Demanding Work booklet
Since the early 1980s a vast number of jobs have been created in the affluent economies of the industrialized world Many workers are doing skilled and fulfilling jobs and getting paid for their trouble Yet it is often alleged that the quality of work life has deteriorated with a substantial and rising proportion of jobs providing low wages and little security or requiring unusually hard and stressful effort In this unique and authoritative formal account of changing job quality economist Francis Green highlights contrasting trends using quantitative indicators drawn from public opinion surveys and administrative data In most affluent countries average pay levels have risen along with economic growth a major exception being the United States Skill requirements have increased potentially meaning a fulfilling time at work Set against these beneficial trends however are increases in inequality a strong intensification of work effort diminished job satisfaction and less employee influence over daily work tasks Using an interdisciplinary approach Demanding Work shows how aspects of job quality are related and how changes in the quality of work life stem from technological change and transformations in the politico economic environment The book concludes by discussing what individuals firms unions and governments can do to counter declining job quality Demanding Work The Paradox of Job Quality in the Affluent Economy.