Author: Polly Callaghan

Publisher:

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13:

Contingent workers are those employed in jobs that do not fit the traditional description of a full-time, permanent job with benefits. Contingent work takes the form of part-time, temporary, and contract employment. The number of contingent workers in 1988 has been estimated at between 29.9 and 36.6 million, representing 25-30 percent of the civilian work force. Reasons to be disturbed about the growth and magnitude of contingent employment include the following: the potential negative effects on the overall economy; inequities in pay and health benefits and lack of workplace protections that many contingent workers experience; and potential burdens these inequities may place on the welfare system. Those employed in part-time work are disproportionately female, younger (16-24), or older (65+), and those employed in temporary work are disproportionately female, minority, and young. Growth in contingent employment has been motivated by structural shifts, avoidance of fringe benefits costs, and short-and long-run flexibility. Policy options include direct regulation of the quantity of contingent work, reduction of contingent workers by use of other forms of work arrangements to provide flexibility, and reporting by users of contingent workers to a regulatory agency. (Twenty-five figures and one chart are provided. Appendixes include 10 tables, a 19-item bibliography, a list of 6 Economic Policy Institute publications, and a list of 10 other publications of interest.) (YLB)