Summary
Contents
Congress and the Nation is the most authoritative reference on congressional trends, actions, and political and policy controversies. This award-winning series documents the most fiercely debated issues in recent American politics, providing a unique retrospective analysis of the policies the U.S. Congress. Organized by policy area, each chapter contains summaries of legislative activity, including bills passed, defeated, or postponed. No other authoritative source guides readers seamlessly through the policy output of the national legislature with the breadth, depth, and authority of Congress and the Nation.
Congress and the Nation is the most authoritative reference on congressional trends, actions, and political and policy controversies. This award-winning series documents the most fiercely debated issues in recent American politics, providing a unique retrospective analysis of the policies the U.S. Congress. Organized by policy area, each chapter contains summaries of legislative activity, including bills passed, defeated, or postponed. No other authoritative source guides readers seamlessly through the policy output of the national legislature with the breadth, depth, and authority of Congress and the Nation.
Congress and the Nation is the most authoritative reference on congressional trends, actions, and political and policy controversies. This award-winning series documents the most fiercely debated issues in recent American politics, providing a unique retrospective analysis of the policies the U.S. Congress. Organized by policy area, each chapter contains summaries of legislative activity, including bills passed, defeated, or postponed. No other authoritative source guides readers seamlessly through the policy output of the national legislature with the breadth, depth, and authority of Congress and the Nation.
Labor and Pension Policy
Labor and Pension Policy
Introduction
In many ways the years of the second Reagan administration represented a marked improvement for American workers over the preceding four years. Yet workers, their unions and retirees continued to face strong economic pressures during the period, some of which originated in basic changes in the nation's role in the world economy. Those fundamental shifts provided much of the backdrop for much of the labor-related legislation considered by the 99th and 100th Congresses.
Perhaps most importantly, the years 1985-88 saw a major decline in the unemployment rate. After reaching a post-World War II high of 10.7 percent in 1982, the ranks of the jobless steadily shrank throughout the mid-1980s, falling to 5 percent by the end of 1988 — a ...
