{less and vices, or on your improvidence. The world is a moral world, which it would not be if virtue and vice received the same reward." Hence, riches proved righteousness. The "vices" of the poor were described in pretty much the same terms as today: "Too many are trying to live without labor ...and too many squander their earnings on intoxicating drinks, cigars, and amusements who cannot afford it." Also, of course, they suffer from "excessive reproduction, sexually." Both labor and capital believed in a "work ethic." Labor said that work was good, the creator of all things, and that, therefore, pay should be good for those who worked. Capital said that God decreed that people should be rewarded according to their industry and that, therefore, those who had the most must surely have THE WORK ETHIC: A UNION VIEW 201 contributed the most to society. Both agreed that work was good; they disagreed about how to divvy up the goodies. To unions, one such goodie was leisure. First, there was the movement for the ten-hour day, then the eight-hour day, then the five-day week, then vacations, sabbaticals, early retirement. Hours and wages have been cornerstones of labor-management contracts in America. To many employers, the demand for shorter hours was proof positive that labor was lazy. Why else would they seek to shirk their God-ordained mission on earth by curtailing the hours of toil unless it be to indulge in evil habits? Said the merchants and shopowners of Boston (1832) : "The time thus proposed to be thrown away would be a serious loss to this active community" and the "habits likely to be generated by the indulgence of idleness in our summer mornings, and afternoons will be very detrimental to [the employees] individ­ ually, and very costly to us as a community." Long workhours were especially important for children because a shorter workday-such as ten hours a day-would exert an "unhappy influence" on the young by "seducing them from that course of industry and economy of time" to which their work should "inure them." The notion of a ten-hour day-actually 12 hours with a one-hour break for breakfast and another for lunch-was so outlandish that, according to a public advertisement of the Master Carpenters, it could not have "originated with any of the faithful and industrious Sons of New England" but was "an evil of foreign growth." This harsh view of the work ethic-to inure the child and adult to incessant toil so that they would not deprive the community of their labor and would not debauch themselves with leisure-appeared to unions, even at the earliest time, to be unethical, undemocratic, and unnecessary. The response was the demand for a ten-hour day. Although long labor, from sunup to sunset, sometimes seven days a week, should per se have been reason enough to demand a "ten-hour day" because longer toil was dangerously onerous, de­ humanizing, debilitating, deadening, and deathly, the early state­ ments of unions preferred to invoke the egalitarian spirit of the American Revolution, in which their fathers or grandfathers had fought, to provide a popular rationale for their demands. Too much time at work, they proclaimed, deprived them of time to act like free men-to develop their mental faculties and to organize their associations to play the proper role of citizens in a democracy. 202 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Thus the argument of the Philadelphia unions:

Is it equitable that we should waste the energies of our minds and bodies, and be placed in a situation of such increasing exertion and servility as must necessarily, in time, render the benefits of our liberal institutions to us inaccessible and useless, in order that the products of our labor may be accumulated by a few into vast pernicious masses, calculated to prepare the minds of the possessors for the exercise of lawless rule and despotism, to overawe the meager multitude, and fright away that shadow of freedom which still lingers among us?

The same sentiments were echoed in a public declaration of the Boston Carpenters (1835) : We have been too long subjected to the odious, cruel, unjust and tyrannical system which compels the operative mechanic to exhaust his physical and mental powers. We have rights and duties to perform as American citizens and as members of society, which forbid us to dispose of more than ten hours for a day's work.

In a letter to the Boston Post (1835), a rank-and-filer said it all in plain talk: "By the old system we have no time for mental cultiva­ tion-and that is the policy of the big bugs-they endeavor to keep people ignorant by keeping them always at work." As unions saw it, the leisure time of their masters was put to use to plot and to politic. To keep workers from doing the same, the masters schemed to keep hands so busy that there would be no time for heads. The long workweek was a way to prolong "tyranny," allowing the leisure class to conspire while making the working class perspire. The ten-hour day would mean not only economic, but also political, liberation. The unions were prepared to concede that there might be a situation that demanded long, even burdensome, hours of work because society could not survive without such back-breaking exertion. "If unceasing toil were actually required to supply us with a bare, and in many instances wretched, subsistence; if the products of our industry, or an equitable proportion of them, were appropri­ ated to our actual wants and comfort, then would we yield without a murmur to the stern and irrevocable degree of necessity." They were ready to bow before Ananke. "But," continued the Philadel- THE WORK ETHIC: A UNION VIEW 203 phia resolution, "this is infinitely wide of the fact ....At the present period, when wealth is so easily and abundantly created that the markets of the world are overflowing with it, and when, in conse­ quence thereof, and of the continual development and increase of scientific power, the demand for human labor is gradually and inevitably diminished, it cannot be necessary that we, or any portion of society, should be subjected to perpetual slavery." Long hours and low wages then could no longer be justified by necessity, and hence continued exploitation of workers was unethi­ cal. It was also uneconomic, a threat to the entire system. The line of logic offered by the Philadelphians to show how long hours and low wages were, in the long run, just as injurious to the "capitalist" as to the working man is so modern in its approach that it is incredible that it was set forth in 1827, about a century before John Maynard Keynes espoused the same basic case in profound postu­ lates. In a series of simple syllogisms, the unions explained why it was in the best interests of the capitalist to provide proper compen­ sation to labor:

The workman is not more dependent upon his wages for the support of his family than they [employers] are upon the demand for the various articles they fabricate or vend. If the mass of the people were enabled by their labor to procure for themselves and their families a full and abundant supply of the comforts and conveniences of life, the consumption of articles, particularly of dwellings, furniture and clothing, would amount to at least twice the quantity it does at present, and of course the demand, by which alone employers are enabled either to subsist or accumulate, would likewise be increased in an equal pro­ portion ....The workman need not languish for want of employment, the vender for sales, nor the capitalist com­ plain for want of profitable modes of investment ...if, therefore, as members of the community, if they [employ­ ers] are desirous to prosper, in vain will they expect to succeed unless the great body of the community is kept in a healthy, vigorous, and prosperous condition.

In the absence of adequate demand, derived from proper remuneration of labor, all classes will be hurt. First, the workers will "begin to pine, languish, suffer. But the evil stops not here. The middle class next, venders of the product of human industry, will 204 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS begin to experience its deleterious effects ....At last the contagion will reach the capitalist ...and his capital ...will become useless, unemployed, and stagnant." The effects will be social as well as economic. The mighty capitalist "throned as he is in the midst of his ill-gotten abundance" will become "the trembling victim of continued alarms from rob­ beries, burnings and murder." In this early declaration of American unions is contained a concept of "work" and an ethic revolving around work that flowed from the natural inclinations and daily experiences of working people: First, man does not live to work; he works in order to live. Communities are composed to protect and promote man's needs and work is an important and necessary way to do so, but only a means toward an end. Second, since it is man-not work-that is to be served, man should try to produce as much with his labor as possible and should find ways to lighten his burden. To do so, man learns a skill; he also invents wheels, pulleys, and other "tools" to ease his toil. Third, as leisure becomes possible, man-including the working man-should use that newly found time to develop his mind and to participate more fully in a democratic society. Finally, if this ethic is denied-if man is subordinated to toil, if the idle grow rich at the expense of those who labor, if leisure is denied the people-then a society will be plagued by crisis and crime. Ergo, an ethic that sees work serving man, that apportions the community's income justly, that gives humans the time to grow as individuals and as citizens, will serve the purposes of both equity and efficiency and establish "a just balance of power, both mental, moral, political and scientific, between all the various classes and individuals which constitute society at large." If I have dealt at some length on the ethical attitudes of laboring people toward work in the first decades of the last century, it was not to get lost in some nostalgic moment in the past. It was an attempt to dig out and describe an attitude that prevailed among unions-may we add, enlightened working people-at a time in our nation's history when, it is generally held, the "work ethic" prevailed. The choice of statements from Philadelphia and Boston suggests that this ethic was also likely to be the "Protestant work ethic," since THE WORK ETHIC: A UNION VIEW 205 these communities were so heavily Puritan and Quaker in their commitment. Finally, the statement drawn from our Protestant past, serves still another purpose since it sets forth the basic principles that guide American unions today. In the century and a half since the Philadelphia and Boston declarations, American labor has hewed fairly tightly to the "work ethic" as defined by those forefather unionists. Work is necessary; the fruits of labor should be shared justly; leisure is imperative so a worker may be a human and a citizen; shorter hours and higher wages are a sine qua non for a market economy that depends upon its wage and salaried employees for its consumers. The application of this kind of "work ethic" that envisions the economy and its dynamic as intended to elevate, rather than degrade, humans has, when allowed to operate, been responsible for the remarkably strong performance of America among world economies. Consider, briefly, some of the economics of this ethic. The starting point is the belief among American workers that they are not lesser persons because they belong to a class of employees dependent on the employer for a livelihood. This feeling has always been especially strong among the more skilled who truly felt that there was a dignity in labor. In time, this attitude spread to working people in general as the semiskilled and the unskilled joined the skilled craftsmen in unions. Where did this notion come from-this concept that a man at work was still "a man for a' that"? There are several interlocking factors encouraging this humanistic view of work among workers. First, the American worker-barring the blacks of the slavery period-was not raised in a stratified society that had formed its social relations, its attitudinal postures, through generations of feu­ dalism. In the New World, there might be rich and poor, boss and bossed, but there were no formal legal castes. Workers felt they were freemen, equals. Second, there was a relative shortage of labor in the American colonies. Indeed, the recruitment of blacks from Africa and of indentured servants from Europe were efforts to swell the labor force. Despite this and later operations to bring over contract labor from Asia as well, the labor market was-by and large-tight in early America, pushing wages well above those for comparable jobs in the Old World. Third, there was the frontier-an abundance of land, allowing 206 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

the worker to escape the city and to perpetuate the relative shortage of labor. Fourth, the American Revolution provided a rhetorical and ideological spur for egalitarian ideals. Finally, the enfranchisement of the unpropertied in the 1820s gave workers a sense that they could and should have a say in the shaping of the world in which they worked and lived. All these impulses interacted, reinforcing one another: free men reached out for a larger share of the nation's output and for a bigger say in government, emboldened to do so because they knew that their hands were needed and because they or their fathers had risked or given their lives in the war for equality. The practical consequences of all this was very early organization of workers in unions (with strikes preceding formal organization) and a relatively high wage. This "high" wage, in turn, stimulated the economy to make it more productive-that is, to turn out more per worker-hour. Confronted with "high" wages, employers quite naturally sought out ways to increase the output per employee. They put their Yankee ingenuity to work to invent "labor-saving" devices that increased worker output per hour. These devices would have been counterproductive, however, if there were not a mass market to absorb the mass production of workshops equipped with new technologies. Without a market, the costly machines would have been just so much idle overhead. But, fortunately, the market was there because wages were relatively high and because there were many farm families with the income to purchase manufactured goods . Hence, there was a double spur for employers to introduce new technologies: to get more for the higher wage and to supply a m�ss market. Both these factors were present because the American worker organized to take advantage of relative labor scarcity to get a greater portion of the fruits of his labor. Productivity was also spurred by the advance of science in the United States and by the education of the labor force. Both of these developments owed much to a labor movement committed to an "ethic" that preached the need for both leisure and learning for workers to play their proper role in a democracy. The Working Men's Party of Philadelphia put it elegantly and eloquently in a THE WORK ETHIC: A UNION VIEW 207 platform that made education-universal, free, public-its para­ mount plank (1830):

All history corroborates the melancholy fact, that in proportion as the mass of people becomes ignorant, misrule and anarchy ensue-their liberties are subverted, and tyran­ nic ambition has never failed to take advantage of their helpless condition. . . . Let the productive classes then, unite, for the preservation of their free institutions, and by procuring for all the children in the Commonwealth Repub­ lican Education, preserve our liberties from the dangers of foreign invasion or domestic infringement ....This [ educa­ tion] is the rock on which the temple of moral freedom and independence is founded; any other foundation than this will prove inadequate to the protection of our liberties, and our republican institutions. In order to support the super­ structure, the foundation must be broad. Our government is republican; our education should be equally so. [Italics mine.]

