ABSTRACT
In the half century since World War II, there have been major changes in the size, age, gender, educational-occupational level, and ethnicity of the American labor force and in the occupational structure of the labor market, changes generated both by the war and by postwar developments. There were important differences in gender roles during the period of rapid expansion of the labor force. In both the earlier as well as in the latter period the rate of increase in absolute numbers, and still more in relative terms, was much more rapid for women than for men. The increase in educational levels and changes in the occupational structure have not only been mutually reinforcing but have had profound effects on the labor force participation of men as well as women. The United States was a latecomer to social insurance because of a traditional antigovernmental bias and idealization of the market as the best mechanism to determine employer-employee relationships.
