Hope For The New Decade: Workplace Shootings Should Increase*

Are The Workers Revolting Yet, Or Is That Something Else We Smell?

[W]orker dissatisfaction has been on the rise for more than two decades.

"It says something troubling about work in America. It is not about the business cycle or one grumpy generation," says Linda Barrington, managing director of human capital at the Conference Board, who helped write the report, which was released Tuesday.

For our part, we've been "troubled" (when not irritated to the point of rage) by work since our parental units first forced us to rake leaves, water the rose garden, & generally fulfill their libertarian fantasy of having an undocumented alien they could force to work for room, board & clothing.

Do Tell

Conference Board officials and outside economists suggested that weak wage growth helps explain why workers' unhappiness has been rising for more than 20 years. After growing in the 1980s and 1990s, average household incomes adjusted for inflation have been shrinking since 2000.

Also, compared with 1980, three times as many workers contribute to the cost of their health insurance — and those contributions have gone up. The average employee contribution for single-coverage medical care benefits rose from $48 a month to $76 a month between 1999 and 2006.

The Managing Director Of Human Capital At The Conference Board Remembers To Blame The Victims

It wouldn't be fair to blame low job satisfaction solely on bad bosses, Barrington says.

"It is two-way responsibility," she says. "Workers also have to figure out what they should be doing to be the most engaged in their jobs and the most productive."

Sure, people who work for a living have absolute control of those means o' production. Why they don't enage in greater productivity is beyond us.

*Free advice to potential spree-killers: Even if your fellow wage-slaves are complete assholes who deserve to meet an early end, at least some of that can be attributed to their having slaved under the same conditions that have driven you to this. (Although sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.) Try to take out supervisors/overseers & management/owners before settling your more personal grudges.