To all the workingmen's parties of that time, the democratization of knowledge was essential for the democratization of politics. The drive for universal, free, public school education at the elementary level was followed by the extension of the same ideal to intermediate education. With the Morrill Act and land grant colleges, the idea was carried to higher education. The unions that threw themselves into these campaigns did so because, by their "ethic," a worker was not just a clod of clay shaped to toil with some tool. He was a citizen in a democracy, a creature created in the image of his Maker, who had a "right" to schooling to enable him to do better at the workplace and at the voting place. America's broad-based educational system-"the foundation" to "support the superstructure" of democracy-was a concrete result of the "work ethic" as labor saw it. The consequences of this extension of education were threefold. First, the labor force was better educated and, to the extent that such preparation for work makes the worker more productive, education boosted productivity-measured as output per hour per worker. Second, this broad-based educational system, drawing talent from all classes and not simply from the narrow restricted elite, gave America a great reservoir of trained intellects to do the 208 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS research, development, introduction of technology, starting with pure science and ending up with miraculous engineering applications to American industry-and farming. Third, education did give working people a better capacity to understand the society in which they lived and to use their ballot with greater wisdom. This political fact has had its economic impact. Workers were able to use their vote not simply to enact labor legislation that affected unions institutionally, to back social legislation to protect themselves against the hazards of work, but also-and most critically-to $Upport programs to maximize em­ ployment in the nation. Central to labor's role in American politics in the last half century-from FDR on-has been the push for full employment: support for the New Deal, the Employment Act of 1946, the Humphrey-Hawkins Act, and numerous ad hoc laws to make jobs available to all who could and would work. It is one of the great ironies of capitalism that the capitalists, who were among the most ardent advocates of a "work ethic" that made man's whole existence out to be little more than hard labor, pursued practices that periodically left workers without work. No matter how much the worker needed work, no matter how long he was ready to toil for how little, he was denied the opportunity to work by precisely those people who told him that idleness was evil-for society and for the idler. The Great Depression was America's most dramatic manifestation of this irony. In the years that followed, American labor pursued policies to promote "full employment," a job for anyone able and willing to work. Essentially, these policies were an extension of the prescrip­ tion proposed by the Philadelphia unions: expand aggregate demand by allocating to labor a fuller share of the national income. In its Keynesian refinement, "demand" was further to be expanded, when necessary, by government expenditures for socially desirable ends. In this economic program-presently the hub of labor's political program-there was an implicit ethic: work was not only a "neces­ sity," it was a "right." This "right to work" was enshrined in Roosevelt's 1944 State of the Union Message when in his "Second Bill of Rights" he called for "the right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation." In those years when our national policies and practices encour­ aged maximum employment, to make the "right to work" a reality, productivity rose-again defining productivity as output per worker; THE WORK ETHIC: A UNION VIEW 209 in those years when unemployment rose and workers were denied the "right to work" in larger numbers, productivity - output per worker-fell. The spread of education, stimulated in large part by labor's crusade for schooling, has spurred productivity in America by better preparing workers for the job, by creating a great reservoir of scientists and technicians, and by enabling working people to use their vote to further full employment. As a consequence, the United States leads the world in productivity. If we assign an index of 100 to this country, then next in line is Canada with 91.6, France with 84.7, West Germany with 79.1, and Japan with 63.2. If, in recent years, starting with 1970, America has been slipping in its lead, this is primarily due to the depressed state of the economy in that decade. The many positive economic effects of education on our econ­ omy were reinforced by the growth of leisure. The hope of the early unions that leisure would provide the time to think, to organize, to get into politics, were not in vain. Unions are in politics deeply and play a role in the shaping of national policy. But, in time, leisure proved to offer economic advantages. The worker on an eight-hour day was, hour for hour, more productive than his brother on a ten- or twelve-hour day, whose output was dragged down by fatigue. The shorter workweek also turned out to be a very direct way to realize the "right to work" by making room for additional employees: instead of one person for 16 hours, it became two persons for eight hours. Leisure also stimulated leisure-time activities-sports, travel, amusement, restaurants, hunting, fishing, watching TV -and there­ by stimulated industries and services. Today, a huge chunk of the American economy is built around "leisure-time" demand. It does seem perverse to suggest that "leisure," usually seen as the opposite of labor, is today a vital part of the "work ethic," but it is. It adds to productivity, to employment, and to the humanization of the worker's life. Because the worker, rather than the work, is the prime concern of the laborist "work ethic," working conditions and "fringes" are today high on the bargaining agenda along with "hours and wages." Whereas "working conditions" were once limited to items such as lighting, heating, toilet facilities, and fire escapes, at present the term applies to protective devices, dangerous materials, noise level, workload, classroom size. In some cases, working conditions involve 210 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS muzak, redesign of job, breaks for exercise, rotation of assignments. But whatever is done to make the worksite and the working assignment safer for the body and saner for the psyche, it is widely accepted that there is an "ethical" obligation to recognize the worker as a person. It is this same recognition that has led to the prolifera­ tion of fringes such as workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, retirement, health care, personal days, sabbaticals. Many of these "benefits" protect the worker in times of distress, whether injured, out of work, or too old to want to work; others are ways to make life a bit more pleasant. In both cases, they show concern for the worker even when he or she is not in the workplace but is, nevertheless, a soul in our society. The union view of the "work ethic" has, in many direct and indirect ways, strengthened the economic and political life of America. This fact generally goes unnoted because we are not in a position to see what the country would be like if organized labor had not been there to raise wages, shorten the workday and work­ week, and advocate public education. But just suppose that the employer's view of the "work ethic" prevailed: long hours and no leisure, low wages and no fringes, no public schools and no vote for the unpropertied, and-above all-no unions to raise hell about the odious circumstance. Would we not end up entrapped in an oppressive process which-to quote the Philadelphia unionists-"in its ultimate effects, must be productive of universal ruin and misery and destroy alike the happiness of every class and individual in society." Luckily, for America, labor has offered an alternate work ethic. CHAPTER 11

The Work Ethic in the World of Informal Work

LOUIS A. FERMAN The University of Michigan

Not all work activity in a society is monitored or regulated, and thus a number of work transactions slip through the statistical nets of economic measurement.1 This work activity occurs outside of the traditional marketplace of economic transactions; a partial list would include the following:

• bartering-the trading of goods in informal settings (for example, a flea market).

• "off-the-books" employment-work activity from the simple to the complex that involves workers who do not report the work or pay income taxes on earnings from customers or employers.

• volunteer work-the employment of individuals on a voluntary basis for humanistic work in service agencies, usually without compensation.

• household-based work activities-work involving housekeep­ ing, home repair and maintenance, "do-it-yourself" building, and child care.

• deviant work activities-work activity ranging from organized crime with traffic in stolen and/ or illegal goods and services to "hustling" (a sophisticated form of confidence game).

• social exchange of services-the brokering and trafficking of services within social networks of relatives, friends, neighbors, and/or acquaintances.

The relevance of these activities for this chapter is that they

1 In this chapter, the term "informal work activities" refers to economic transac­ tions, paid or unpaid, that occur outside the conventional core of exchanges and are thus not regulated, monitored, audited, or counted by any agency. 211 212 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS involve work, although society excludes almost all of them from our conventional categories of work, and we fail to include such activities in our social accounting systems of employment or in measures of the gross national product. What this means in concrete terms is that the current discussion of the work ethic and its possible erosion has neglected a considerable body of work activity in our society. It is entirely possible that what has been viewed as economic retreatism is really a retreat or disengagement from conventional market work and a movement to informal work activities. If this were the case, we would need to restate the whole issue of the erosion of the work ethic in terms of both conventional and unconventional categories of work, recog­ nizing that economic retreatism might involve disengagement from a particular kind of work rather than from all work. Informal work activity has indeed been unrecognized, neglected, and unanalyzed in discourses on the work ethic issue. The natural question to be posed in this chapter is one long neglected in our study of work. What are the underlying factors that give rise to these informal work activities, and are they underpinned by work values resembling the work ethic identified with the conventional world of work? This question cannot be answered easily for three reasons. First, it is only recently that we have begun to recognize and catalogue these activities as work, and the task is far from complete. The categories are still ill-defined, with con­ siderable overlapping, making the referent in any one case am­ biguous and fuzzy. Second, the amount of empirical research on these activities is miniscule and mainly descriptive rather than analytical. Far more attention has been paid to the nature of the activity than to the background and characteristics of the involved actors. Finally, the research has not progressed to the point where there have been specific studies to ascertain the relationship between the work ethic, as conventionally defined,2 and informal activities. These limitations should be kept in mind as we move on to the following discussion.

2 The work ethic has a number of components and interpretations. When we use the term in this chapter, we will be referring to the following elements: "work is a central life activity," "work is an end in itself," "work requires a measure of denial and disciplined activity," "belief in material reward for work done," "requires an expenditure of effort." THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 213

Overview of the Work Ethic and Informal Work As we have indicated, activities outside of the conventional work categories exist in many forms and situations. Some of these activities involve cash transactions, while others are nonmonetary in nature. Some involve market relationships, while others do not. Society has a tendency to deny that they are legitimate forms of work activity, preferring to view them as attempts to escape work or forms of play, or as group-imposed obligatory behavior. These judgments, however, are moral rather than economic, and a close examination of these activities would show many of them to be essentially economic in structure, involving the laws of supply and demand, occupational codes of conduct, work technologies, and defined career pathways. An important dimension of these societal judgments is context. A housewife tending to the needs of her family (cooking, mending, cleaning, and caring for children) is not working, but meeting family-imposed obligations. However, if she were doing the same tasks in another household, she would be working. Likewise, an unlicensed bookie who takes bets would be regarded as breaking the law, but if he were licensed and working for a state lottery, he would be engaged in legitimate productive work. Societal views of informal work activities are also conditioned by the status, social reputation, and general standing of groups that engage in such activities. The "street-corner boys" of neighborhood studies, residents of a slum, citizens of the ghetto or barrio, the poor in general-all of these groups are suspect because they have not succeeded in the conventional world of work, and what they do as daily activities-certainly not considered as work-is regarded as a rejection of work, and as a corollary of the will to work. In a similar fashion, the worker in the irregular or subterranean economy is viewed more in terms of participating in a tax-evasion activity than in a work activity. Informal work activities take on an even greater meaning in current discussions of the erosion or weakening of the work ethic. If we grant that informal work may have some legitimacy in the lives of workers, then the argument regarding the erosion of the will to work must be reconsidered in terms of engagement in work that is informal. The loss or rejection of conventional regular work may not necessarily mean a diminution of the work effort if the worker 214 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS engages in informal work that may be invisible to the economic observer. Consider the following two cases: One argument for the weakening of the work ethic is the pattern of absenteeism that one has come to identify in heavy industry (for example, automotive) as the "Friday-Monday Absenteeism Blues." The argument is that these workers "party" over an extended weekend and thus chronically absent themselves from work on Fridays and Mondays. Let us assume the validity of this datum although there are some compelling arguments against it. We know of no study that has definitively shown what workers do with this absenteeism time. The assumption is that the time is used to escape from work and thus is spent in some form of leisure. If we hypothesize, however, that some, if not many, of these workers use the absenteeism time to pursue other forms of work, informal in nature, we would be forced to the conclusion that work as an activity per se was not being rejected, but rather that the worker sought to fill out his life with other kinds of work activity. It might be that when we added together both regular and informal work effort, we might find a greater work effort and a stronger allegiance to the work ethic rather than an alienation from work values. Consider also another argument for the erosion of the work ethic-namely, the increasing number of discouraged workers. These workers, ranging in age from the teens to the sixties, apparently have abandoned the search for employment. But it is not clear from the existing literature whether what has been abandoned is the search for regular market employment or whether discouraged workers, supposedly alienated from work, actually engage in con­ siderable blocks of informal work in the irregular economy. In their study of the irregular economy in nine Detroit neighborhoods in 1975, Ferman and his associates (1978) found instances where the unemployed worker had abandoned the conventional job market but was engaged in casual or steady work in "off-the-books" employment. These investigators also found uniformly that workers engaged in "off-the-books" work saw this as a temporary adjustment to lack of opportunities in the regular economy and expressed a strong preference to return to that kind of work. Again, if it were shown that large numbers of discouraged workers actually were engaged in informal work, like the workers with the "Monday-Friday Absenteeism Blues," it would cast doubt on the notion that traditional commitments to work were eroding. THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 215

We present these suggestions as hypotheses yet to be tested, not as empirical findings. But the fact that scholars use absenteeism and discouraged workers as evidence of the erosion of the work ethic, without investigating the role of informal work in both phenomena, suggests that these indicators of erosion may be in error and in need of correction. It seems clear from current and past discussions that the work ethic is closely associated with engagement in conventional categories of work, whether salaried, wage, or self-employment. The strength of the work ethic could be tested only if the individual were employed or seeking employment in one of these categories. The notion that informal work is also an arena to test the work ethic has not been considered, or has been ignored. If we subscribe to the idea that the work ethic exists only if there is an opportunity structure for conventional regular work, we should have to conclude that the work ethic has no meaning in the current situation in inner cities where conventional work opportunities are almost nonexistent. In this context, the work ethic would exist only where opportunities for work existed. "Hustling"-a frequent response of inner city youth, and an informal work activity-might be viewed as an activity to compensate for the absence of conventional work op­ portunities. Instead of viewing hustling as an aberrant form of behavior, we could perceive it as a rational adaptation to a restricted opportunity structure where there are still strong attachments to work values. This last thought suggests that a more adequate conceptualization of the work ethic question would be to acknowledge that there is more than one work ethic in both regular and informal work activity and an individual's commitment to work may be based on a series of work ethics rather than just one. Thus, if there is an erosion of the traditional work ethic, it may be more than compensated for by one or more other sets of work values. Commitment to work may remain high even if there is rejection of such traditional work imperatives as "work is an end in itself," "work is a central life activity," "work requires strong self-discipline," and "work should be compensated by material rewards." In the world of informal work, we can distinguish a number of work ethics that are deviants from the traditional Weberian formulation. "Work is necessary and important to fulfill family role obligations," "work is necessary to honor the obligations of associational memberships," "work is an 216 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS essential activity to fulfill reciprocities incurred in association with other individuals" -all of these imperatives have a strong moral underpinning for work efforts in informal work. We can conceive of six categories of informal work activities. Some rest on the traditional work ethic, while others are supported by one or more sets of different work values. These categories are alienative, substitutive, compensatory, affiliative, prescriptive, and associative.

