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ABC Hypes Epidemic of Extreme Jobs Burning 70 Hours/Week
Business & Media Institute ^ | Nov. 28, 2006 | Ken Shepherd

Posted on 11/28/2006 11:10:16 AM PST by freemarket_kenshepherd

American laborers are “going to extremes” working in jobs “where 60 hours a week can be considered part-time, and overtime is an understatement.”

That’s how ABC anchor Charles Gibson teased a story in the opening credits of the November 27 “World News.” Yet for all the hype, fewer than one percent of Americans hold these type of “extreme” jobs, and most are well-compensated.

The “so-called extreme jobs,” Gibson told viewers, involve “high-pressure work that often comes with a very high salary and a very heavy personal toll.” Yet it’s only about “2 million Americans” that “fall into this fast-growing category,” Gibson conceded as he introduced a report by Betsy Stark.

In a nation of roughly 300 million people, that’s only 0.67 percent of the country’s population, although Stark’s report made “extreme” work sound like a pandemic.

What’s more, Gibson got his 2 million number by rounding up from the 1.7 million Americans in “extreme” jobs as determined by the New York-based Center for Work-Life Policy (CWLP). Stark featured CWLP senior fellow Catherine Orenstein in her story but did not mention the organization’s name or its ideological leanings.

A review of CWLP’s Web site shows the group often focuses on traditional liberal workplace concerns such as the number of women and minorities in executive leadership in American business. Liberal activist and Princeton religion professor Cornel West serves as CWLP vice president. In 2001, West resigned his post at Harvard University after then-president Larry Summers criticized West for focusing on political activities at the expense of his academic obligations.

Stark chose a Florida lawyer as a textbook case of the “extreme” worker. The correspondent profiled 35-year old David Shontz, a “man who rarely vacations,” who is “a trial lawyer hoping to make partner at his firm..."

(Excerpt) Read more at businessandmedia.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abc; liberalbias; triallawyers; work
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Who knew I was a trendsetter when I used to work 100 hr weeks during my residency...


21 posted on 11/28/2006 11:39:19 AM PST by Kozak (Anti Shahada: " There is no God named Allah, and Muhammed is his False Prophet")
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Someone once said, "You're not gonna make 100K a year working 40-hour weeks"....maybe it is 150K nowadays, due to inflation...


22 posted on 11/28/2006 11:41:46 AM PST by dakine
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To: AppyPappy

"You don't get rich working 40 hours a week."

"Oh yes you do. A man that goes home and spends time with his family is richer than anyone."

BTTT

Some peoples family is the almighty dollar.


23 posted on 11/28/2006 11:41:48 AM PST by No Blue States
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd
I thought this was going to be a story about moms. LOL

Ok...seriously.I don't get paid for 70 hours a week but I'm a full time stay at home mother with two part time jobs scheduled around the kids' and hubby's work schedule.

I go to work when the hubby leaves his job to pick up the kidlets from school. Put in 3.5 hours and make it home in time to fix dinner for the family. On Fridays (Grandma Day), I work my other part time job. The only time I'm not with my family is on Sunday afternoon from 11-3pm. My only day off is Saturday. But I love this schedule. It's only $850 per month in income but I'm always busy and I don't miss anything!

24 posted on 11/28/2006 11:43:05 AM PST by TNdandelion
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To: Huck

But if you enjoy your job, does it really count as work? :)


25 posted on 11/28/2006 11:46:51 AM PST by Constantine XIII
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To: Kozak

You weren't. This article is discussing a trend which involves choosing to work very long hours while making oodles of money. The forced socialist exploitation of young doctors involves nothing of the sort, as you well know. It amazes me that medical profession hasn't put a stop to this.


26 posted on 11/28/2006 11:48:29 AM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: Kozak
Who knew I was a trendsetter...

Me too. Now have laws about that in hospitals. Oh well, we have bragging rights I guess.

27 posted on 11/28/2006 11:50:48 AM PST by outofstyle
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd

only two million ? my sore feet...there are gazillions of auto salespeople who work unimaginable hours,ask their spouses, kids and ex spouses and kids


28 posted on 11/28/2006 11:53:48 AM PST by advertising guy (If computer skills named us, I'd be back-space delete.)
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd
Anyone who wants to make it in law, finance, consulting, advertising or medicine has to work an extremely grueling schedule for years.

I spent my first five years out of college working 100 hours a week most weeks.

It's called "paying your dues."

If you don't like the hours, get a job with hours you like.

The world needs video store rental clerks too (at least for the next couple of years or so).

29 posted on 11/28/2006 11:54:03 AM PST by wideawake ("The nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten." - Calvin Coolidge)
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd
I didn't see anything about what a medical resident goes through but it's a lot of hours.

When I worked at a start up, 12-16 hour days were the norm and we loved it because we were working to go public.

Now I get to usually get by on 8 and it's nice.
30 posted on 11/28/2006 11:56:16 AM PST by Lx (Do you like it, do you like it. Scott? I call it Mr. and Mrs. Tennerman chili.)
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To: Huck
I'm self employed and I easily work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, sometimes more. And I do it because I'm driven like a possessed banshee lunatic

Same here, but I do it because the IRS needs it more than I do.

Or something..

31 posted on 11/28/2006 11:57:36 AM PST by Gorzaloon ("Illegal Immigrant": The Larval form of A Democrat.)
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd
It is "unfair" that the System is set up to tease people who are willing to work hard into over-stressing themselves and those around them by out-performing others...who then feel bad about themselves because they can't possibly be expected to excel in things when The Man is Holding Them Back.

[/SARCASM]

However, your incoming Democratic Congress has a plan to overcome this inequality! They will simply tax these overachievers heavily, removing the profit that forces them to harm themselves by over work, and spend the money on vital programs to help pay for college benefits for our newfound guest workers! Every man a king!

[SADLY NOT SARCASM]

32 posted on 11/28/2006 11:57:53 AM PST by 50sDad (I respect other religions by allowing them the right to worship. But they still are wrong.)
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To: wideawake

Trouble is, the vast majority of people just want a job where they go in at nine, go home at five, and get to spend time with the family, etc.


33 posted on 11/28/2006 11:58:12 AM PST by durasell (!)
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd

Yeah? Welcome to any startup in Silicon Valley.


34 posted on 11/28/2006 11:59:04 AM PST by null and void (To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. --Reba McEntire)
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To: dakine
Someone once said, "You're not gonna make 100K a year working 40-hour weeks"

I've done that.

35 posted on 11/28/2006 12:03:25 PM PST by null and void (To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone. --Reba McEntire)
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To: Huck

Over the past 5 years I`ve averaged 60 hours a week ... and I`ll keep doing it until the last terrorist is reduced to a pink mist.


36 posted on 11/28/2006 12:05:41 PM PST by AngrySpud (Behold, I am The Anti-Crust ... Anti-Hillary)
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To: AngrySpud

http://www.bizrate.com/cosmetics/oid464054193.html


37 posted on 11/28/2006 12:08:42 PM PST by durasell (!)
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To: AppyPappy

that is the great thing about this country you get to choose


38 posted on 11/28/2006 12:09:31 PM PST by antti tuuri
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To: null and void

Inflation...


39 posted on 11/28/2006 12:11:17 PM PST by dakine
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To: freemarket_kenshepherd

gosh, now i feel lazy. i only put in about 50 hours a week.


40 posted on 11/28/2006 12:12:08 PM PST by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
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