This is the plight of many in our minority communities. Among those who do marry, studies have shown that divorce, domestic violence, and marital strife rise steeply with unemployment. There are many measures in which both industry and government can participate that can protect the integrity of marriage and family life during periods of economic retrenchment. These include maintaining health insurance for affected workers and their families, allocating adequate unemployment insurance, good severance pay, vocational training and counseling, and other measures that will maintain an individual's employability and self-esteem during the crisis. People also need to feel reasonably certain that layoffs are the last option that will be considered.
Few workers think so in the present social climate.
The corporate workplace, with a few notable exceptions, does not consider the impact of personnel policies on the families of its employees. Although there has been some belated public recognition that long working hours leave little time for parents to spend with their children, there is no comparable acknowledgement that the workplace exerts a major influence on the quality and stability of marriage. Heavy work schedules seriously erode married life. Men and women in our country typically work many more hours each week than do their counterparts in Western Europe. As a result, working people don't have time for their children or for each other.