In 1999, the sixth edition of Labor in America was published by Harlan Davidson. Dubofsky earned his doctorate from the University of Rochester. If in Germany, France, Italy and several other European nations, trade unions remain relatively strong and the commitment to publicly provided services almost sacrosanct, the labor movement has nevertheless seen union density slip substantially, the welfare state nibbled away at its margins and influential actors demand further deregulation and more robust competition in the marketplace. And in the less developed economies where union densities are rising, strikes grow more common, labor's power waxes and the societies lack the material wealth to build decent welfare states. Everywhere the tendency seems to be moving toward greater inequality of material conditions, as those holding the largest amounts of human or inherited capital command the bulk of the economy's income and wealth, perhaps most egregiously in the United States and parts of the less developed world.
Some trends are quite likely to persist into the near future.
In the developed world, workers who bring substantial human capital to the labor market will continue to command a premium. And in those sectors of the economy where formal education and abstract reasoning ability remain relatively unimportant, immigrants, nonwhites and women will occupy jobs that offer little in the way of autonomy, security, material compensation and other benefits. For a time, at least, the gap between haves and have-nots, between those who command and those who obey, may continue to widen. Intensifying inequality and widening disparities can not long endure. All workers, whether they bring formal knowledge or just their bodies to the job, want respect, dignity and equity.