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Kvart, Signild, Isabel Cuervo, Virginia Gunn, Wayne Lewchuk, Kim Bosmans, Letitia Davis, Astrid Escrig-Piñol, Per-Olof Östergren, Eva Padrosa, Alejandra Vives, Alessandro Zaupa, Emily Q. Ahonen, Valentina Álvarez-López, Mireia Bolíbar, Ignacio Diaz, Mariana Gutiérrez-Zamora, Lars Ivarsson, Mireia Julià, Carles Muntaner, Patricia O'Campo, Marisol E. Ruiz, Kristian Vänerhagen, Emilia F. Vignola, David Vílchez, Mattias Vos, Theo Bodin & Sherry L. Baron (2025): Labour and social protection gaps impacting the health and well-being of workers in non-standard employment: An international comparative study. In: PLoS ONE, Jg. 20. DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0320248

Abstract

"Background: World economies increasingly rely on non-standard employment arrangements, which has been linked to ill health. While work and employment conditions are recognized structural determinants of health and health equity, policies aiming to protect workers from negative implications predominantly focus on standard employment arrangements and the needs of workers in non-standard employment may be neglected. The aim of this study is to explore workers’ experiences of gaps in labour regulations and social protections and its influence on their health and well-being across 6 countries with differing policy approaches: Belgium, Canada, Chile, Spain, Sweden, and the United States. Methods: 250 semi-structured interviews with workers in non-standard employment were analyzed thematically using a multiple case-study approach. Results: There are notable differences in workers’ rights to protection across the countries. However, participants across all countries experienced similar challenges including employment instability, income inadequacy and limited rights and protection, due to policy-related gaps and access-barriers. In response, they resorted to individual resources and strategies, struggled to envision supportive policies, and expressed low expectations of changes by employers and policymakers. Conclusions: Policy gaps threaten workers’ health and well-being across all study countries, irrespective of the levels of labour market regulations and social protections. Workers in non-standard employment disproportionately endure economic risks, which may increase social and health inequality. The study highlights the need to improve social protection for this vulnerable population." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Abraham, Katharine G., John C. Haltiwanger, Claire Y. Hou, Kristin Sandusky & James Spletzer (2024): Driving the Gig Economy. (NBER working paper / National Bureau of Economic Research 32766), Cambridge, Mass, 48 S.

Abstract

"Using rich administrative tax data, we explore the effects of the introduction of online ridesharing platforms on entry, employment and earnings in the Taxi and Limousine Services industry. Ridesharing dramatically increased the pace of entry of workers into the industry. New entrants were more likely to be young, female, White and U.S. born, and to combine earnings from ridesharing with wage and salary earnings. Displaced workers have found ridesharing to be a substantially more attractive fallback option than driving a taxi. Ridesharing also affected the incumbent taxi driver workforce. The exit rates of low-earning taxi drivers increased following the introduction of ridesharing in their city; exit rates of high-earning taxi drivers were little affected. In cities without regulations limiting the size of the taxi fleet, both groups of drivers experienced earnings losses following the introduction of ridesharing. These losses were ameliorated or absent in more heavily regulated markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Abraham, Katharine G., Brad Hershbein, Susan N. Houseman & Beth C. Truesdale (2024): The Independent Contractor Workforce: New Evidence on Its Size and Composition and Ways to Improve Its Measurement in Household Surveys. In: ILR review, Jg. 77, H. 3, S. 336-365. DOI:10.1177/00197939241226945

Abstract

"Good data on the size and composition of the independent contractor workforce are elusive. The authors carried out a series of focus groups to learn how independent contractors speak about their work. Based on those findings, they designed and fielded a telephone survey to elicit more accurate and complete information on independent contractors. Roughly 1 in 10 workers who initially reported working for an employer on one or more jobs (and thus were coded as employees) were independent contractors on at least one of those jobs. Incorporating these miscoded workers into estimates of main job work arrangements nearly doubles the share who are independent contractors to approximately 15% of all workers. Taking these workers into account substantively changes the demographic profile of the independent contractor workforce. Probing in household surveys to clarify a worker’s employment arrangement and identify all low-hours work is critical for accurately measuring independent contractor work." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Boeri, Tito & Pietro Garibaldi (2024): Temporary Employment in Markets with Frictions. In: Journal of Economic Literature, Jg. 62, H. 3, S. 1143-1185. DOI:10.1257/jel.20231655