Alienative Work activities in this category appear to be counter-culture and deviant with respect to conventional work activities and values of the society. However, this judgment may be more moral than economic. The structures of these activities are economic in charac­ ter, follow the law of supply and demand in many cases, have work technologies, possess occupational codes of conduct and defined career pathways. In this category of informal work activity we would include organized crime, professional theft, and "street­ corner societies." Organized crime, particularly the Mafia, is condemned by both our legal system and social morality as alienatory activity that deviates from the mainstream and conventional core of American work behavior. The assumption is that participants in organized crime have rejected the values of the American work system and its emphasis on the work ethic. But, as has become clear from accounts of the Mafia in both popular and scientific literature, this distinction is more illusory than real. Quite the contrary, the activities of organized crime have come to resemble those of a large-scale corporate organization responding to a market of need and con­ sumers' desires. Even on moral grounds, the distinction between organized crime and corporate organizations is apt to be hazy. Consider the charges against Toyota for industrial espionage in the United States, the recent alleged alterations of government reports by Dow Chemical, and the bribery charges against the Teamsters, and one soon comes to the conclusion that these activities are not too different from past charg�s against the Mafia for jury-tampering and bribery. From one vantage point, participants in organized crime have not rejected the work ethic, but have come to embrace it. If one pits the work ethic requirements against the activities of Mafia mem- THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 217 hers-dedication to hard work, work as a central life interest, the need for work discipline, work as an important end in itself-one could come to the conclusion that, far from rejecting the work ethic, the Mafia had actually internalized it. The pathology of the Mafia may not be that their members are undersocialized in American work values, but rather that they are oversocialized in them. Robert K. Merton (1949) has suggested that the members of organized crime groups overemphasize the achievement and success goals of the American work system but substitute illegitimate means to reach these goals. Because of this intense need to be successful and achieve, any means become justified. Max Weber would indeed be surprised to find that among the foremost carriers of the con­ temporary work ethic is a group that is largely Catholic, is committed to societally illegitimate behavior, and has made a pathology out of hard work and the drive for success. Professional theft is another dimension of what is regarded as alienative work behavior. Letkemann (1973), in his book Crime as Work, develops and documents the thesis that professional theft has most of the basic ingredients of professional work in the conventional economy: developed career lines, occupational specialization, a developed technology, an apprentice system, a strong commitment to work effort, a central concern with work, and a strong emphasis on success and achievement. Sutherland (1937), in his book The Professional Thief, concludes that the career thief is motivated largely by the same values that underpin any professional work activity and relies strongly upon peers in the same work activity for support and approval. The "street-corner society" or "street life" has become a popular story line in discussing life in ethnic or racial neighborhoods. The focus is on the social and work experiences of youth. The important components of street-corner life are: (1) a downgrading of con­ ventional work values, (2) an intense involvement with peers, (3) a preoccupation with the excitement of the street to the exclusion of other interests, and (4) primary loyalty and obligations to peers. Substance abuse (alcohol and drugs) is a frequent, but not a necessary, component. At first glance, the evidence seems to be substantial that street­ corner societies give ample indication of the erosion and rejection of the work ethic in the neighborhoods that were studied. As Liebow has noted in his study (1967, pp. 34-35) : 218 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Putting aside, for the moment, what the men say and feel, and looking at what they actually do and the choices they made, getting a job, keeping a job, and doing well at it is clearly of low priority. Arthur will not take a job at all. Leroy is supposed to be on his job at 4:00 P.M. but it is already 4:10 and he still cannot bring himself to leave the free games he has accumulated on the pinball machine in the Carry-out. Tonk started a construction job on Wednesday, worked Thursday and Friday, then didn't go back again. On the same kind of job, Sea Cat quit in the second week. Sweets had been working three months as a busboy in a restaurant, then quit without notice, not sure why he did so.

Such behavior would seem to substantiate the idea of a "culture of poverty" or a "culture of shiftlessness" where the values of work are denigrated and the work ethic has eroded. But the case is not clear­ cut because Liebow does note that there are some in the neighbor­ hood who are fully integrated into the conventional world of work and even one "who works two or three jobs to keep his home and family together" and "may divide all his working time between home and job." Since the data from the street-corner research have been used as one of the indicators of the erosion of work commitment in selected American neighborhoods, some comments are in order about that research. First, studies of that kind represent one street-corner of the universe of street-corners in the neighborhood. How pervasive is the behavior at this particular street-corner? Would Whyte (1955), Liebow (1967), or Anderson (1978) have found a similar street­ corner society two blocks over or five blocks east? Are there not large sectors of the neighborhood that do not follow this life style? Have we overestimated the importance of street-corner life in discussions of the work ethic? A second consideration is that street-corner studies are usually counter-cultural in emphasis, stressing deviation from traditional American values, not conformity with them. There is a selective concern with the unusual behavior and different values and norms. This focus may ignore large blocks of behavior that fit the main­ stream American pattern. This inference is supported by the work of Andrew Billingsley in Black Families in White America (1968) . He speaks of the "plain folks," people who are almost all migrants from the South from communities in which the church played a major THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 219 social role and who have considerable pride in themselves and their work. These people define themselves as "straight people." They do not get involved with the "street-corner types," the juke joints, or the hustlers. Marijuana is beyond their identity. There appear to be masses of these people (South Side Chicago, Twelfth Street Detroit), and they constitute a population majority rather than a minority. They set themselves apart from the ADCers or the street-corner men. Third, even within the street-corner gangs themselves there is great variability, which denies the notion of a cultural system that impels all to act the same. Thus, in Whyte's street-corner study (1955), there were the "corner boys" and the "college boys" who had quite different attachments to conventional market work values. Several members of the first group appeared to have counter­ culture work values, but were actively engaged in informal work activity (bringing people to the polls to vote, working in stores "off­ the-books"). All members of the second group were quite conven­ tional in their work attachments, aspired to college educations, and were upwardly mobile. Caplan (1973}, in his study of ghetto youth in Chicago, has also noted such variations, using the dichotomy "floaters" and "mazeway boys." He characterized the first group as impulsive, immediate-gratification-oriented, and not well enough organized in their behavior to find or hold a job for any long period of time. However, the second group, the "mazeway boys," engaged in highly structured behavior, were well integrated into the con­ ventional work value systems, and believed in the efficacy of hard work to gain success. Caplan attributes the differences between the two groups to personality variables. A fourth consideration in such studies is the emphasis placed on counter-values rather than class stratification to explain work be­ havior, or lack of it. In Liebow (1967) and Anderson (1978), the emphasis is on loyalty to group values as setting the limits on work behaviors and attachments to the regular market economy. But what has not been emphasized in such research is that the street-corner men studied were confronted by both a restrictive and a limited opportunity structure where the only jobs available were charac­ terized by hard, dirty work, no career possibilities, and low pay. The behavior cited in these studies and attributed to norms of group attachment might better be explained as class behavior in coping with an inadequate opportunity structure. Some evidence for this 220 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS thesis is to be found in the follow-up and reissue of the Whyte study (1955) 20 years after the original study, where the "counter-culture," street-corner men are now engaged in conventional market employ­ ment with strong commitments to traditional work values. The shift in the opportunity structure from the tail-end of the Great Depression to the affluence of the 1950s apparently changed their relationship to the conventional market economy. Hylan Lewis (1968, p. 350) has suggested that much of what passes as counter-cultural behavior among low-income families "rather appears as a broad spectrum of pragmatic adjustments to external and internal stresses and depriva­ tions." Finally, what is frequently missed in street-corner research is that the shift in work behavior is not from conventional market work to nonwork, but rather to informal work. Street-corner research is frequently examined from the viewpoint of the absence of con­ ventional work attachments rather than the absence of any work. If one reexamines street-corner studies from the perspective of informal work, a different picture emerges. Far from being strangers to work, the street-corner men, and their friends and neighbors in the larger neighborhood, are preoccupied with work that is largely informal in nature. Excluding the traffic in illegal goods (drugs, for example) that undoubtedly engages the work efforts of some residents, there is an extensive and diverse list of goods and services that involve participants in work of various kinds. These activities are well detailed in street-corner studies and in the autobiographies of a number of writers who had first-hand experience with informal work during their residence in ghetto neighborhoods (Claude Brown, Manchild in the PromisedLan d; Richard Wright, Black Boy; Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man; Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm X). Excluding organized crime and professional theft, these informal work activities can be grouped in two categories. The first is personal and household services, ranging from barbering, beauty care, and nursing to carpentry, roof repair, and household mainte­ nance. These work activities fulfill the day-to-day needs of residents no matter what their location. Needs of this type are frequently met in more affluent communities by registered businesses in the con­ ventional market economy, but are fulfilled through informal work in the low-income neighborhoods. These are short-run jobs, lacking commitment to any one workplace, but certainly not alienative in THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 221 the sense that work effort and activity have been abandoned. These are jobs that we associate with the conventional market, but in these cases they are performed by people as informal work. Then there is hustling. The image of the hustler is a person who is action oriented, who uses his wits to derive income from unusual sources and doing unusual activity, and who manipulates situations to derive benefit from them. There is a strong activity drive that is the antithesis of inactivity or passiveness. The hustler in this context may be a local storeowner, a peddler, or a house-to-house salesman. His distinctive characteristics are his willingness to wheel and deal to make a sale and the forcefulness of his sales pitch. To accomplish a sale, he may also mislabel or misrepresent the quality or the price of the item. The hustler is a risk-taker and a broker of goods and services-not unlike the entrepreneur in the market economy. Hustling in ghettos is largely a young man's game, and cursory observation suggests that the hustler rarely remains in the activity for a lifetime, but moves on to conventional market work. These observations on organized crime, professional theft, and street-comer research suggest the following generalizations. Groups of individuals who were considered alienated from work may actually have only retreated from a particular kind of work-con­ ventional market work. To the contrary, these people may be expending considerable work effort in informal work areas, doing essentially market work and retaining a strong attachment to Ameri­ can work values. We do not know whether informal work is restricted to low-income communities or whether it simply is more often found there. Because we study the work values and motivations of the poor more frequently, we observe their informal work behavior more frequently. It is entirely possible that such behavior is present in equal measure among the most affluent sectors of our society.

Substitutive Some informal work activity arises as a response to lack of access to work in the conventional market economy. This work is clearly a substitute for regular work. Factors that may work to exclude certain categories of people from market work are demographics, physical disability, licensing, and social service status. Among the demographics, age may be the overriding factor affecting entry to market work (people are either too young or too 222 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

old). We have acted to protect children from exploitation in the labor market by a complex set of child labor laws that severely restrict their access to employment in the market economy. This exclusion fails to recognize that children have financial needs and sets the stage for their participation in informal tasks ranging from baby-sitting and yard work to door-to-door peddling. For different reasons, the older worker also is frequently excluded from regular market work, in this case because of a deeply rooted age bias in our economy that places a premium on youth. In informal pursuits, he/she can overcome the age barrier. Educational skill requirements may also act to exclude people from jobs that they could technically do, if given the chance. The informal economy does not place a premium on formal job require­ ments, but rather on adequate performance and outcomes. The work activity may have been learned by "seeing and doing," but this does not exclude the participant from engaging in such pursuits, without formal preparation and the credentials. Physical disability is yet another barrier to market participation. Rigid health standards as well as insurance requirements often deny market participation to the disabled. Even in instances where participation is allowed, the disabled are frequently treated as "special cases" and made to feel different. In informal activities, a physically handicapped individual is freed from such constraints and can in many instances structure the job to his own needs and demands. Entry into many market work activities is controlled through a rigid system of occupational licensing and certification that restricts access and participation in the occupation to a favored few. Without such credentials, many who desire access to those jobs in the regular economy remain on the outside looking in. Again, informal work permits these individuals to participate in these activities. The unlicensed carpenter, plumber, or electrician are examples that quickly come to mind. Finally, we have large numbers of people in our society who draw benefits from a variety of social service programs and, as a qualifying condition, are restricted from full-or in some cases even partial-participation in regular work (Aid to Families with De­ pendent Children, Unemployment Insurance, Veterans' Benefits, and Social Security). One obvious goal for the recipient is to add to ·� his financial resources through participation in informal work. A less THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 223 obvious goal is to test out new kinds of work, or even career pathways, before seeking such work in the regular economy.

