Managerial perspectives of the shorter workweek in Georgia manufacturing firms

Conclusions At present, great opposition exists among Georgia's 50 largest manufacturing firms toward the adoption of the shorter workweek. More than twice as many (61 percent) of the managers opposed it as favored it (26.7 percent), with a representative number (12.3 percent) indifferent to the idea. This opposition appears to be based upon anticipated problems in the areas of scheduling, communication difficulties, costs, and employee considerations. Employee acceptance of the shorter workweek (as perceived by the managers surveyed) already exists in approximately two-thirds of the firms surveyed. This perceived acceptance is reflected in the potential shorter workweek advantages as reported by the same surveyed managers, namely decreased absenteeism and turnover and the ease of recruiting employees. While the probability of the modified workweek gaining wide acceptance in Georgia seems at best small, the shorter workweek movement cannot be ingnored. Its advocates promise to provide the key to greater productivity, increased efficiency and improved employee relations. This study has served to determine the attitudes of Georgia's largest manufacturing firms toward what may be the accepted work schedule of the future.     

Saving for Life-time Risks

The welfare state, and especially the state pension system, has lessened the British people's prudential urge to save. The free market would have ensured that competition invigorated traditional methods of saving and introduced new ones.     

Characteristics of minority members of the American Economic Association

Evidence from the data tape for the 1985 Directory of the American Economic Association indicates that blacks and women remain underrepresented compared to their numbers in the general population. Although we present some limited evidence of increased representation of these minorities, the finding of underrepresentation is robust when we look at other measures of career status such as rank achieved or status of institution of employment. A fuller understanding of the determinants of minority participation within the economics profession will require that the data presented here be combined with data from other sources on productivity, salaries, and labor market alternatives.