Work in Modern America The modern day American society hosts a broad spectrum of industries with various occupations and professions to engage today’s workforce. America, much like most first world countries is a service economy based on the exchange of knowledge and expertise rather than materials and products. People have a long history of work and work evolution that has ultimately brought America to a service economy producing both strengths and weaknesses within the society and its economy. As America has moved to a service economy, much of the manufacturing and production jobs have moved oversees to third world countries creating a reliance on other economies. This globalization of the workforce as well as unionization, and the …show more content…

A new type of employment opportunity surfaced based on the provision of knowledge and expertise rather than mechanical or production skill. This new service based economy holds a great variety of jobs ranging from low-skilled jobs to highly skilled professional careers. No other time in history, has there been such a diverse class structure with so many of its workers belonging to a single industry. Many workers in the service industry provide professional services becoming lawyers, accountants, doctors, programmers, engineers and scientists. These positions require a great deal of training or education on the part of the service worker and are generally compensated accordingly. These workers are also granted a high level of autonomy in their daily activities providing a much more satisfactory working environment and most likely find themselves in the upper-middle class. The other side of the service economy, however, includes many of the lowest paid workers in the country often struggling in the face of poverty. These workers perform duties in food service, housekeeping, health care, retail and other positions which often provide Federal minimum wage as standard pay and are allowed little to no autonomy in their daily operations. The Federal minimum wage in 2010 is $ 7.25 with over 35 million Americans receiving this level of compensation according to the