Compensatory Another block of informal work in our society draws participants from the ranks of the employed. These workers participate at the same time in both the regular and the informal worlds of work. Some who have regular, stable jobs use their skills and tools to work outside the regular system of rules. Often these workers have a credentialed skill (for example, an electrician's license), but perform these outside jobs at lower rates than those sanctioned by their unions and do not report their earnings for tax purposes. In many cases, these moonlighters perform work tasks that could not be considered within the body of rewards and rules that govern their cases; they gain access to a new market for their services and receive extra income. The employer of this labor, for his part, finds it possible to get the work done for limited resources or a lower unit cost. These comments suggest that even in an inventory of workers in conventional employment, we can underestimate the work effort involved since there may be numerous uncounted hours of informal employment. Since work effort is an important dependent variable in any discussion of work ethic, an obvious source of bias may exist. Furthermore, we have no idea whether, for a given individual, the same work values underpin both market employment and informal work activities. It would be logical to suppose that the same values exist, but without systematic enquiry, we must leave the question unanswered at this point.

Affiliative A considerable block of informal work is generated by member­ ship in social networks. Social networks exist everywhere-in poor communities and in affluent communities. They are governed largely by norms of reciprocity, and monetarized exchanges are the exception rather than the rule. Although the networks deal with goods and services, the social pressures to "pay back favors" are strong. There are strict reckoning systems, not always made explicit as to who owes what to whom. If the exchange balances get too far out of line, or if norms of paying back with proper interest are not honored for labor or property exchanges, then sanctions will be 224 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS invoked against the offender. Thus; prices (in terms of labor) for services and products will have reference in great part to the past history between seller and buyer, particularly to what favors are outstanding. These exchange relationships and obligations can be as easily regulated as the flow of cash. The values .that underlie work in social networks emphasize obligations and reciprocity. Since the networks are made up of kin, neighbors, or members of the same ethnic group, to produce work for someone in the network is to reaffirm ties to all in the network. Work acts as a form of social glue to bind someone to the group. In this sense, the values supporting work in social networks are quite different from those in the traditional work ethic. It is possible to have a low commitment to the work ethic, but still have a moral" basis for work activity when the work is network based. There have been some studies of social networks in low-income neighborhoods (Lowenthal 1975, Stack 1974), their main conclusions being that work is generated by social rather than economic values. Lowenthal identifies three principles underpinning nonmarket ex­ changes: (1) reciprocity and obligation to other members of the network, (2) redistribution of goods and services to those who need them, making it obligatory that those in need receive help from those who are able to give it, and (3) assigning tasks to certain positions in the network. Stack, in her study of black family networks, notes that "the black urban family, embedded in co­ operative domestic exchange, proves to be an organized, tenacious, active lifelong network." What is evident in both studies is the importance of distributive justice values to ensure that all people in the network have some minimum level of goods and services. Another study of social networks among middle- and working­ class people concludes that the values of helping neighbors, not unlike those on the early American frontier, are primary factors in generating work exchanges between neighbors in the same network (Warren 1981). All in all, it seems that the work behavior in these networks is generated by nonwork ethic values.

Prescriptive Culturally defined role sets provide another underpinning of informal work behavior. Roles are prescribed sets of attitudes and activity defined through the behavioral expectations of society and society's associated sanctions concerning the functions individuals THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 225 must and can fulfill within the small social systems of daily life. To the extent that these behavorial expectations are conceived as essential features of the role, they comprise the responsibilities and prerogatives of the role. These prescriptions are not rigid; rather, they imply a permissive range of variation to fulfill the role requirements. The traditional role of the housewife, the role of the parent, the role of the homeowner-all of these prescribe work behavior that is essentially informal in nature. The traditional role of the housewife is illustrative. Her respon­ sibilities are acted out in preparing meals, doing housework, caring for children, and, in some cases, doing household maintenance and repair. Sanctions associated with failure to fulfill these work obliga­ tions are internalized reactions to the imagined judgments of others. Pressures for work performance also come from other family members who are part of her role set and who expect certain behavior to be forthcoming. The same comments might apply to a variety of roles that people adopt. The behaviors associated with these roles are learned begin­ ning in the earliest development period, and some prescriptions become as unquestioned as the need to brush one's teeth. What results, then, is a compulsion for work effort and performance that has little to do with one's evaluation of work or the pressures from a traditional work ethic.

Associative It was the French statesmen and author, Alexis de Tocqueville, who first characterized America as a "nation of joiners." There is an association for almost any purpose-social, humanitarian, or political, and participation in them may be viewed as a form of informal work activity of varying degrees. Such work can involve large blocks of time and effort, particularly if the individual is involved in committee work or administration. Membership in such organi­ zations usually requires financial obligations, but dues may also be reckoned in work demanded by the association. Four sets of factors underlie participation in such associations. The first are status ascriptive. Membership in some associations are social testimonials to having arrived at a certain station in life. This also holds for membership in community and business associations. A second set of factors, and a frequent cause for association, are common business or political interests that can be acted on by an 226 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS organized constituency. Third, there is a strong value that "birds of a feather flock together." Many associations conjoin members of the same ethnic, race, or neighborhood, making it possible to reinforce common group values and identity. Finally, as has been noted, there is a deep sense of humanism and helping behavior that runs through the American psyche and can be exercised through voluntary associations of various kinds (Smith 1972). These influences fre­ quently overlap, making them powerful inducements for informal work behavior.

Empirical Research on Informal Work Activities Although there is a slowly growing body of empirical research on work activities, no study to date has investigated the relationship between the work ethic and participation in informal work activities. Nor have there been any studies relating participation in regular work to informal work, permitting us to specify whether one is the flip side of the other. Most research on informal work activity has emphasized description of the work itself and, in some cases, the demographic characteristics of the worker. In rare cases, contextual variables have been added to the research design. Given these limitations, we will review empirical findings of two categories of informal work activity: household-based work and voluntary association work. Wherever possible, we will try to suggest the relevance of the research findings to our discussion of the work ethic.

Household-Based Work Activities The most detailed study and analysis of household-based work activities has been made by James Morgan and his associates at the University of Michigan. In 1964, Morgan's team surveyed a national sample of households to study the distribution and correlates of housework, major housecleaning and painting, sewing and mending, growing food, canning or freezing food, and other activities that saved money. Morgan and his associates concluded (1981, p. 321): " ...the whole set of home production activities were most often performed by married couples with large families who lived in single family structures, who were well educated, lived in rural areas, and had no child under age two (requiring lots of extra time)." In successive follow-up studies in 1971 and 1978, these researchers THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 227 found a marked decline in do-it-yourself work activities around the home, regardless of stereotypes to the contrary. Half of the 1964 sample reported doing some work around the house, compared to 43 percent in 1971 and 36 percent in 1978. The factors most associated with hours spent on housework were demographics, socioeconomic statuses, and constraints (size of family and number of dependent children). There was a limited test of values associated with the work ethic (index of ambition and index of aspiration), but neither of these significantly related to the number of hours of work around the home. This does not necessarily negate the role of the work ethic in these informal work activities since these measures may not be relevant to the concept. Overall, however, attitudinal variables made little difference in predicting the number of hours of housework. In home production activities (repair, painting, growing food, etc.), home ownership was the most important predictor, but home owners with a high achievement orientation, a low belief in luck for financial success, and high ambition/aspiration worked longer hours. The overall conclusion from these data is that the variables that seemed to be components of the work ethic were not important in home-related work activities. The major driving force has more to do with personal statuses, interests, and situations of the workers than the attitudinal sets tested. Situational variables are of particular importance.

Voluntary Association Activities The strongest predictor of participation and involvement in voluntary associations is socioeconomic status of the family in the community (Morgan, Sirageldin, and Baerwaldt 1966). Educational level is most strongly related to informal work activities of this kind, followed closely by income. The best educated and the highest income groups are more likely than others to be active. At all levels of income, there is a predisposition to have some involvement in help-giving organizations, with a greater tendency for the more affluent to substitute cash donations for active work (Morgan 1966) . Attitudes toward work and leisure as precursors of organizational involvement have not been explored to date. There is some evidence of "an obligation to participate" and "commitment to humane values" as forerunners of active involvement. Although the evidence 228 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS to date makes a case for a socioeconomic status underpinning of these activities, we cannot eliminate the role that may be played by values and attitudes derived from class position.

Discussion and Summing Up In the preceding sections of this chapter, we have attempted to make the case for the importance of informal work activities in any discussion of the possible erosion of the work ethic in our society. A substantial block of informal work activity exists in various and diverse forms, and work effort must take it into account. Until now we have confined our observations on the work ethic to regular work behavior, leaving a substantial gap in our understanding of the relationship of the individual to work and its structure. Some informal work behavior, we can speculate, is tied to traditional work values, but other work value systems support other informal work behavior-socially prescribed obligations incurred in family life, reciprocity within social networks, and obligations and duties mandated by associational memberships. Instead of talking about a single work ethic underpinning work behavior, we must consider multiple work value systems. Our observations of the economic life of communities of poor people have been deficient and have resulted in stigmatizing these people as lacking commitment to work effort and basic American work values. A quite different picture emerges when we begin to include informal work behavior as an integral part of the internal economy of these communities. The important contribution of this chapter is the argument that the absence of regular market work behavior may not mean alienation from work, but rather a retreat from a particular kind of work and a movement to informal work. We have erred in our discourses on the work ethic because we still lack concepts and measures to identify and quantify the work effort involved in informal work. We need research in this area because, without its findings, we will continue to have many questions about the traditional work ethic and its role in contemporary society.

References

Anderson, Elijah. A Place on the Corner. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978. Billingsley, Andrew. Black Families in White America. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1968. THE WORK ETHIC IN THE WORLD OF INFORMAL WORK 229

Caplan, Nathan. "Competency Among Hard-to-Employ Youth." Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1973. Unpublished paper. Ferman, Louis A., Louise Berndt, and Elaine Selo. Analysis of the Irregular Economy: Cash Flow in the Informal Sector. Lansing, Mich.: Bureau of Employment and Training, 1978. Letkemann, Peter. Crime as Work. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1973. Lewis, Hylan. "Child Bearing Among Low-Income Families." In Poverty in America, eds. Louis A. Ferman, Joyce A. Kornbluh, and Alan Haber. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1968. Liebow, Elliot. Tally's Corner: A Study of Negro Streetcorner Men. Boston: Little, Brown, 1967. Lowenthal, Martin D. "The Social Economy in Urban Working Class Communities." In The Social Economy of Cities, eds. Gary Gappert and Harold M. Rose. Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage, 1975. Merton, Robert K. Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe, Ill.: Free Press, 1949. Morgan, James N., Ismail Sirageldin, and Nancy Baerwaldt. Productive Americans. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1966. Morgan , James N. "Trends in Non-Money Income Through Do-It-Yourself Activities, 1971 to 1978." In Five Thousand American Families-Patterns of Economic Progress, Volume IX, eds. Martha S. Hill, Daniel H. Hill, and James N. Morgan. Ann Arbor: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 1981. Smith, David H., and Richard D. Reddy. "An Overview of Determinants of Individual Participation in Organized Voluntary Action." In Voluntary Action Research-1972, eds, David H. Smith, Richard D. Reddy, and Burt Baldwin. Lexington, Mass.: D. C. Heath, 1972. Stack, Carol B. All Our Kin: Strategies for Survival in a Black Community. New York: Harper & Row, 1974. Sutherland, Edwin H. The Professional Thief. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1937. Warren, Donald I. Helping Networks. Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981. Whyte, William F. Street Corner Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1955.

CHAPTER 12

Which Work Ethic?

JAcK BARBASH0 University of Wisconsin

This essay is in the nature of a synthesis. It also offers the gleanings of a theory. I owe much to the other papers in this volume, but my collaborators in this enterprise should not, thereby, be held in any way committed to the synthesis, theory, or the uses to which their work has been put here.

