Data from the General Social Survey 1973-94 (n=5,320) on men's and women's preferences for job attributes (short hours, high income, meaningful work, promotion opportunities, job security) show that gender differences have been both stable and limited. There is some evidence that a gender gap in preferences has widened recently among younger…

A case study of a school district illustrates how districts solve a substitute teacher shortage by reducing reliance on substitutes and extending full-time teachers' hours. The process allots overwork and work-family conflict to some workers and underemployment and multiple job holding to others. (Contains 38 references.) (SK)

U.S. employers' use of numerical and functional flexibility has created a division between organizational insiders (core) and outsiders (periphery). The latter have nonstandard work arrangements, the consequences of which differ depending on workers' degree of control over skills, autonomy, and transferability. (Contains 39 references.)

An examination of turn-of-the-century maximum hours laws shows that in certain circumstances they increased women's share of employment but did not affect occupational sex segregation. These results support two theories: that such laws protect employers' class interests and that they protect both their gendered and their class interests. (SK)

Pregnant women (n=227) interviewed before and six and 12 months after childbirth reported declines in job satisfaction following birth. The following factors positively or negatively affected satisfaction: length of leave, ability to work at home, 30 to 35-hour work week, evening/rotating shifts, supervisor support, and child-care environment. (SK)

Data from the 1970 and 1997 Current Population Survey demonstrate that, more than changes in working hours, the shift from male-breadwinner to dual-earner and single-parent households has increased concern for family-work balance. Research should focus on combined work schedules of family members rather than changes in individual work patterns.…

Based on a nonobtrusive count of input, productivity in a metal-working shop is examined before implementing individual accountability, during intensified accountability, and after the accountability program was terminated. The data show quite clearly that when individual accountability was introduced, productivity rose steeply and then subsided…

Employment status of nurses is examined in the context of a role conflict-job satisfaction model. It is proposed that women become nurses to provide important care to patients but are pushed away from the profession if there are competing demands for their time from children or spouse. (CT)

From a sample of 1,000 New York attorneys, data from 553 men and 129 women suggest that professional autonomy depends on social capital arrangements that assume overtime, open-ended work demands, and release from private obligations. Access to time is qualitatively different for men and women, especially married women with children. (SK)

Technological innovations in factories and offices are examined in terms of 10 core issues: "high flex" workplace; control of work; organizational change; impact on skill; unemployment; educational needs and retraining; changing occupational structures; safety and health; interaction of work, leisure, and family; and quality of working life. The…