The 1980's

Home Page for The 1980's

Select from the right-hand menu '1980's CONTENT' specific class-graduation years.  Stories, pictures, scans, audio, video, and class-year specific content will be posted as it becomes available.

Decade overview

• In November 1982, the unemployment rate reaches 10.8%, the highest rate since 1940. More than eleven million people are unemployed.
• In 1984, the U.S. government takes steps toward a complete ban on leaded gasoline in order to reduce lead concentrations in the lower atmosphere.
• In 1989, 7% of all U.S. workers use a computer at work.
• Between 1973 and 1989, the average American's work-week jumps from less than forty-one to nearly forty-seven hours, and the average American's leisure time decreases 37%, from 26.2 hours to 16.6 hours per week.
• In 1989, 147 thousand cases of cumulative trauma disorders (including carpal tunnel syndrome) are reported in the United States.

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"Carbons to Computers: Historical Timeline 1980-1989 (text)." Smithsonian Education - Welcome. 1998. Smithsonian Institution. 28 Sep. 2008 <http://smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/carbons/text/1980.html>.