0 0 0

The work ethic1 seems to be used to mean a commitment to work which is stronger than just providing a living. It is "a conviction that work is a worthwhile activity in its own right, not merely ...the means to material comfort or wealth" (Lenski 1961, pp. 4-5). Worker is meant to include all who work for pay, including manual workers, white-collar employees, professionals, and execu­ tives, although, by way of comparison, some attention is directed to unpaid work. This examination is set against a mood abroad in the land that the work ethic is withering away. Commonly cited as evidence are the overriding preoccupation with economic security, the lack of pride in work, the casual and unrealistic work attitudes of the young, the existence of a welfare population with a trained aversion to work and caught up in a "culture of poverty" which has drawn them out of the conventional world of work altogether. While welfare is the main target of criticism, the attrition of the work ethic is said to permeate, to varying degrees, the whole working population. In the views of some it may even be responsible for the decline of American fortunes in the world economy. It is

• A grant from the Institute for Research on Poverty of the University of Wisconsin-Madison first got me started on this work. 1 This section is based on Buchholz (1978); Davidson (1976) ; Gilbert (1977); Juzanek (1978); Kerr and Rosow (1979), especially Introduction and Chs. 1 and 2; Mortimer (1979); Neff (1977); O'Toole (1974), especially Chs. 1 and 12; "Work Ethic" (1981); Work in America (1973), especially Ch. I; and Yankelovich (1982). 231 232 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS precisely Japan's ascending work ethic that is held responsible for that country's economic miracle.

I. The habitat of the work ethic as folk wisdom was 19th century America. This work ethic was a moral obligation to work hard for its own sake, expressed in such maxims as "nothing in this world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty," "idleness is a disgrace," "the indolent mind is not empty, but full of vermin," "work is sacred ... not only because it is the fruit of self-denial, patience and toil but because it uncovers the soul of the worker" (Rodgers 1978, pp. 7-13 passim).2 "The central premise of the work ethic," according to the historian who has studied it most carefully, was "that work was the core of the moral life. Work made men useful in a world of economic scarcity: It staved off the doubts and temptations that preyed on idleness; it opened the way to deserved wealth and status; it allowed one to put the impress of mind and skill on the material world" (Rodgers 1978, p. 14). The work ethic is a product of an era of scarcity and deprivation when workers either worked or starved. It made work's deprivation bearable by giving it a moral cast. The work ethic was an ideology propagated by the middle classes for the working classes with enough plausibility and truth to make it credible. The intellectual stream which fed the work ethic has its main source in Max Weber's (1958) Protestant Ethic:

Labour must be performed as if it were an absolute end in itself, a calling [p. 62] ....One's duty in a calling is what is most characteristic of capitalistic culture, and is in a sense the fundamental basis of it. It is an obligation which the individual is supposed to feel and does feel toward the content of his professional activity, no matter in which it · consists [p. 54]. . .

The seed of the idea goes back at least two centuries earlier to John Locke's version of a labor theory of value, a strand that Marx built upon to root his ideological system. The work ethic has no fixed definition, but the following key

2 See also Gilbert ( 1977). WHICH WORK ETHIC? 233 ideas and meanings suggest the ways the concept is used in the contemporary discussion: 1. Work as an end in itself which, it is expected, will be rewarded eventually with material success; key meanings under this head include the centrality of work, the dignity of work however menial, work as a calling. 2. Pride in good quality workmanship, hard work, "an instinct of workmanship," satisfaction in work. 3. Adherence to the discipline of work: punctuality, obedience, diligence, industriousness. Concern about the work ethic is a product of the values of a postindustrial society. The characteristics commonly attributed to postindustrial society include (1) a dominant tertiary (or service) sector with white-collar, technical, and professional employment overtaking manual blue-collar employment and mental or intellectual work replacing physical work, (2) a welfare state with full employ­ ment, social welfare, and education as centerpieces, (3) rising standards of popular expectation about the quality of life and worklife-sometimes called, after Galbraith, the affluent society, and (4) an expanding sphere of corporate organization, nationally and globally.3 The effects of postindustrial society for work ethic purposes have been to lessen hard physical work, create nonwork options short of starvation, raise standards of expectation, and widen the distance between workers and employers and between work and end-product. Later postindustrial society is a time of pervasive inflation, followed, in the 1980s, by disinflation and mass unem­ ployment, which marks the end of rising expectations.

II. Three sorts of evidence are relied on to check out the erosion-of­ work-ethic hypothesis: what people believe about it, how they actually behave at work and in the labor market, and inferences about the work ethic which it is possible to draw from this evidence. According to survey responses, most Americans believe that workers take less pride in their work, "are not turning out as much work as they should," "goof off" during much of their working time, are less committed to workmanship, and are less motivated ("Goofing Off" 1975).

3 See Bell (1976). 234 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The work ethic is still highly valued-in principle. Most survey respondents believe "people should place more emphasis on working hard and doing a good job than on what gives them personal satisfaction and pleasure," "eventually you will get ahead" if you work hard enough, and that even if they (the respondents) had the money to live comfortably without working, they would never­ theless continue to work full time ("Americans at Work" 1981, pp. 25-31). Blue-collar workers would continue to work to keep oc­ cupied, whereas white-collar employees would work because they like working. It is mostly the men who feel that way, but more and more women are beginning to feel that way, too. If workers do their work, does it really matter how they feel about it? Is there "a feedback between the quality of labor market experience and strength of the work ethic"? A University of Michigan group has argued that there is "little evidence that individual attitude and behavior patterns affect economic progress." Andrisani and Parnes, in this volume, undertake specifically to refute this argument. Work ethic attitudes do function in behavior, they assert. "The strength of individuals' commitment to the work ethic affects various measures of their success in the labor market, even as favorable labor market experiences have feedback effects on the extent to which individuals are committed to the work ethic," and even if the precise relationship between attitude and behavior is uncertain ( 0 Andrisani and Parnes, pp. 101-12 passim).4

White and black young men who in 1968 believed that hard work pays off were in better occupations and had higher earnings two years later than comparable youths with a weaker work ethic ....A single point on a 13-point scale, which is only one-fourth of the way between "slightly" committed to the work ethic and "slightly" not, was equivalent to a full year of seniority and a full year of experience in the labor market in its effects on hourly earnings, annual earnings, occupational attainment, and changes over time in each of these aspects of labor market success. ( 0 Andrisani and Parnes, pp. 106-107.)

There is nothing wrong with the work ethic attitudes of the welfare poor. This is the "unambiguous" conclusion of the most thoroughgoing investigation of the attitudes of the poor that we

4 Text citations preceded by an asterisk (0) refer to pages in this volume. WHICH WORK ETHIC? 235 have. "Poor people, males and females, blacks and whites, youths and adults-identify their self-esteem with work as strongly as the non-poor." It is not their attitudes, it is their experience at work that is the source of their work problem. "Black welfare women ... want to work ... but because of continuing failure in the work world, tend to become more accepting of welfare and less inclined to try again" (Goodwin 1972, pp. 112-13). Then there are the data from the labor market-labor force participation rates, lifetime annual and weekly working time, ab­ senteeism, quits, overtime, moonlighting, and social welfare pro­ grams-all reflecting employee decisions from the point of entry into the labor force and, once within the labor force, reflecting the varying intensities of the commitment to work up to the point of retirement. Warning: It does not automatically follow, however, that an increase or decrease in worktime necessarily results from an increase or decrease in work ethic sentiment; coercive or constraining influences in the work environment resolve the question whether to work or not to work before a discretionary work ethic can assert itself. Below are labor market tendencies derived from chapters in this volume which point, respectively, to reductions and increases in work inputs, followed by what these tendencies imply for the work ethic. 1. Since 1951, "men are leaving the work force with greater frequency than ever before" ( 0Levitan and Johnson, p. 8). "The labor force participation rate (LFPR) of men fell in every age group except the youngest" (0Lampman, p. 65), but the decline has been particularly marked for men over 55 and for black men. 2. The years spent outside the labor force by the average man have tripled since 1900, largely as a consequence of earlier retirement and increasing life expectancy (0Levitan and Johnson, p. 9). 3. There "is a slow but growing tendency for workers to forgo further income gains in preference for greater amounts of paid leisure" (0Levitan and Johnson, p. 13). 4. Weekly "hours at work have declined substantially over the long term," an average of 53 at the turn of the century as compared to about 39 in the late 1970s (0Hedges, p. 52). 5. "The average private-sector production or nonsupervisory worker worked less than 35 hours per week in 1982, a decrease of about 13 percent from the nearly 40 hours per week in the early 1950s" (0Quinn, p. 88). 236 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

6. "Hours engaged in work (that is, actually working) are significantly lower than hours at work," in large part because of scheduled and unscheduled workbreaks (0Hedges, p. 53). 7. "Married men [of prime working age) averaged one-half hour less time at work per week in 1979 than they had in 1968" (0Hedges, p. 54). 8. "The elderly work considerably less than younger groups at any point in time" (0Quinn, p. 88) . 9. "The aged, disabled, female heads, and 'other women' have a 'high' responsiveness to [social welfare] work disincentives .... Young people have only a 'moderate' responsiveness" (0Lampman, p. 78). Other labor supply indicators point to an increase in work inputs, or no decline where one might have been expected: l. "The relative percentage of the population that works has crept steadily upwards since World War II [which] is particularly significant when viewed in light of gains in productivity" (0Levitan and Johnson, p. 1). 2. The drop in male labor force participation has been more than offset by the increase in the female labor force (0Levitan and Johnson, pp. 5 ff.). 3. "Although more males aged 14-24 are enrolled in school than were a generation ago, they are also working more than the students did in 1955-in part because more children from less affluent families are attending college, which they finance by working" (0Levitan and Johnson, p. 9). There is "rising concern that some youth may be overcommitted to paid work," at the expense of their education (0Hedges, p. 56). 4. "The miscalled national productivity 'decline' reported since the mid-1960s is, at least in part, a statistical mirage deserving a more thorough clinical investigation than it has yet received" (0Siegel, p. 28). 5. "A small minority (about 5 percent of all workers) holds more than one job" (0Hedges, p. 47). 6. "National data show no secular increase in absence that would support a thesis of weakening job commitment." Cyclical declines in absenteeism may be due to "an improved work ethic as employees seek to protect their jobs" (0Hedges, p. 44). 7. " 'The search for some primary and overriding reason for WHICH WORK ETHIC? 237 turnover has not been particularly successful.' ... Recent studies using improved models and techniques have found no significant secular trend in the quit rate" (0Hedges, p. 45). 8. "Voluntary part-time's association ...with poor job commit­ ment is refuted by managerial experience" (0Hedges, p. 45). 9. On the whole, "workers who desire more hours of work per week are far more numerous than those who view their worktime as excessive," according to limited data (0Hedges, p. 57) . 10. Among collective bargaining agreements in effect "in 1980, nine-tenths of the major agreements which referred to specific weekly hours stipulated 40 hours" (0Hedges, p. 51). 11. "Major groups of workers, including adult men, women, and students, have experienced little or no net gain in leisure since World War II" (0Hedges, p. 54) . This review of labor market behavior from entry to retirement indicates that the losses in work inputs have been caused mainly by males' earlier retirement from work and discouragement of black workers. The reduction in worktime caused by welfare programs and the taxes to pay for them is limited to marginal groups in the labor force. The increasing displacement of work by leisure is not as great as might have been expected considering long-term produc­ tivity gains. Still to be assessed is the effect of large-scale unemploy­ ment in the early 1980s. On the gain side, the female revolution in labor force participa­ tion has more than offset declines among older men, perhaps as the result of a household decision reallocating home and work duties as between the male and female wage-earner groups. The popular view that the young worker is somehow less committed to work­ which might have been true a decade earlier-is not now borne out by the evidence. Data on productivity, hours of work, part-time work, and moonlighting do not show anything which can be interpreted as a lessening of the work commitment.

