Work/life policies in the U.S., France, and Sweden
Comparing the current period of economic crisis in America with the Great Depression is just too tempting. A chance to dig up old footage, photos, and mythologies: yes, please! Nevermind that unemployment is nowhere near what it was then— 25 percent when FDR took office and 14.6 percent when he left. Current levels are at 7 to 8 percent; nothing to sniffle at, but somewhere short of a jumping-off-financial-buildings and stuffing money in the mattress kind of crisis (for more, see the Presidential Power blog).
Still, for me the comparison between the New Deal period and today rings true, if only in a somewhat naively hopeful way. FDR is credited with implanting the notion that the government should provide a social safety net to protect citizens from inevitable, often cyclical, economic downturns. Some argue he succeeded in ingraining this expectation in the American consciousness. I’m not so sure. In my opinion, the U.S. social safety net lets far too many people fall through and has so far failed to adapt to the changing dimensions of work and family life in America. My hope is that with the Obama presidency and the economic crisis, the debate over the need and particular shape of a social safety net will resurface. I also believe it’s important to consider how other countries have shaped their safety nets. We don’t have to adopt other systems blindly (it wouldn’t work), but there’s no harm in comparison shopping.
And so, for the next week or two, I’ll be posting a series of blogs about work and family policies in the United States, Sweden, and France. If you want to know what’s going on in the Colonies and on the Continent with respect to social policies that affect your working and family life, this is your chance— in relatively digestible doses and maybe even some laughs along the way. Depression jokes are hilarious, right?! - Vetta Next time: work/life policies (up to date!) in the US, France, Sweden window shopping photo by dlemieux on flickr.com under creative commons license
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