All In A Day's Work

The economy has altered most conversations--budgeting, home ownership, saving for a rainy day--but none so much as the topic of jobs. Getting, keeping, creating, and training for employment is all anybody--politicians, college students, you, your neighbor--can talk or think about these days. But even before the economic shake-up, employment was arguably undergoing its biggest shift since masses of people left the farm and filled the factory: Generation Y joining the workforce. Being considered a Gen Xer myself (although I feel unrepresented by the idea of “slacker”), I often feel smack-dab in the middle of two radically different work philosophies. The workers of my parents’ and grandparents’ time overwhelmingly followed the model in operation since the Industrial Revolution. They got a job, poured thirty years of their souls into it, received their measly token of appreciation at depressing retirement parties, and started getting their inadequate pension checks. My age group has largely done the same but with a lot more education, a little more following our bliss, and, ordinarily, a job change or two. Not so the youngsters. They shun entry-level positions, feel comfortable making what we would consider unreasonable benefit and salary demands, and have quit more jobs than three of us will ever have. It’s a new world, a new economy, and things will never be the same. But, if you’re a big, red dog, you don’t know that. In Norman Bridwell’s Clifford Gets A Job, there’s mayhem, but little angst. I wonder if he has a pension plan.



http://www.amazon.com/Clifford-Gets-Job-Norman-Bridwell/dp/0590442961

http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-bridwell-norman.asp