Agenda Setting

Assignment Name: Agenda Setting

HEALTH POLICY & THE

U.S.

Identification of Problem

An average American works more than 40 hours a week and does not take vacation even if it is a part of his job terms, or even if he or a family member is sick. Many work over time, not resting even on weekends. This trend has been specifically expanding over last few decades with the advent of technology and the struggle to maintain job in an already struggling economy. It has affected all the genders alike. People from ages 18 to those working late in their retirement years all are equally affected. However, those from the age of 18 to 35 are most likely to be prone to this trend, either out of choice or because of situation. This change in working and vacationing pattern started in last forty years, being most evident from 2000 till now (Covert, 2014). Apart from economy, cultural preferences have got a lot to do with this trend. Those who do get vacations do not make use of this healthy opportunity since they find it difficult to truly plug off of work routine.

According to a report “No-Vacation Nation Revisited” (Ray, Sanes, & Schmitt, 2013), 23% of U.S. workers get no paid vacation at all and less than 49% of the low wage earners get any kind of paid vacation. It can be safely assumed that though general workforce suffers from the consequences of not utilizing vacations, it is the low wage earner sector that suffers the most.  

In a survey by Allianz Travel Insurance (2015) the Vacation Confidence Index showed that more than 56% Americans have not taken vacation in last twelve months. This widespread phenomenon is not bound to any one region in United States, but has been affecting almost every other region, and hence it is a problem that has been affecting general public. Anyhow, if the studies are narrowed down, it can be observed that those living in metropolitan cities are most likely to be affected by this phenomenon. With an ever increasing number of people and fewer jobs in the job market, US workers tend to work beyond their capacities. Gonzales (2015) wrote in an article that amongst last four decades, today the American workers are least inclined towards taking vacations. Working for longer hours, not taking weekend off, and not utilizing vacations takes a serious toll on physical and mental health of individuals. The trend of Americans working for longer hours and on weekends as compared to other countries was studied by Hamermesh & Stancanelli in 2014. The resulting data was represented in the form of graph by Weissmann on a blog. The trend can be seen as follows:[pic 1]

[pic 2]

Source: graphs adapted from study by Hamermesh and Stancanelli, taken from Moneybox, 2014)

As can be seen from the graph, U.S workers work for an average of 41 hours per week and about 29.2% of the workers are likely to work on weekends as well, as compared to workers from other countries.

A research by Virtanen et al., (2012) comprising of 50 years of review to study the relation between coronary heart diseases and working for long hours showed, that the risk of CHD increased by 80% in individuals who work for prolonged hours. The onset of CHD is in turn associated with exposure to work induced stress over long periods of times.