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think

(11,641 posts)
Mon Aug 24, 2015, 08:29 AM Aug 2015

The Upsurge in Uncertain Work

The Upsurge in Uncertain Work

By Robert Reich - SUNDAY, AUGUST 23, 2015

As Labor Day looms, more Americans than ever don’t know how much they’ll be earning next week or even tomorrow.

This varied group includes independent contractors, temporary workers, the self-employed, part-timers, freelancers, and free agents. Most file 1099s rather than W2s, for tax purposes.

On demand and on call – in the “share” economy, the “gig” economy, or, more prosaically, the “irregular” economy – the result is the same: no predictable earnings or hours.

It’s the biggest change in the American workforce in over a century, and it’s happening at lightening speed. It’s estimated that in five years over 40 percent of the American labor force will have uncertain work; in a decade, most of us.

Increasingly, businesses need only a relatively small pool of “talent” anchored in the enterprise – innovators and strategists responsible for the firm’s unique competitive strength.

Everyone else is becoming fungible, sought only for their reliability and low cost....

Read more:
http://robertreich.org/post/127426324745
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The Upsurge in Uncertain Work (Original Post) think Aug 2015 OP
The US job market is really in the crapper. Time For Peace Aug 2015 #1
 

Time For Peace

(22 posts)
1. The US job market is really in the crapper.
Tue Aug 25, 2015, 09:20 AM
Aug 2015

The government is covering up the fact that people are now getting jobs with no benefits and that pay half as much as previously.

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