Abstract

"Temporary employment has spiked in OECD countries over the last 40 years and is now a common feature of their labor market landscape. A large body of empirical literature examines the spread of temporary employment, but no systematic review and interpretation of its findings in light of economic theory exists. This survey aims at filling this gap by interpreting the key empirical results based on the predictions of the macro models in markets with frictions developed to address specific features of temporary employment. Revisions of workhorse models used so far to analyze temporary employment are also suggested." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Créchet, Jonathan (2024): A model of risk sharing in a dual labor market. In: Journal of monetary economics, Jg. 147. DOI:10.1016/j.jmoneco.2024.103591

Abstract

"In OECD countries, the labor market features a coexistence of open-ended, permanent jobs subject to strict employment protection and fixed-term, temporary jobs. This paper studies a search-and-matching model with risk-averse workers and dynamic employment contracts subject to limited commitment. In equilibrium, permanent and temporary jobs coexist when the match quality is sufficiently dispersed: firing costs generate insurance gains implying that permanent contracts are optimal for high-quality matches. Consistent with recent empirical evidence, quantitative analysis of the model shows that temporary contracts crowd out permanent jobs and do not generate employment gains." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Gonos, George (2024): The Expanding Domains of Degraded Work in the United States: Constructing a More Comprehensive Typology of Non-standard Employment Arrangements. In: Critical Sociology, S. 1-24. DOI:10.1177/08969205241283938

Abstract

"The spread of non-standard employment (NSE) is widely considered to have contributed to the deterioration of labor standards. Yet, in the United States, there is no definitive roster of non-standard work arrangements and no reliable estimate of the size of the non-standard workforce. For over 25 years, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has produced artificially low estimates of employers’ use of ‘alternative employment arrangements’. Its 2018 Contingent Work Supplement (CWS) reported that since 1995 the proportion of US workers in these arrangements had declined. This article proposes a more systematic framework for understanding NSE in the United States and fleshes out a more comprehensive typology better suited toward addressing the needs of policymakers and labor activists. It fundamentally reorients the study of NSE by recognizing that so-called ‘alternative’ arrangements are abusive and more aptly understood as degraded work arrangements (DWAs). The article then explores the key categories of DWAs and provides a deeper analysis of one group, dissociative arrangements, that enable the flourishing use of ‘non-employee’ workers. Concluding sections address the undertheorized state of this subject area and the challenge of union organizing in fractured labor markets." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Manning, Alan & Graham Mazeine (2024): Subjective Job Insecurity and the Rise of the Precariat: Evidence from the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. In: The Review of Economics and Statistics, Jg. 106, H. 3, S. 748-761. DOI:10.1162/rest_a_01196

Abstract

"There is a widespread belief that work is less secure than in the past, that an increasing share of workers are part of the “precariat.” It is hard to find much evidence for this in objective measures of job security, but perhaps subjective measures show different trends. This paper shows that in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, workers feel as secure as they ever have in the past 30 years. This is partly because job insecurity is very cyclical and (pre-COVID) unemployment rates very low, but there is also no clear underlying trend towards increased subjective measures of job insecurity. This conclusion seems robust to controlling for the changing mix of the labor force, and it is true for specific subsets of workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © MIT Press Journals) ((en))

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Reynolds, Jeremy, Julieta Aguilar & Reilly Kincaid (2024): More than a side-hustle: Satisfaction with conventional and microtask work and the association with life satisfaction. In: Social science research, Jg. 122. DOI:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2024.103055

Abstract

"Gig platforms promise attractive, flexible ways to earn supplemental income. Academics, however, often describe gig work as low-quality work, suggesting that it is less satisfying than conventional work. In this paper, we present a novel comparison of satisfaction with gig microtask work and conventional work among MTurk workers doing both. We also examine how satisfaction with gig and conventional work relate to life satisfaction. On average, respondents report less satisfaction with microtasks than with conventional work. Nevertheless, roughly one-third of respondents are more satisfied with microtask work. Furthermore, microtask work lowers overall life satisfaction, but only among “platformdependent” respondents (those who rely on platform income). Specifically, structural equation modeling reveals a case of moderated mediation: “platform dependence” reduces life satisfaction by lowering satisfaction with microtask work while also strengthening the latter's connection to life satisfaction. Taken together, our findings support and extend the theory of platform dependence." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2024 Elsevier) ((en))

