Anxious with Reason

On October 14, 2008, the New
America Foundation’s Next Social Contract Initiative and
Workforce and Family Program hosted “Anxious with Reason: The Future of the
American Worker.” The participating
panelists offered compelling anecdotal and statistical evidence that American
workers feel fundamentally insecure about a broad range of job-related
issues. The event featured David Kusnet,
a Visiting Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute; Dr. Cliff Zukin, Senior
Faculty Fellow of the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers
University; and Dr. Carl Van Horn, Director of the Heldrich Center.

Kusnet, former chief speechwriter for President Bill
Clinton, opened the panel with a discussion of his book, Love the Work, Hate
the Job: Why America’s Best Workers Are Unhappier Than Ever. The book depicts the struggles of high-skill,
high-income workers at four large Seattle firms:
Boeing, Kaiser Aluminum, Microsoft, and Northwest Hospital. At the turn of the millennium–“the day
before yesterday,” as Kusnet termed it–Seattle’s
corporations were crown jewels of a booming American economy. Nevertheless, workers at all four firms came
into conflict with their employers over job quality and corporate strategy. The individual circumstances differed, but the
author draws the common conclusion that Americans enjoy and take pride in the content
of their work, but are unhappy with the conditions of their work. Kusnet believes his case studies illustrate
the slow-motion breakdown of two longstanding social contracts: the bargain of loyalty
for security, and the guarantee of returns on employee zeal.

Drs. Zukin and Van Horn shared their latest research in the Heldrich Center’s “Worktrends” series. In May, they conducted a 1000-person national
survey of Americans’ attitudes about work, employers, and government. Zukin showed that, although 91% of respondents
reported job satisfaction, only 53% were “very satisfied.” Moreover, enthusiasm dwindled when workers
were asked about specific issues such as working hours, job training, health
benefits, and retirement.

Van Horn demonstrated changing patterns of public opinion
about the appropriate response to workforce anxiety. Compared to the 2001 recession, far more
workers now believe that employers and government should be responsible for
helping individuals weather economic downturn.
The changing attitudes reflect the labor market paradigms of the 21st
century, both scholars believe, as must the appropriate public policy solution.

New America’s
David Gray moderated the Q&A
session that followed, which touched on organized labor, gender, higher
education, and the presidential campaign.

Event summary written by Daniel Mandel, Research Associate, Next Social Contract Program

Participants
Featured Speakers

• Cliff Zukin, Ph.D.
  Senior Faculty Fellow, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development
  Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Rutgers University

• Carl E. Van Horn, Ph.D.
  Director, Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University

• David Kusnet
  Visiting Fellow, Economic Policy Institute
  Former Chief Speechwriter for President Bill Clinton
  Author, Love the Work, Hate the Job: Why America’s best Workers Are Unhappier Than Ever (Wiley, 2008)

Moderator

• David Gray
  Director, Workforce and Family Program, New America Foundation