The U.S. Economy and Labor on a World Stage in Its Decline

The 1970s became a turning point in the American economy. The United States economy began its transformation from a manufacturing economy to a service good economy. In the 1970s there was hardly an increase in the amount of new factories that opened up but there was an increase in the amount of small businesses that opened. Small business became the new trend as they didn't have to deal with unions and many on the legislative bills and laws passed by Congress.

By the end of the 1970s, the world market economy which had new technological advances and higher amounts of laborers had caught up to the U.S. economy, causing many people in the U.S. business sector to panic. The unions and employees had resisted technological innovation and with the added costs caused by union domination, companies were starting to suffer.

The response by the United States government was not good at all as the government provided little or no investment of funds into the public and private sector. In addition, more policies were imposed against businesses and employers which regulated the workplace.

In the 1970s, the Occupational Safety and Health Act were passed which set up the Office of Safety and Health Administration or OSHA. This act was an innovative act that greatly benefited employees. After the passage of the act, the rate of deaths and injuries in the workplace went down tremendous with some accounts reporting that the number of death was halved by this act. The act set up workplace standards and safety laws which really impacted the workplace. No longer did employees have to risk their lives handling dangerous substances or going down into dangerous mines.

In 1964 the Civil rights Act was passed by President Johnson which was monumental in the history of the United States. Section 7 applied to the work industry and greatly benefited employees. Section 7 prohibits discrimination in the workplace on the basis of religion, gender, color, origin, ethnicity or race in the hiring, firing, treatment of employees and working conditions in a workplace. This act was very important in the fight for equal rights in the workplace among all workers and to prohibit discrimination in the workplace.

Along with this important act, employers were routinely inspected on their employee evaluation sheets on the workers they hired or did not hire. Often these tests were inspected by the government and some employers were suspected of not complying with the Civil Rights Act. As a result, companies became more cautious than ever and hired trained professionals and lawyers to make sure that all of their acts complied with the Civil rights Act Title 7. This also added another high cost to the employer and business and productivity as a whole declined in businesses around the country.

Legislation relating to the workplace included in the 1970s: Occupational Safety Health Act, Emergency Employment Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Act, Rehabilitation Act, Fair Labor Standards amendments, Health Care amendments, Federal Mine Safety Act, Pregnancy discrimination Act amendments and the Black Lung Benefits reform. A majority of these were safety acts to prevent injury and death to workers in the workplace.