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Arita, Shin, Kikuko Nagayoshi, Hirofumi Taki, Hiroshi Kanbayashi, Hirohisa Takenoshita & Takashi Yoshida (2023): Legitimation of earnings inequality between regular and non-regular workers: A comparison of Japan, South Korea, and the United States. In: International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Jg. 64, H. 6, S. 658-680. DOI:10.1177/00207152231176422

Abstract

"This study explores functions of labor market institutions in perpetuating earnings gap between different categories of workers with focusing on people’s views of earnings gap between regular and non-regular workers in Japan, South Korea, and the United States. An original cross-national factorial survey was conducted to measure the extent to which respondents admit earnings gap among workers with different characteristics. We found that Japanese and South Korean respondents tended to justify the earnings gap between regular and non-regular workers. In Japan, non-regular-worker respondents accepted the wide earnings gap against their economic interests, which was explained by assumed difference in responsibilities and on-the-job training opportunities. Specific institutional arrangements contribute to legitimating earnings gap between different categories of workers by attaching status value to the categories." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Breman, Jan (2023): A Short History of the Informal Economy. In: Global Labour Journal, Jg. 14, H. 1, S. 21-39. DOI:10.15173/glj.v14i1.5277

Abstract

"When coined about half a century ago, employment in the informal economy was discussed by what it was not: formal. Addressed as a sector of the urban workforce, its definition was a summing up of descriptive traits which made manifest how people in the Global South, deprived of most or all means of production, earned their livelihood by selling their labour power. Investigating their predicament zoomed in on the restructuring of peasant economies and societies to post-peasant ones. The anticipated upward mobility, which was supposed to be boosted by the bargaining power of collective action, did not materialise. Rather than expanding formalisation of labour relations, the reverse took place. The small segment which had been promoted to and protected by regular and regulated employment was subjected to informalisation. In the onslaught of neo-liberal capitalism from the last quarter of the twentieth century onwards, labour flexibilisation and casualisation not only intensified in the Global South but also spread to the Global North. The new policies ended the brokerage which the nation–state once developed to mediate between the interests of capital and labour, leading to a worldwide shrinking of public institutions, space and representation. While the debate with regard to informality has remained firmly focused on labour and employment, I argue that corporate capital in collusion with étatist authority has not only effectuated the deregulation of paid work but also abandoned the legal code of formality ending in a state of lawlessness for the people at the bottom of the pile. In the reconfiguration, both politics and governance are next to big business as stakeholders in a regime of informality erosive of equality, democracy, civil rights, solidarity and shared well-being for humankind at large." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Elvery, Joel A., C. Lockwood Reynolds & Shawn M. Rohlin (2023): Employer Wage Subsidy Caps and Part-Time Work. In: ILR review, Jg. 76, H. 1, S. 189-209. DOI:10.1177/00197939221102865

Abstract

"Using tract-level US Census data and triple-difference estimators, the authors test whether firms increase their use of part-time workers when faced with capped wage subsidies. By limiting the maximum subsidy per worker, such subsidies create incentives for firms to increase the share of their payroll that is eligible for the subsidy by increasing use of part-time or low-wage workers. Results suggest that firms located in federal Empowerment Zones in the United States responded to the program’s capped wage subsidies by expanding their use of part-time workers, particularly in locations where the subsidy cap is likely to bind. Results also show a shift toward hiring lower-skill workers." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Makarevich, Alex (2023): Workplace gender segregation in standard and non-standard employment regimes in the US labour market. In: BJIR, Jg. 61, H. 3, S. 697-722. DOI:10.1111/bjir.12730