Ill. The point of this section is that the worker's discretion over his/her own circumstances has narrowed and his/her options have broadened to make the assertions of a work ethic in the late 20th century qualitatively different from what was asserted in the 19th century when the classic work ethic was in flower. The sources of 238 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS these changes are (1) the affluent society, (2) long-term sectoral shifts, (3) demographics, ( 4) the welfare state, (5) industrial organi­ zation, and (6) the climate of opinion about work. The classic work ethic was a product of the 19th century condition of almost universal scarcity and deprivation. The work ethic, therefore, gave moral purpose to oppressive and unavoidable hard work. People worked harder because the alternative to not working for most was starving. The "affluent society" and its attendant values-full employment, the welfare state, collective bargaining, entitlements, self-actualization, withdrawal from the labor market-broadened the range of options from a simple work­ or-starve choice to encompass nonwork choices short of starving, like education, earlier retirement, and constructive leisure. The work ethic in the late 20th century has been coping with nonwork options that did not exist in the 19th century. Moreover, the "affluent society" of the late 20th century-or at least the society of affluent expectations-has also upgraded the kinds of needs, as Maslow might have said, which work has had to serve. Subsistence is no longer a sufficient payoff for work. Self­ actualization or a variant is also what workers have been instructed to demand although, at the moment and for some time in the future, job security is taking over as the higher priority. The evolution from agriculture to manufacturing to service-or, put another way, the evolution from self-employment to wage and salary employment-has conditioned the ways work gets performed and, therefore, the way work is perceived. These sectoral shifts in the deployment of the labor force and the related technologies account for much of the radical and involuntary reductions in lifetime, annual, and weekly hours of work, for earlier labor force entry and retirement, and, undoubtedly, for the attenuation of the sheer physical effort in work. Contractions in the agricultural sector particularly have caused much of the decline in self-employment and hours of work, and the loss of individual discretion over the terms of worklife. The demographic influences have to do with (1) the "baby boom" of the post-World War II era which brought about a disproportionately (by historical standards) large youth segment into the labor force, (2) revolutionary expansion in the participation of women in the labor force, (3) increased life expectancy and the aging of the population and the work force, (4) a better educated WHICH WORK ETHIC? 239 work force, (5) internal migrations of blacks and external migration of Hispanics. Young workers, women workers, older workers bring attitudes and calculations to work that mark their respective stages in the life cycle. But changes in the relative mix-more young, more women, and more educated-impart a changed quality to the behavior of the labor force as a whole. Women are now so firmly committed to the world of work that many "employed women would continue their jobs even if they had enough money to live comfortably without working" (USDL 1971). Yet it is not too difficult to see that for women wage earners the "household ethic" competes with the work ethic. Thus, "female heads" are more likely by far to work less in response to the receipt of nonlabor income than are prime-age men (0Lampman, p. 79). The postwar "baby boom" has had mixed effects on the contours of the labor force. The casual attitude of the young toward work was a cause for alarm not too long ago. Now the apparent paradox is that, with mass education a reality, more young males (aged 14-24) are going to school and also working more-part time ( 0Levitan and Johnson, p. 9). The evidence is, on balance, that the availability of social welfare benefits diminishes the incentive to work in some degree. What we cannot say is whether it diminishes work incentive by an amount in any sense commensurate with the size of the benefit. Labor supply response to welfare payment varies with demographic character­ istics, as we have seen. Robert Lampman has "guesstimated":

...the total "loss" of labor time due to the change in the scale of social welfare benefits and of the taxes to pay for them from 8.8 to 19.3 percent of GNP is on the order of 5.8 percent of the 1978 total of labor time. One-half of that loss is allocable to adult women other than heads of families with children. Most of the rest of the loss is identified with the disabled, female heads, and young people .... (The] output thus "lost" is considerably less than 5.8 percent of GNP. (0Lampman, p. 80.)

The retirement provisions of Social Security are probably mainly responsible for the precipitous drop in this generation of the LFPR of older men. The historic shift from farm to urban life provides the broader backdrop for earlier retirement. 240 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Social Security has reduced the span of working life through reductions in the retirement age, through benefit improvements including indexation which has made retirement more attractive compared to working, and through restrictive eligibility provisions for earning extra income while on Social Security which, when combined with income taxes, amounts to an almost confiscatory tax ("'Quinn, pp. 90-93). Social Security purposes have also changed. In its earliest period the object was to get workers to retire earlier to make room for the young. Now the object is to get people to retire later in order to protect Social Security's solvency. Social Security provides the salient reason-not the only reason­ why people retire earlier. Poor health, job strain, and private pensions are other interconnecting influences to make retirement more appealing. There is no attrition in work ethic attitudes among older people. Polls are unanimous in indicating that most older Americans "want to work for the rest of their lives" (World of Work Report 1979, p. 25) . "The rapid decrease in work commitment of those in their 60s by itself implies nothing about the work ethic. Our retirement income systems-and mandatory retirement-drastically change the rules of the game and, at some point (certainly by 65), reduce the rewards to work" ("'Quinn, p. 93). The extent to which workers are likely to withdraw will vary. For example, "the self-employed were more likely to be in the labor force than were wage and salary personnel" ("'Quinn, p. 95). But even the raw fact of increased withdrawals from work after age 60 does not necessarily mean a reduction in life'timeannual work. The reactions, then, of the young, the aging, and prime-age males have to be understood in terms of where they are in their life cycle. "Subjective satisfactions and discontents are anchored in changes in family composition, consumption pressures, job patterns, income flows, and debt loads as they interact and vary over the life cycle" (Wilensky 1981, p. 261}. The reduction in labor inputs in later years has to be understood against the fact that many workers are likely to have worked more in their earlier years. "[T]his may partially explain why hours worked per week, which dropped for men from 60 to 40 over the first decades of this century, have decreased so little since .... [I]ndividuals might choose to plan a large chunk of leisure in their later years" ("'Quinn, p. 94). WHICH WORK ETHIC? 241

The classic work ethic took its roots in a time of simpler industrial organization. "Fundamental to the classic work ethic were conceptions of individual effort, pride in work, and reward for achievement. ... More than anything else, the image of the self­ made man working his way to fortune and respectability from lowly beginnings through tireless effort, discipline, ambition, self-control, and persistence expressed the seductive power of the work ethic" (0Zuboff, p. 158). It was this "image of the independent, self­ employed person" that the work ethic glorified (0Zuboff, p. 161). But self-employment and self-reliance have been colliding with the forces of impersonality thrust up by economic development. The megacorporation and the factory system have increased the scale and complexity of enterprise and brought into the management structure centralization, minute specialization, hierarchy, bureau­ cracy, and a web of rules regulating efficiency and discipline. "What the managers of these new enterprises now needed to induce was obedience and efficiency, not the questioning, stubborn ways of the autonomous crafts person idealized by the old work ethic" (0Zuboff, p. 163). The larger the scale and complexity of industrial organization, the less is the discretion that individual employees are able to exercise over their hours of work and the other terms of employment. By this token, the greater is the recourse to collective means to restore a measure of discretion, if not to individual workers then to their representatives. The price that management pays for the presumptively greater efficiency of scale is the heightened feelings of impersonality and adversarialism that scale invariably brings in its wake, as well as an institutionalization of worker defenses in the form of unions and collective bargaining. In this context the element of hard work, important to the work ethic, becomes a distributive question as to how the economic benefits shall be divided. The total effect is to transmute work from an "ethic" into a transaction and, hence, into a commodity. The increasing remoteness between the specific job and the end­ product and between those who do the work and those who direct it is the reality that underlies a climate of opinion increasingly querulous about the meaning of work. Accordingly, words like alienation, dehumanization, discontent, powerlessness get into the work dis­ course. 242 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Alienation, to use the key word, moved out of its Marxist bailiwick into the popular discussion and even becomes part of the head title of a congressional hearing (U.S. Senate 1972) . Work in America, the HEW Task Force volume, a major catalyst in producing this climate, announced in 1973 that "significant numbers of Ameri­ cans are dissatisfied with the quality of their working lives. Dull, repetitive, seemingly meaningless tasks are causing discontent among workers at all occupational levels" (Work in America 1973, p. xv) . Many of the theoreticians of alienation make the point that the weaker work ethic can be traced to the ways in which the existing organization of work, particularly industrial work, frustrates job satisfaction. Meanwhile a behavioral science of work emerges which researches work's discontents, claims to know what to do about it, and offers its services to do it. But the rank and file does not appear to be all that alienated. According to one survey of surveys, "few people call themselves extremely satisfied with their jobs but still fewer report extreme dissatisfaction. The modal response is on the positive side of neutrality-'pretty satisfied.' The proportion dissatisfied ranges from 20 to 21 percent" (Kahn 1972, p. 169). In fact, it appears almost as if "20 percent of the people will always dislike [work] regardless of how it is organized" (U.S. Senate 1972, p. 139).5 There is little factual support for the thesis that job discontent has worsened over time. "In spite of public speculation to the contrary there is no conclusive evidence of a widespread dramatic decline in job satisfaction. Reanalysis of fifteen national surveys conducted since 1958 indicates that there has not been any significant decrease in overall levels of job satisfaction over the last decade" (Quinn et al. 1974, p. 1). General satisfaction doesn't mean that workers do not have problems on the job. Substantial minorities, from 30 to 40 percent, singled out the time-dragging of work, underutilization of skills, and unpleasant conditions. A somewhat smaller group (about 13 percent) "were disturbed by the substandard product or service provided" (°Clarke, p. 125). The doubts about the meaning of work have been fueled not only by changes in the objective circumstances of work, but by the ferment of ideas and attitudes about work. The work ethic discourse is very much a product of this ferment.

5 For a more pessimistic assessment, see Macarov (1982), ch. 6. WHICH WORK ETHIC? 243

The changes in well-being, sectoral distribution, demographics, welfare, industrial organization, and the climate of opinion about work bring into being changes in work values or, so to speak, newer work ethics, although the classical 19th century work ethic remains as the national ideology of work or the ideal type. These newer work ethics are fostered by the human relations movement, changes in the management environment, trade unionism, and the secondary economy. The new "psychologized" (0Zuboff, p. 166) work ethic, for which Elton Mayo stands as the founding father, reflects manage­ ment's growing awareness of the human essence of the labor commodity and efficiency's need to incorporate it into management technique. This is what "human relations" and its successor doctrines are mainly about. The economics that underlie human relations is a radically changed labor market, most notably in the postwar period up to the late 1970s. The labor market in this era is transformed from the traditional buyer's market to a seller's market and associated with it is a necessary restructuring of incentives which emerges from this changed bargaining relationship. Everywhere in the West, labor becomes the scarce factor and its consequence-wage inflation­ becomes the primary economic problem of the post-World War II era. The change from dominantly manual employment to white­ collar also requires the new order of motivation of the kind represented by human relations. Human relations is used here in a somewhat broader sense than is usual to include doctrines and theories like work reform and work humanization. These are all human relations in effect, if not by conventional definition: They all make management technique more responsive to the human dimension in the labor commodity, given the increased mental content of work, and as a consequence all of the techniques enlarge the area of employee discretion in work. Withal, the bottom line, profit, has still to be the final arbiter of how far management will go with human relations. In a sense, human relations as used here represents a sort of different managerial ethic of how workers ought to be treated. The classic work ethic imposed the burden of working hard on the worker. The new managerial ethic seems to impose the burden on management. It is management which now has to earn the right to a fair day's work from its employees-and it earns it by constructing a 244 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS more humane work situation. This new managerial ethic undertakes to make labor more attractive to the sellers, not only by a more attractive price but by a more attractive work situation. It reflects in part the new bargaining relationships among the participants in the postindustrial labor transaction, union or no union. The key word in the new managerial ethic is participation, as in participative management. The personal involvement that comes with participation, the underlying logic of behavioral science runs, makes for both improved efficiency and more satisfying work, although there is debate on this point. Participation may be individual, as in management by objective and quality circles; it may be representative participation, as in union and/or employee representation in the board room (e.g., Chrysler)-although behavioral science is not all that keen on this latter point. Participation in this context is meant to be positive, harmonious, affirmative, and problem-solving, distinguishable from the conflictual, protective, defensive, and zero-sum posture of collective bargaining, for which it frequently offers itself as an alternative. Enlargement of employee choice, as in job enrichment, job enlargement, job rotation, flexible work schedules, and autonomous work groups, is seen as another path to greater employee involve­ ment. The decentralization principle, as in autonomous workgroups, for example, works on the premise that the most effective and job­ satisfying decision is likely to be made by those who are closest to the problem. The design of work used to be, in the Tayloristic scheme of things, an engineering decision. But the modern view teaches us that greater personal involvement is the essence of the more advanced work design. The work itself is oppressive not only because of fatiguing physical movements, but because of repetitiveness, short time-cycles, uniform pacing, and detailed specification of tasks. All these features "simplify" human discretion out of the work. The theory of "socio-technical systems," identified with Britain's Tavistock Institute, does not focus so much on the precise work motions as it does on the need for accommodation between the technical work system and the worker's human essence. Socio­ technical systems theory emphasizes the discretionary "rather than the prescribed part of work roles," and "the individual as comple- WHICH WORK ETHIC? 245 mentary to the machine rather than an extension of it" (Trist 1981, p. 7). It is the powerlessness of individual workers to work out their own motion patterns that makes the work alienating, not necessarily the work pattern as such. Earlier we talked about the new managerial ethic for employees. Management's internal work ethic for itself has also changed in response to changing circumstances. The world of the owner­ managed firm evolves into the megacorporation, each implying a different social character and a different work ethic (0Maccoby, p. 192).

