“The structural problem has been the disconnect between the various groups of society…between business and government on the one hand…[and] between neighbor and neighbor on the other hand. The only solution I know is for people to collectively, talk, engage and vote with their money, vote with their vote and vote with their time.”

- Phil Mirvis
Business Consultant

Old paradigms of work and family are falling away. Parents are working more– as much as 247 hours annually -- than their counterparts ten years ago. At the same time, the old model of man as breadwinner and wife as full-time homemaker has shifted. The percentage of women in the labor force has doubled in the past 50 years and three out of four women with children under 18 years of age work outside the home.

The message is clear: we change our attitudes and our policies around work and family so that we have a work system that fits with our new economy and contemporary family structure.

Whether it’s childcare, the length of the workweek, or the way that we view work in America, the experts agree, something has got to give. From a conversation from work and family experts on changes in public policy, to a look at pending legislation and programs already in place to give some measure of relief to American workers and their families, this section takes a look at how we need to take the issue beyond the individual level and examine solutions on a national level.