Abstract

"This study provides a comprehensive analysis of workplace gender segregation in non-standard employment in the United States. It compares segregation in standard and three non-standard work arrangements paying special attention to independent contracting – a segment of contingent employment representing novel and consequential developments in work organization. In line with the prediction that inequality is lower in more marketized sectors of the labour market, my analyses based on a representative sample of the contemporary US workforce reveal that workplace gender segregation is lower in non-standard employment. I further find that the degree of segregation corresponds to the degree of attachment to the employer and that segregation is lower in segments of the economy with higher market competition. Overall, my analyses indicate that a shift towards alternative work arrangements can reduce overall workplace segregation but does not lead to uniform desegregation across occupations, and that institutions of employment and market pressures faced by employers play significant roles in the effect of alternative work arrangements on workplace segregation." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons) ((en))

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Wang, Jia (2023): Mothers' nonstandard work schedules and children's behavior problems: Divergent patterns by maternal education. In: Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, Jg. 84. DOI:10.1016/j.rssm.2023.100784

Abstract

"Increasing evidence has demonstrated that nonstandard work schedules are more prevalent among the less-educated population, and mothers' nonstandard work schedules have adverse influences on children's development. Yet, we have known relatively little about how such impacts differ across the educational distribution. Using data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, random and fixed effects regression results revealed a general “pattern of disadvantage” in the sense that detrimental influences of mothers regularly working nonstandard schedules on children's behavior were concentrated among those born to mothers without high school education, a “truly disadvantaged” group in the contemporary United States. In addition, regular nonstandard schedules appeared to play a mixed role in the behavioral development of children who had college-educated mothers, depending on the specific type of nonstandard schedule. These findings suggest that children born to the least-educated mothers experience compounded disadvantages that may reinforce the intergenerational transmission of disadvantages and also illustrate that negative implications of nonstandard work schedules for child wellbeing may extend to the more advantaged group." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © 2023 Elsevier) ((en))

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Choper, Joshua, Daniel Schneider & Kristen Harknett (2022): Uncertain Time: Precarious Schedules and Job Turnover in the US Service Sector. In: ILR review, Jg. 75, H. 5, S. 1099-1132. DOI:10.1177/00197939211048484

Abstract

"The authors develop a model of cumulative disadvantage relating three axes of disadvantage for hourly workers in the US retail and food service sectors: schedule instability, turnover, and earnings. In this model, exposure to unstable work schedules disrupts workers’ family and economic lives, straining the employment relation and increasing the likelihood of turnover, which can then lead to earnings losses. Drawing on new panel data from 1,827 hourly workers in retail and food service collected as part of the Shift Project, the authors demonstrate that exposure to schedule instability is a strong, robust predictor of turnover for workers with relatively unstable schedules (about one-third of the sample). Slightly less than half of this relationship is mediated by job satisfaction and another quarter by work–family conflict. Job turnover is generally associated with earnings losses due to unemployment, but workers leaving jobs with moderately unstable schedules experience earnings growth upon re-employment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Haapanala, Henri, Ive Marx & Zachary Parolin (2022): Robots and Unions: The Moderating Effect of Organised Labour on Technological Unemployment. (IZA discussion paper 15080), Bonn, 31 S.

Abstract

"We analyse the moderating effect of trade unions on industrial employment and unemployment in countries facing exposure to industrial robots. Applying random effects within-between regression to a pseudo-panel of observations from 28 advanced democracies over 1998-2019, we find that stronger trade unions in a country are associated with a greater decline in the industry sector employment of young and low-educated workers. We also show that the unemployment rates for low-educated workers remain constant in strongly unionised countries with increasing exposure to robots, whereas in weakly unionised countries, low-educated unemployment declines with robot exposure but from a higher starting point. Our results point to unions exacerbating the insider-outsider effects of technological change within the industrial sector, which however is not fully passed on to unemployment." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Katz, Lawrence F., Jonathan Roth, Richard Hendra & Kelsey Schaberg (2022): Why Do Sectoral Employment Programs Work? Lessons from WorkAdvance. In: Journal of labor economics, Jg. 40, H. S1, S. S249-S291. DOI:10.1086/717932

