C--l,cctclcr 14, 1976
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cfHce go tcpcf ths Staart Kij. for over 50 yesrs.
I love my wcii ts ssid,
"Ezra? Fill as! "Doc" arc a few exss:p!cs of tLs dsdi
crtid Amcricsa worker. Tfcsy a3 prsctia a szzzlzz ccrs
slf-cstnni is a pretty enportot tl:2 to fccj!?,'
Lsruflsrrr ttllsrrs. Te trxc a cssts systsm Lsrs ia An
enca.T7e ask a pwsca TTfco ars yoa? and tlhsa Tt do
yea dor and wfasn ty td! yea, and miyfcc wlisrs tfejy ,
Lts ia toun, yea itsrt putties &sci ia a ds."
Rrids ia work is stO czrtast, especizHy to soneozs
IUls a carpsstsr. -
"Ia tla carpenter's trads yoa do te pxils bsciuss
yoa can stand back after yca're done and say 'I worked
on that bulling. . said a spokesrnaa for the Carpenters
Uniosi (Local 1055). For these who work with hanrner
and nails, the creed & A day's work for a day's pay.
Take pride ia year work. - ;
solatica. It's a doHSothing, accept it" krad of policy. .
"Carter I'm not sure of he basal said what he will try,
specifically. He will try something to get us going again,
but I'm not sure evea he knows just what that will be. He
is ia a position with more to pin and less to lose with
promises.'
Although fortune telling is difficult these days, the pro
spective job seeker should seek out iafonaatioa in ad- .
vance. The Oecup&tktnsl Oidbok Essdhook, 19T '6-77
edition, published by the US. Department of Labor
Bureau of Labor Statistics, is in most libraries and the
UNL Placement Office. You can send for a copy for $7
from the US. Government Printing Office, Washington,
D.C. 20402. It summarizes over 800 occupations and lists
working conditions, earnings and future job prospects.
It also points out some general trends.
The largest single field that will show expansion is
health services, including doctors, dentists, nurses, medical
technicians, paramedics, veterinarians, and health care
administrators ia rural and urban areas, according to the
handbook. Other fields, such as law, journalism, and
teaching will remain overcrowded. Increases in federal
government jobs are expected to continue. Approximately
one out of every six citizens now works for the govern
ment. J v - ' - -
According to Jean Keenan, a worker in the Nebraska '
Department of Labor, we can expect steady upward
ecortcKUM, growth for the state through 19ST
"We are becoming a heavily service-oriented V
economy she said. She expects agriculture to be more or
less stable, with a slight downward employment trend.
The loss of employment is due to the increasing influence
of agribusiness. About one o seven people in Nebraska
work in agriculture.
Frank H&QgRn. UNL placement director, said it is
extremely dif ficult to make valid projections about future
job markets. . . "V .s
"People go to college for a variety of reasons, but some
get enmeshed ia the idea that college leads to a job. There
are many fields where personal qualities are more feport- ,
ant than an acsssrosc (hssli
Te have developed aa elitist attitude about higher
education, and the Explication has been that college leads
to success. Eat ia the future, people may not be shh to
do what they want to do they wO have to negotiate
through a constantly changing society,' he said.
Li the future we may see people doing things they Eke
to do, rather than what pays the most money. Y7 e may see
responsible, quafkd, dedicated persons in positions
where they actually can da some good, rather than be
come buried under a heap of hfcMevel bureaucratic ,
garbage. And perhaps most importantly, we may see peo
ple trying for quality of life, rather than the rat race for
quantity of life prevalent ia American society for so
Ion;
Other blue cellar work requires a similar stUtods.
"You have to like it to be an iron worker, said a
spokesman for the Iroa Vorkers (Local 2l
To enjoy one's work is a modern-day must and typi
fies the emergent American work ethic, said Keith
Prichard, UNL history and philosophy of education
professor. This compares to working long hours, doing
rigorous labor and seeking success marks of the tradition
al American work ethic, Prichard said.
"New twisty .
The traditional worker strives for power, also, by work
ing up the corporate ladder. He is after wealth and looks
to the future.
"A society of this type produces a high gross national
product, Prichard said.
Vorking fewer hours, enjoying the work, and seeling
happiness are the emergent worker's dreams, he said. That
worker is sociable and a pleasureseeker. Ik looks to the
;, present.' ' .;'
This society "is con-competitive. It stresses entertain
ment and recreatica, Prichard said.
Rader said the Arnerican work ethic is a mixture of
values. The varying traits of the ethic are products
of a history of social change and a fluctuating economy.
"Making money ra the 2Gth century is a means of ob
taining power and influence,' Rader said. "The money .
proditcestl2ecl2ss,tlie power and the status.
"Americans traditiondly have been hard-working be
cause of the great economic opportunity to be ex
ploited and the Protestant work ethic.
Seventeenth and 18th century Puritans believed they
were commanded by God and obliged to work hard at
their calling. They worked hard for God's glory. Yet they
knew that wealth did not get yoa to heaven.
Later Americans considered accumulation of wealth aa
end in itself. We w21 make money for ourselves, they
thought.
Individual opportunity was valued more than commun
ity welfare. People soon were obsessed with work. The
work ethic helped undermme family and community.
