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Job commitment in America:
is it waxing or waning
Janice Neipert Hedges
The degree of commitment Americans have to the work ethic continues to preoccupy both scholars and politicians. But, their discussions often are based on philosophical reflection and anecdotal evidence rather than data.
This article examines some of the "indicators" that have been used to assess job commitment; statistical series on absence from work, quits, and working part time by choice—phenomena generally associated with weak commitment—and multiple job-holding and overtime—often associated with strong commitment. In addition, comprehensive measures of worktime (scheduled, actual and preferred) and other possible indicators of job commitment are examined. Finally, the commitment of three worker groups—men of prime working age, women, and youth is discussed.
This excerpt is from an article published in the July 1983 issue of the Monthly Labor Review. The full text of the article is available in Adobe Acrobat's Portable Document Format (PDF). See How to view a PDF file for more information.
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