The craft ethic implies a hoarding-productive character oriented to saving and self-sufficiency, to independence and self-control, and to rewards on earth .... The entrepreneur implies a bold, risk-taking character, with an orientation toward exploiting opportunities and using people. The entrepreneur is most satisfied by the opportunity to build his own business. Some entrepreneurs are satisfied with economic independence; others seek wealth and are motivated by the gambling spirit. The entrepreneur's critique is of a society that strangles free enterprise and individual initiative. He is critical of bureau­ cracy, red tape, and regulation, and of people who choose security ahead of adventure. He dislikes unions which he feels destroy his relationship with employees. The career ethic implies an other-directed, ambitious, marketing character. Such an individual is most satisfied by work which gives him the chance to get ahead, to develop himself in a way which fits the requirements of career, to become a more attractive package, worth more in the market. In an organization, the entrepreneur demands complete loyalty from his helpers, and, in return, rewards and protects them, turning against them only if they are disloyal. The careerist expects fair play in his assigned role, and wants to know the rules of the game, what is expected of him, and what he will receive in return. His critique is of a system which blocks him, which leaves him "stuck" in dead-end jobs, powerless to move ahead and develop himself. The career ethic challenges both unionism and paternalism with their emphasis on seniority and loyalty because moving ahead to the careerist is based on winning a game with fair rules. (0Maccoby, pp. 192-93) 246 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

A new "self-development" ethic is in the making. Most managers combine aspects of the career and entrepreneurial ethics. Workers have not disputed the work ethic in principle. They believe in hard work and craftsmanship, but they insist on being properly paid for it. Nor do they believe in working so hard as to work themselves out of jobs. To temper the work ethic with equity, workers invariably find it necessary to organize for it, not only through a union but informally on the shop- or office-floor. As Mathewson's seminal investigation of unorganized workers in the late 1920s found out: "Restriction is a widespread institution, deeply intrenched in the working habits of American laboring ...people. The practices of most manufacturing managements have not as yet brought the worker to feel that he can freely give his best efforts without incurring penalties in place of rewards ...." (Mathewson 1969, pp. 146-47). As a trade unionist, Tyler believes "there are at least two work ethics: that of the overseer and that of the overseen" (0Tyler, p. 197). It's not that workers are opposed to the work ethic in any literal sense. "But work per se as an ethical imperative gets little, if any, attention because to union people work is such a necessity that it is almostunnecessary to constructa system of values,with theologicovertones, to 'justify' labor" (0Tyler, pp. 197-98). If American unionists have an ethic, it is probably best "summed up in the old slogan: a fair day's pay for a fair day's work" (0Tyler, p. 198).

First, man does not live to work; he works in order to live. Communities are composed to protect and promote man's needs and work is an important and necessary way to do so, but only a means toward an end. Second, since it is man-not work-that is to be served, man should try to produce as much with his labor as possible and should find ways to lighten his burden. To do so, man learns a skill; he also invents wheels, pulleys, and other "tools" to ease his toil. Third, as leisure becomes possible, man-including the working man-should use that newly found time to develop his mind and to participate more fully in a democratic society. Finally, if this ethic is denied-if man is subordinated to toil, if the idle grow rich at the expense of those who labor, WHICH WORK ETHIC? 247

if leisure is denied the people-then a society will be plagued by crisis and crime. Ergo, an ethic that sees work serving man, that ap­ portions the community's income justly, that gives humans the time to grow as individuals and as citizens, will serve the purposes of both equity and efficiency and establish "a just balance of power, both mental, moral, political and scientific, between all the various classes and individuals which constitute society at large." (0Tyler, p. 204.)

Trade unionism is one type of counter-work ethic, as it were. There are others. There is what might be called the nonmarket work ethic displayed in leisure, volunteerism, and household activity. These types complement rather than compete with the mainline market sector. The other counter-work ethic I call "irregular," but it has also been variously characterized as dual, segmented, frag­ mented, underground, subterranean, informal, and secondary. Those who are involved in these irregular activities are sometimes referred to as an underclass. The irregular labor market (if these are markets) is marked by-as some have said-"a retreat or disengagement from con­ ventional market work" (°Ferman, p. 212) and "low paying jobs with poor working conditions and little chance for advancement" (0Levitan and Johnson, p. 12). This market is "a residual labor market of last resort ...for lack of any other means of earning a livelihood."6 It is populated by a "group of people concentrated ... in principal cities who live at the margin of society" composed of "hostile street criminals," "hustlers," and the "traumatized," including the "homeless' (Auletta 1981). The participants in the irregular market engage in:

bartering-the trading of goods in informal settings (for example, a flea market). "off-the-books" employment-work activity from the sim­ ple to the complex that involves workers who do not report the work or pay income taxes on earnings from customers or employers. deviant work activities-work activity ranging from organ­ ized crime with traffic in stolen and/ or illegal goods and

6 Harold Lubell, quoted in Kannapan (1977), p. 37. 248 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

services to "hustling" (a sophisticated form of confidence game). social exchange of services-the brokering and trafficking of services within social networks of relatives, friends, neighbors, and/or acquaintances. (°Ferman, p. 211). Both the socially acceptable, legitimate sphere (home, volunteer­ ism, leisure) and the irregular sphere have in common relative freedom from the constraints and coercions of conventional labor market work: discipline, supervision, pace, punctuality, and taxation. Leisure and its attendant activities-"shopping, grooming, chores, transportation, voting, making love, helping children with home­ work, reading the newspaper, getting the roof repaired, trying to locate the doctor, going to church, visiting relatives" (de Grazia 1962, p. 39), to say nothing of jogging, gardening, bicycling, athletics-don't exactly represent unencumbered time in any literal sense. Leisure, the "moral equivalent of work," someone has said (Argyle 1972, p. 252), is nonetheless different from mainline work because the pace, discipline, and standards of performance are subject to the individual's own will. We recognize, of course, that in such leisure activities as tennis, golf, bowling, fishing, and camping the rigor and investment dictated by social pressures come close to the coercive discipline of market work. But even if leisure isn't precisely freedom, it still permits a large measure of discretion to play or not to play, which distinguishes leisure from market work; it may even provide the physical hard work that many miss in their market work and turn to leisure to experience. This is why, perhaps, many people voluntarily and even cheerfully engage in nonmarket dishwashing, ditchdigging, baby-sitting, and tending the sick that would be unthinkable in a market context. In general, then, play and work are distinguished not by their content, but by their context. "Mountaineering may be a very arduous activity but it is play for the tourist and work for the guide" (Neff 1977, p. 115). Declining labor force participation rates in the period 1960--1980 for those age 55 or older characterize all industrial countries. Japan also has experienced a declining LFPR after age 55, but much less than the West (U.S., 18.3 percent, Japan, 41 percent). One explana­ tion-the Japanese terms of retirement are far less favorable than those of any major industrial society. The higher participation rate among the elderly in Japan is clearly due to economic circumstances. WHICH WORK ETHIC? 249

Where "in earlier time the family might have taken care of the elderly ...now it is increasingly necessary even for the aged men to earn the livelihood of themselves and their spouses" (°Clarke, pp. 134-35). Japan represents an interesting variant on other counts. The workers in Japan, of all the industrial countries, are the least satisfied with their work-a little over 50 percent compared with about 80 percent for the other industrial workers. Work discontent, in this case, need not affect how hard people work (°Clarke, p. 124). The Japanese may be more negative about work because they "accord ...their work a higher place in their lives than other workers and therefore" demand more of it (°Clarke, p. 124). The Japanese have the lowest rate of absenteeism (1.95 percent), followed by the United States (3.5 percent) (°Clarke, pp. 132-33).

IV. The worker is not an autonomous agent in the labor market. The decision to work or not to work is not made in isolation and the work ethic is not simply an act of will. We don't know enough yet to put numbers on what part of the decision to work is coercion and constraint and what part is discretion. We can, however, venture informed qualitative judgments. The evidence, in broad strokes, is that, up to a point, most people prefer working over not working even if it costs them something or even if they have to give up something in order to work. I call this a work ethic increment to suggest that just to be working counts for something. But the work ethic is not all that matters for the worker. It is not an absolute value except as an ideology or in survey questions. Price, power, working conditions make up the total fabric of motivation in work, with some value, to be sure, attached just to be working, particularly in times when work opportunity is under threat. The value of the work ethic increment to the individual can be reduced to near zero if other compensatory values are high enough. The workers in the Goldthorpe group investigation chose "to abandon employments which could offer them some greater degree of intrinsic reward in favor of work which enables them to achieve a higher level of economic return" (Goldthorpe 1969, p. 33). At various times in their lives workers prefer education, recreation, retirement, health care, child care-all categories of leisure or nonmarket work-or society declares as a matter of public policy 250 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS that these activities should be preferred. Sheer indolence, laziness, or sloth is hardly ever preferred even in the irregular markets which, whatever else they involve, involve hard work. The decision to work as a process of economic calculation starts with: ...the options open to an individual-the combinations of income and leisure that the market offers. This menu, or budget constraint, depends on the income sources available if one chooses not to work (retirement income, welfare payments, income from assets, etc.), and the wages one can earn in the labor market (net of taxes and reduced retire­ ment and welfare benefits, of course). How does one choose from this menu? Indifference curves describe combinations of income and leisure between which one is indifferent. Higher curves (more income, more leisure, or more of both) describe higher levels of well-being. One chooses the point on the menu which reaches the highest indifference curve. But where is the work ethic-beliefs and values-in all of this? It's in the shape of the indifference curve. Each individual has his or her own mapping. Workaholics have flat indifference curves (with income on the vertical axis) because they require very little income to compensate them adequately for large losses of leisure. Their marginal utility of leisure is low relative to that of income. Others have steep indifference curves. They are made worse off unless large increments in income accompany losses of precious leisure. Theoretically, indifference curves could slope upward. If work is truly a good, one's well-being may be unaffected by a combination of more work (less leisure) and less income. (0Quinn, pp. �-)

Again, the bit:; and pieces of empirical evidence, such as they are, come from what people say, how they behave, and from anecdotes. Based on what people say, the work ethic as belief is alive and well. Survey respondents say by large-but, by the way, declining-majorities that they would continue working even if they didn't need to (Katzell l979, p. 39). By this measure, women are less committed to work as an institution, but by progressively smaller numbers. The picture is, of course, not so clear or firm when we look at WHICH WORK ETHIC? 251 labor market behavior. The incremental or marginal importance of work for its own sake is indicated in evidence like the follow­ ing: 1. There "is a slow but growing tendency for workers to forgo further income gains in preference for greater amounts of paid leisure .... [But] in some sense it is surprising that leisure has not made greater inroads into the world of work" (0Levitan and Johnson, pp. 13-14). If workers wanted to live at the standards of a generation earlier, they could have had a three-day week or a 20- week vacation. Only 10 percent of potential pay raises have been translated into leisure. "The taste for fewer hours of work ... [is] weaker than the taste for additional goods and services" (0Hedges, p. 56). 2. Even though sick leave and other forms of paid leave have grown rapidly between 1968 and 1980, absence due to illness or injury has "fluctuated narrowly": between 2.3 and 2.5 percent for part-week absences and between 1.5 and 1.7 percent for full-week absences (0Hedges, p. 44). 3. Older workers will work more if they have better choices of hours. Self-employed older workers are more likely to be in the labor force than wage and salary earners, with the difference increasing with age, the reason being a better choice of hours to be worked for the self-employed (0Quinn, p. 95). 4. Welfare benefits have caused a slight relative decline in market labor supply, from what it would have otherwise been, with the least decline among men and successively larger declines among women and among the unmarried young. The greatest decline has been among the aged (0Lampman, pp. 72-74). The consensus is that the supply of labor for men is inelastic in response to tax increases and wage rate changes. 5. The working poor, according to a recent investigation, cut off from welfare by new federal regulations "were trying to hold onto jobs or increase their earnings" instead of returning to the welfare rolls as anticipated. " 'In purely economic terms [according to a state public welfare official] it did not make sense for some of the people to continue working. . . . But the people who were working want to work. They are not making decisions solely on the basis of what benefits them' " (Pear 1982, p. 1).7

7 But see also Pear (1983) . 252 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Then there is anecdotal evidence (no scholarly credentials) on the work ethic increment which nonetheless contributes something by showing ordinary people thinking and behaving in terms of work ethic increments. The individual stories culled from clips accumu­ lated in my "work ethic" file feed both sides of the work ethic argument: There are those who couldn't care less about work and who, nonetheless, seem to be able to lead acceptable lives. There are also many others who are willing to forgo economic advantage in the interest of living up to their conception of a work ethic. My "no-work ethic" people are mostly (but not all) young, have other means for support short of starving, and have been, for the most part, only marginally attached to the active labor force.8 1. Laid-off 45-year-old executive turns "househusband" and lets himself be supported by wife's earnings as a psychotherapist ("The great male cop-out" 1977, p. 156). 2. To one of "the street people" a job is money and nothing else, and if the money isn't good enough there's no point in working­ powerless to convince employers that he's willing to work (Sease 1977). 3. A 32-year-old hasn't been working for at least four years. He lives on periodic part-time jobs, small gifts from his parents, and GI educational benefits (Lindsey 1975). The strong work ethic people in this collection are at both extremes of the job ladder. At the top are professionals or near­ professionals who find themselves in conditions of worklife crisis and resolve it by making a pro-work choice to their "psychic" but not necessarily to their economic advantage. At lower rungs of the job ladder are people who do what most would think of as menial work, but they enjoy the work and are proud of what they do. 1. Harvard Law School graduate earning $35,000 at "prestigious" law firm feels like a "drone" drafting dreary corporate documents for senior partner (Sorenson 1982, Sec. 2, p. 29) . 2. Sixty-year-old woman teacher quits her high school job, calling it an exercise in futility (Bednarek 1979, pp. 1, 12). 3. Forty-year-old Washington government official retires to become a small-town craftsman "welding bits of metal into funny animals. I love the process of working with my hands" (Newman 1973).

