The American Worker

Maximum number of weekly workable hours proposed by the United States Congress in the 1933 Black-Connery Share the Work Bill: 30 ¹

Average length of the modern work week: 40 hours ²

Number of American workers who put in more than 50 hours a week on the job: one in five ³

Average length of the modern American lunch hour: 29 minutes ⁴

Percentage of Americans in an ABC News poll who feel that working long hours is worth it because it produces prosperity: 46 ⁵

Amount of time American parents spend each week engaging in meaningful conversation with their children: 40 minutes ⁶

Number of American high-school students who work part-time while in school: two in three ⁷

Number of New York City high school students who graduate on time: one in two ⁸

Ratio of the average incomes of U.S. CEOs to manufacturing industry workers in the 1970s: 41 to 1 ⁹

Ratio of the average incomes of U.S. CEO's to manufacturing industry workers in the 1990s: 419 to 1 ¹⁰

Number of Americans, according to a May 2003 Gallop poll, who said they would endure significant economic hardship if they were unemployed for one month: four in ten ¹¹

Value of the severance package paid to disgraced former TYCO CFO Mark Swartz in 2002: $44 million ¹²

Number of paid vacation days taken by the average American worker every year: 13 ¹³

Number of continuous vacation days spent by President Bush last year at his Crawford, Texas horse ranch: 30 ¹⁴

Average retirement age of the United States' Top Ranking CEOs: 58 ¹⁵

The current retirement age for Americans born after 1960: 67 ¹⁶

1. http://www.actu.asn.au/public/campaigns/reasonable/takingtime.html
2. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/work_howmuch_dayone.html
3. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/work_howmuch_dayone.html
4. http://www.pbs.org/livelyhood/workingfamily/familytrends.html
5. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/workpoll010430.html
6. http://www.aboutourkids.org/articles/turnofftv.html
7. http://www.usaweekend.com/01_issues/010826/010826schools.html
8. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/56465.htm
9. http://www.house.gov/sabo/ie.htm
10. http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/may1999/exec-m14.shtml
11. http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/pr030507.asp?Version=p
12. http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/business/personal_finance/5367031.htm
13. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/road/bly/bly4.htm
14. http://www.usatoday.com/travel/columnist/road/bly/bly4.htm
15. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-CEO-Turnover.html
16. http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10003.html
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Past Installments of DMI Injustice Index
Injustice Index 2009 (December 2009)
The 2008 DMI Injustice Index: The Bush Legacy (December 2008)
DMI INJUSTICE INDEX: PAID SICK LEAVE (May 2008)
The Drum Major Institute 2007 Injustice Index (December 2007)
The Drum Major Institute 2006 Injustice Index (January 2007)
The United Estates of America (June 2006)
The Drum Major Institute 2005 Injustice index (December 2005)
Hurricane Katrina (September 2005)
The American Worker (May 2005)
The Drum Major Institute 2004 Injustice Index (December 2004)
You Go Girl! (July 2004)
Pomp and Circumstance (June 2004)
The Black Middle Class (May 2004)
The Apprentice (April 2004)
Climbing the Ladder (March 2004)
White Collar Wonders (February 2004)
The Drum Major Institute 2003 Injustice Index (January 2004)
Children … Next (November 2003)
A Taxing Affair (October 2003)
Rich Man's Justice, Poor Man's Justice (September 2003)
Independence Day (July 2003)
The Gay and Lesbian Family (June 2003)
Criminal Injustice (March 2003)
Family Values (February 2003)
The 108th Congress (January 2003)
Shelter (November 2002)
Choices (September 2002)
States of the Union: Six Snapshots of America (January 2002)