The mass production and consumption of the 1920s
made society consumer-oriented and led to producing
quantity, rather than quality, goods.
The 1960s counter culture "was trying to reshape the
work ethic, denying that happiness could be found in con
sumer products," Rader said. The hippies taught, "Do
only what yea enjoy.
Today the labor unions, the trendsetters for how much
a person produces, have slowed down. Vorkers don't pro
duce as much, although they still put ia the time.
. . Loyalty thrives '".
"Ve like to work real hard," said a spokesman for the
iroa workers union. "The way prices are, we have to work
every day to meet costs.
And ia construction, "You get paid only for when you
work. It tends to make people go to work even when they
don't feel the best."
Sometimes pay is not enough satisfaction. Boredom
and dock-watching in the factory in some cases are being
replaced by job satisfaction and better production. For
v example, Volvo automobiles is changing its old assembly
line system of production, Rader said.
"A group of men produce a car from beginning to end
(instead of repeatedly making one part.) The worker is
happier because he can see what he is doing (the finished
productV -..;
Pure worker loyalty has not bid America adieu.
"There are a lot of people that still carry the work
ethic There are people that firmly believe that if a person
is good enough to give you a job you should stay with it .
as long as it's there. That's why we have the workfcg poor
They're working under their ability but. . .they are faith
ful workers. . .they are working full time and stay there
because the work ethic says 'yoa can't make that
' 'charLandkarnersaM.
Change does not seem to frightea the newcomer to the
jcb market, who bftea goes from job to job seeking mean
ing in work. Today's recent graduate is also wiSkig to sac
rifice money for a meanifdl job, even though the raar-
ket may be grim, Rader said.
Randy Gordon, 24, a ?,!ay, 1975 news-editorial grad
uate ia journalism, one of the most crowded fklda, works
for the Department of Agricultural Communicaticcs on
East Campus. As editorial assistant, Gordon travels
throughout Nebraska collecting agricultural news.
- He earns S 1 1 ,GCQ a year. He hopes to become a politi
cal columnist for the Omaha VorU-IIeraU and wants to
enter the VS. Senate by 1935.
I would take a pay drop to get something I may want
more," Cordon said.
However, he. added: "My job fascinates me. There are
more new things happening ia agriculture. . .basic con
sumerism which wEl affect the way we live.
Gordon's personal work ethic: "I have pride in what
I do. The ethic today, he said , is a trend toward too
much money and too little pride.
He said his attitude toward work was shaped by his
family and the New Frontier logic of John F. Kennedy:
The world is there, you just have to grasp it.
Unlike ia President Kennedy's time, America's weak
leadership today reflects in some people's mediocre work
attitudes, Gordon said.
Wkitecc&r crime
Despite union creeds, shoddy workmanship still sur
faces. '
As an undergraduate, Gordon once worked on
construction of a Lincoln apartment complex.
"We just threw it up. We used warped wood. . .Vorkers
were betting among themselves it wouldn't last five years.
The idea is to work fast, cheap, make money, and get
out. . .1 felt guilty doing it."
A less evident result of a poor attitude toward work is
white collar crime.
Te do have white collar crime ia Lincoln, said Roger"
La Page, assistant chief of Lincoln Police. Cut it is hard to
define and pinpoint, he said.
Embezzlement by top company managers is the most '
prevalent and detectable form. Four have occurred ia the
last six months: one involving a county employe, one a
service club manager, and two, local department store
managers.
"Employe theft makes up a large percentage of the
money less. Cut it is hard to detect and is handled .
internally. You don't hear about it.
"Consumer fraud-such as packaging a 10 lb. steak ia
a 12 lb. package and selling it at a 12 lb. price-is a loss to
the pubIx;aIso.
However, integrity still exists in our job world. And the
newer work ethics seem to reflect more than the mere
idealism of youth.
"The evolving work ethic seems to be to put more art
back into work, Rader said.
Cut a May, 1976 UNL business administration graduate
is finding many companies "have no use for creative
people." ,. . ' ' ,
.Foot iathsdocr
Ron Wheeler, 22, creator of the Daily Nebraskaa
comic strip MPlph, has spent $500 and sent out 200
resumes since graduation. .
He seeks a job in advertising, drawing or marketing.
The job hunt has included a trip to Chicago, interviews .
and correspondence with CCS, Rand McNay Publish
ing Co., Kodak and the Ralston Purina Co.
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"rd be happy to get a foot in the door at &ne of
those places, he said.
Sixty-per-cent resume returns have given Wheeler what
he calls "ilatterino refusals," and stamped hirn "not
suitable for certain jobat.
While some graduates are willing to start at the bottom
and work up, ethers feel their degree should immediately ,
put them at the top. v
"Too many people are impatient about getting further
up, Landkarner said. "Most of us, ia spite of our training,
have to start somewhere lower than that level."
Yet, he said, the emphasis on making it tig is often just
to say one did it.
"We are really a bunch of snobs when you come down
to it. How do you look at the dishwasher, the garbe
hauler, two jobs that have to be done? These people are
probably doing more to prevent disease than one doctor
does ia a lifetime. v
Even though trade workers start from the bottom, the
degree holder often moves ia above him.
"Carpenters still come in as apprentices, then work up
: , . . CenthuedeapJl