8 See, for example, Bernstein (1975), pp. 116 ff. WHICH WORK ETHIC? 253

4. U.S. government official intends to work until 70. "That's vital, to be outside the home working ...If one stays active one doesn't become a psychological or financial burden on one's family or society" (Meyer 1981, pp. A-1, 14). 5. $44,000-a-year federal civil servant resigns because he had absolutely nothing to do week after week, month after month (Kurtz 1983, p. 1). 6. A foreclosed farmer resists retraining. ''I'm a farmer ... farmers farm. They don't sell insurance or shoes" (Birnbaum 1983, p. 27). 7. A pro football player suing his club for free-agent status says: "Salary wasn't the most important thing. . .. It was pride. They couldn't pay me enough for sitting on the bench" ("Mackey" 1975) . 8. Opera basso protests being called an employee in his Metro­ politan Opera identity card. ''I'm not employed: I'm engaged" (Rubin 1971). 9. California orange-picker enjoys his very hard work, but "enjoys working at his own speed" in preference to job at Disneyland which he could probably get, but with "someone ...always looking over his shoulder" (Goolrick 1981, p. 1). 10. Former welfare recipient approves of workfare "because he doesn't like people living off handouts and doesn't want anyone to believe that he lives that way" (Levin 1982, p. 1). 11. New York sanitation worker for 20 years thinks his job is "interesting ....We don't just pick up garbage, we're like engineers, we have to know how to handle all kinds of equipment" (Nemy 1975, p. 8). 12. To my own knowledge, pensioners engage in paid work at a net sacrifice: that is, a gain in wages is exceeded by loss in benefits. The point is this: While the supply of work offered is not impervious to increases in taxes, reduction in wage rates, or increases in welfare payments, the reduction in the work input in response to such disincentives is something less than proportionate to the magnitude of the disincentive. It may be argued, therefore, that work is valued for something more than the price that is received for it. It is this something more which we conceptualize as a kind of residual work ethic premium. Put another way, workers are willing to sacrifice some net economic advantage to preserve the value of work for its own sake. The question still remains: What is there about work for its own 254 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS sake that justifies its incremental worth to the worker? What is the essence of the human condition, as a host of philosophers-including Locke, Marx, Freud, Camus, Fromm-have instructed us over the centuries? There is at the very least the basic human need to keep occupied and to be with other people. Work, additionally, confers a sense of accomplishment, status in the outside community, and self­ esteem within the family (Katzell 1979, p. 37). In a strong, but I think highly individual, dissent from this pro­ work position, David Macarov is not convinced that work is as important to the good society as it has been made out to be, particularly in these days of automation and robotics. He is highly critical of the link between work and welfare. Work has a historic necessity which has been sanctified into a positive value. "It has begun to outlive its usefulness." The context in which Macarov sets his antiwork society of the future is utopian; that is, no attempt is made to trace its eventual development from existing conditions, nor are the larger terms of the utopian model specified, like where the productive resources would come from (Macarov 1980, p. 18). The condition of unemployment is proof of the despair and loss of status and self-esteem that lack of work gives rise to. "The man who cannot find a job, or the man who finds one but cannot support himself and his family, is being told in clear and simple language, and loud enough for his wife and children and friends to hear and neighbors and everyone else to hear, that he is not needed, that there is no place for him" (Liebow n.d., p. 131). People who work for money experience a dialectic tension in market work. On the one hand there is a considerable element of deprivation in work, "or coercion inherent in the institution of industrial employment" (Baldamus 1961, p. 68). "No man easily yields to another full control over the amount of effort he must daily exert" (Hughes 1958, pp. 47-48). The fact is that "man had to be driven to work by economic necessity" (Riesman 1961, p. 308). This is what economists mean by "disutility." Wages are supposed to buy out disutility, but by some quirk there appears to be no firm relationship between the degree of disutility and the size of the economic reward. It is possible that it isn't the work itself that inflicts disutility so much as the context of work. Witness the fact, we have observed earlier, that most of us will undertake menial work in our leisure, housekeeping and volunteer time that we would recoil from if we were paid for it. The disutility, or the coercive WHICH WORK ETHIC? 255 element in work, probably consists of the subordination to externally imposed direction that market work invariably requires in the pursuit of economic efficiency. The other side of the dialectic is work's indispensability in maintaining an acceptable human condition. Market work is impor­ tant for many people who don't need the money that much except for the legitimacy and status which market work confers in Western cultures. Market work imparts worth to an activity because it testifies that somebody is willing to pay for it. It is the intrinsic value of work as an institution-not so much of any particular job-that represents the enduring core of truth in the classic work ethic. There is a kind of involvement and therapy in hard and demanding work that is good for the soul, if all other things are right. If people don't find hard work in their market work, they look for it outside the market. This is what survey respondents may be looking for when they lament the passing of the traditional work ethic. Accordingly, it may be worth identifying several problem areas that stand in the way of fuller realization of a work ethic in our times. For those who live by it, the work ethic is not an abstract virtue that people pursue regardless of cost. Even though, as defined, it is not in itself an economic value, it is part of a system or logic of exchange and quid pro quo. "Norms like the work ethic are very fragile and if society doesn't reenforce them they'll shatter."9 The credibility of the work ethic is threatened, for example, when committed practitioners experience a sense of "betrayal ...a feeling that they've 'done everything right-combed their hair as boys, studied, worked hard' " and the reward that the system promised them has been denied them (Saunders 1983, pp. 8-9F). This feeling of abandonment is particularly marked at this time of high unemployment. The wave of firings in the ranks of middle managers "who have played faithfully by the old rules" has caused them "to feel betrayed," Business Week reports. At UPI, the scene of a recent "middle-management bloodbath, ...[y ]o u had to shoot the president to get fired.. ..Now all the new management cares about is performance. The fact that you've given your life to the company doesn't really matter" ("As the rules" 1983, p. 60) . The perception of the "system" as inequitable is also indicated if other "players" achieve rewards without adhering to the rules of the

9 John Immerwehr, quoted in Goodman (1982), p. A23. 256 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

game. On this ground, working people feel more strongly than others about "welfare cheats." The report of a conservative think­ tank argues that the unanticipated result of the Great Society was the removal of "pride-based distinction between the working poor and the shiftless, since both were on the dole. And it served to undercut the incentives for taking low paying work" (Raspberry 1982, p. A15). The presence of large-scale unemployment acts to undermine the credibility of the system of which the work ethic is a part. The immediate threat is not a weak work ethic, but an economic order which is unable to function without high inflation except at high rates of unemployment. A work ethic makes sense only if there is work. "It's hard to get people to be productive when all they see around them is layoffs. They figure the more we produce the less they'll need us."10 The pervasiveness of featherbedding in the sense of pay for work that is not to be performed, or if performed is patently useless, is commonly associated with union workrules to preserve jobs. But this "conscientious withdrawal of efficiency" shows up not only in workrules to preserve jobs, but also is reflected in a desire simply to work less. "The economy appears featherbedded with jobs which could not be supported by a less wealthy society" (0Levitan and Johnson, p. 18). Whatever the aggregate numbers say about welfare, there are aspects of the welfare system that militate against a constructive work ethic. "Some states pay more for not working than [for working]. The problem is that we have a wage structure in which vast numbers of Americans still continue to get very low wages .... What you really need is greater emphasis on helping the working poor rather than on welfare as such" (Levitan 1977, p. 31). The welfare system imposes what, in effect; comes close to a confiscatory tax on the poor when benefits are reduced "as the income of beneficiaries rises. . . . This is equivalent to imposing regressive tax rates" (Garfinkel 1974, pp. 65--66 ff.; see also 0Lamp­ man, pp. 68 ff.). From a more conservative and somewhat contrary view, welfare grants to the working poor "subsidize behaviors at the beginning of the job ladder which are going to prevent you from ever getting any further." By way of contrast, new immigrants-

10 Robert Schrank, quoted in Goodman (1982), p. A23. WHICH WORK ETHIC? 257 including illegal immigrants-"take dreadful jobs because they aren't eligible for public assistance."1 1 The welfare system discourages work ethic values as in the youth work programs which "assumed that since these youngsters were from disadvantaged homes they should simply be given pocket money without being asked to do any work. That created irresponsi­ ble habits and disrespect on the part of these youngsters for these programs ....Youngsters must be made to feel that if they are going to be paid they will have to work" (Levitan 1977, p. 32). Self-employment seems to enhance work prospects, particularly for older people. "At older ages (58 through 63) the self-employed were more likely to be in the labor force than were wage and salary personnel ...[and] the differential increases with age" ('"Quinn, p. 95) . It is the greater flexibility of working hours under self-employ- ment which makes for a stronger pro-work ethic influence. Overeducation discourages work commitment. The elevation of educational standards of the population has not been matched by a commensurate upgrading of job content. "Extra certificates and diplomas may produce little more for modern workers than higher goals and more frequent disappointments" which are expressed in "deteriorating mental and physical health, falling productivity, and rising frequency of disruptive behavior among workers" ('"Levitan and Johnson, pp. 19--23 passim). In another view, it has been suggested somewhere that overeducation is a rational competitive response to mass higher education. There are strong feelings in many quarters that the liberal rhetoric on work, more than the work itself, may demean work. Work in America, the HEW Task Force report which did so much to popularize work as a public issue, refers to "many workers at all occupational levels feel[ing] locked in, their mobility blocked, the opportunity to grow lacking in their jobs, challenge missing from their tasks" (Work in America 1973, p. xvi). Leonard Woodcock, then president of the UAW, called Work in America "an elitist document ...grounded on the sort of notion that these [workers] are subhuman ....Anybod y who does work, even if it is dull and monotonous, is doing useful work. There is a matter of pride in this."12 From full cry in the middle seventies, the work reform tide has

11 Charles A. Murray, cited in Raspberry (1982), p. Al3. 12 Leonard Woodcock, quoted in Fialka (1973) . 258 THE WORK ETHIC-A CRITICAL ANALYSIS

receded in the recession eighties. Work reform was promoted like an ideology, with a total remedy for job alienation and the de­ humanization of work. "The redesign of work, as this report spells out in detail, can lower such business costs as absenteeism, tardiness, turnover, labor disputes, sabotage and poor quality" (Work in America 1973, p. 27). Life could be imitating art. Some of the erosion of the work ethic may have grown out of a climate of opinion that puts down work. The work ethic (as we have been saying) is a measured commit­ ment to hard work for its own sake over and above the need to work for money. The commitment becomes more difficult to realize as (l) an affluent society raises work expectations, (2) employment in the service sector outruns employment in production, (3) populations with "weaker" work ethic commitments become proportionately more numerous, (4) a welfare state increases nonwork options, (5) the distances between ordergivers and ordertakers and between job and end-product widen, and (5) public attitudes denigrate "menial work." These tendencies do not seem to have produced outcomes that are, by their nature, less worthy than the work ethic, if the work ethic is viewed as relative to other values, which manifestly it is. To list them at this point: More leisure lessened toil; higher expectations and a dignified old age are not, on their face, inferior to the work ethic as human ends. At the moment, as it happens, the central labor problem is not a diminished, but an unrequited work ethic for millions of unemployed. Withal, there is a hard core of work ethic sentiment in the worker's "utility" structure which he/she is willing to pay something for, to conserve. How much to pay is a function of (1) how much discretion workers have over their work circumstances so that they are able to choose between working or not working, (2) nonwork options which they are exposed to, and (3) deliberate money buy­ outs of work ethic sentiments. The classic work ethic contains elements of both myth and reality. The work ethic is myth in the Sorelian sense that the truth of the myth is unimportant as long as it furthers the end in view: "The myth must be judged as a means of acting on the present; any attempt to discuss how far it can be taken as future history is devoid of sense" (Sorel 1961, pp. 126-27). WHICH WORK ETHIC? 259

The essential reality in the work ethic is its recognition that a constructive adjustment to work is a necessary-even if not suffi­ cient-condition of personal, social, and economic well-being. The work ethic may, therefore, be regarded as a "good" or benign myth and its precepts-commitment, workmanship, discipline-worth cultivating as a means to the good life. The evidence, such as it is, suggests that work ethic precepts are best cultivated, not by preaching moralisms and ideology, but by structuring the employment bargain so as to create a reciprocity between the work ethic's precepts on the one side, and humane management and "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work" on the other. This is not to say that a smidgen of ideology is not helpful at the margin in imparting a moral cutting edge to the work ethic. But, in the main, unless the work ethic is credibly associated with valued outcomes, a work ethic morality and ideology may be counterproductive and generate cynicism or even a sense of be­ trayal. In our kind of "value system," the work ethic has to "pay off," and not necessarily in monetary terms alone, or it has little standing.

References

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