U.S. Employment Policy Lags Workplace Changes, Says Report

Federal government policy on employment issues isn't keeping up with changes in the American workplace, indicates a pre-Labor Day "millennium wrap-up" report released Sept. 1 by the Employment Policy Foundation (EPF), a Washington research organization. As one example, the report warns that within five years up to 25% of the U.S. workforce may telecommute or work at home. Yet, says EPF President Ed Potter, the government "will end the 20th century shaping policies -- from health-care benefits to worker rights -- with the underlying assumption that the worker is in the traditional workplace." In another finding, the report, A Century of Progress -- A Century of Change, disputes popular claims that American workers have gone untouched by the economic boom. "Economic gains have been spread across all worker groups," says Potter. The report also indicates that "nearly three-quarters of families that left the middle class in this current generation (1969-1993) moved to higher income classes, not lower."