As a result, Americans are working longer and harder than in the past, but with severe consequences for their health. Besides stress and anxiety, other health effects include high blood pressure and an increased risk of heart attacks ("The Consequences of Stress for the Individual"). .
Even though workers today have a hard time balancing their jobs and private life, employees in the past had an even more challenging time. Decades ago, laws prohibiting child labor were lax, and the workweek was much longer than today's workweek. In the past 75 years, Levitan discusses how U.S. workers "have seen the enactment of laws.setting workplace standards" (Levitan, 1). These "workplace standards" refer to the logistics of when, and the duration of time in which, people can work in a given week. The standards also include "reduced working time, the abolition of child labor, shorter workweeks.and retirement benefits" (Levitan, 1). .
With the ongoing dispute between the needs of employers and the abilities of employees, it is no wonder that the disagreement between continuously working and having adequate time for relaxation has become controversial. Many say that employees should have a certain number of days off each year--maybe a week or two. However, many others say that work is more important in the work-life balance equation. To be able to take an objective look at the different arguments, a person must be willing to open their mind to more than one argument. The controversy over the needs of employees versus those of businesses is complicated. Some say that working long hours contributes heavily to a company's productivity and bottom line profits. To others, people get stressed out because they try to do too much work in a short period, becoming less productive and eventually "burning out." Still others say that employers have a responsibility to negotiate ways to offer employees a healthy work-life balance.