Love the Work, Hate the Job: Why America's Best Workers Are Unhappier Than Ever

Presidential speechwriter and political adviser Kusnet has assembled a plodding and pessimistic analysis of how workers struggled to adjust to an evolving employee/company relationship at the turn of the millennium. According to the author, a marked shift occurred at the turn of the century as workers graduated “from the blue-collar blues to the white-collar woes.” In the 30 years after WWII, at the height of assembly-line production, many Americans reportedly disliked their jobs, but were content with their wages, benefits and economic security. The end of the 20th century heralded cutthroat competition as American corporations jostled with rivals in global markets, and the social contract between American employers and employees began to fray. In Kusnet's analysis, employees found their work more enjoyable and creatively rewarding yet reported increasing dissatisfaction with growing job insecurity and frustration with how meddlesome bureaucracies impeded their efficiency. Citing four examples of workplace conflicts in 1990s Seattle—Northwest Hospital and Medical Center, Boeing, Microsoft and Kaiser Aluminum—Kusnet answers his titular statement in the first few pages, leaving readers to slog through an uninspired and laborious history. (July)