Abstract

"This paper examines the evidence from randomized evaluations of sector-focused training programs that target low-wage workers and combine up-front screening, occupational and soft-skills training, and wraparound services. The programs generate substantial and persistent earnings gains (12%–34%) following training. Theoretical mechanisms for program impacts are explored for the WorkAdvance demonstration. Earnings gains are generated by getting participants into higher-wage jobs in higher-earning industries and occupations, not just by raising employment. Training in transferable and certifiable skills (likely underprovided from poaching concerns) and reductions of employment barriers to high-wage sectors for nontraditional workers appear to play key roles." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Peckham, Trevor, Brian Flaherty, Anjum Hajat, Kaori Fujishiro, Dan Jacoby & Noah Seixas (2022): What Does Non-standard Employment Look Like in the United States? An Empirical Typology of Employment Quality. In: Social indicators research, Jg. 163, H. 2, S. 555-583. DOI:10.1007/s11205-022-02907-8

Abstract

"Despite significant interest in the changing nature of employment as a critical social and economic challenge facing society—especially the decline in the so-called Standard Employment Relationship (SER) and rise in more insecure, precarious forms of employment—scholars have struggled to operationalize the multifaceted and heterogeneous nature of contemporary worker-employer relationships within empirical analyses. Here we investigate the character and distribution of employment relationships in the U.S., drawing on a representative sample of wage-earners and self-employed from the General Social Survey (2002–2018). We use the multidimensional construct of employment quality, which includes both contractual (e.g., wages, contract type) and relational (e.g., employee representation and participation) aspects of employment. We further employ a typological measurement approach, using latent class analysis, to explicitly examine how the multiple aspects of employment cluster together in modern labor markets. We present eight distinct employment types in the U.S., including one resembling the historical conception of the SER model (24% of the total workforce), and others representing various constellations of favorable and adverse employment features. These employment types are unevenly distributed across society, in terms of who works these jobs and where they are found in the labor market. Importantly, women, those with lower education, and younger workers are more likely to be in precarious forms of employment. More generally, our typology reveals limitations associated with binary conceptions of standard vs. non-standard employment, or insider–outsider dichotomies envisioned within dual labor market theories." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku, © Springer-Verlag) ((en))

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Baird, Matthew, John Engberg & Italo A. Gutierrez (2021): Outcome Mechanisms for Improved Employment and Earnings through Screened Job Training: Evidence from an RCT. (IZA discussion paper 14435), Bonn, 32 S.

Abstract

"This study fills a gap in the literature on the outcome mechanisms in which successful training programs improve employment and earnings, such as raises on the job or longer job duration. The city of New Orleans implemented a job training program as an RCT for low-income workers. Individuals in the treatment group were more likely to work in the target industries and move out of low-skill industries. In the first 9 months after training, the treatment group experienced higher earnings with new employers and with existing employments. After 9 months, the effects were driven by higher probability of staying with an employer (with now-higher earnings). Findings encourage patience on the part of trainees and the government, as workers may not find their stable, target employment immediately. Government may also want to find ways to improve early connections with employers after training." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Leupp, Katrina, Sabino Kornrich & Julie Brines (2021): 'Stuck' in nonstandard schedules? Married couples' nonstandard work schedules over the life course. In: Community, work & family, Jg. 24, H. 1, S. 20-38. DOI:10.1080/13668803.2019.1619517

Abstract

"Though employment outside of regular daytime business hours has remained high since the 1990s, trends in nonstandard employment schedules over the life course and across households remain under-examined. The consequences of nonstandard scheduling extend to workers, their spouse, and children, urging greater attention to the distribution of nonstandard schedules at the couple-level. Using all three waves of the National Survey of Families and Households, this article examines the prevalence, persistence and sociodemographic patterns of rotating and night employment at the couple-level, following 913 married couples in the United States as they aged from the late 1980s to early 2000s. Though aging reduced the likelihood that couples had one or both spouses working nonstandard hours, roughly one-third of couples with nonstandard scheduling continued to experience nonstandard schedules during the subsequent observation period. Nonstandard schedules were stratified by education and race/ethnicity. This stratification persisted as couples aged, even after controlling for prior work schedules. Findings suggest that disadvantaged couples remain disproportionately exposed to schedules associated with negative outcomes for family well-being across the life course." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

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Liu, Shimeng & Xi Yang (2021): Human capital externalities or consumption spillovers? The effect of high-skill human capital across low-skill labor markets. In: Regional Science and Urban Economics, Jg. 87. DOI:10.1016/j.regsciurbeco.2020.103620