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labyrinth_witch's review
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Hatton provides an in-depth sociological account of how we came to our current circumstances of precarious work and inability to pay rent despite working full-time. This should be required reading in high school, before you’re targeted by these very companies.
Most of us have heard the “disappearance of the middle-class” but its causal forces are rarely so clearly explained. Hatton makes a persuasive argument for how the Temp Industry spearheaded an ideological shift from workers as assets to workers as liabilities. When “labor” (workers) became a “good” that could be acquired at the lowest possible price, employment triangulation skyrocketed. Once this triangulation occurs- who is responsible for benefits (if any), who is responsible for worker conditions.
The temp industry also actively creates markets for their “product” (temporary workers) which depresses wages for everyone else by increasing competition. Since over 90% of employers in the U.S. in all sectors use temp agencies to fill long-term positions or entire departments, we are ALL suffering under this precarity and threat of precarity. We probably know people who have been taken in by these pyramid schemes.
In the conclusion, Hatton proposes four policy solutions. A new labor movement is emerging. Let’s recognize our common struggle and agitate to protect all workers from misclassification and exploitation.
Most of us have heard the “disappearance of the middle-class” but its causal forces are rarely so clearly explained. Hatton makes a persuasive argument for how the Temp Industry spearheaded an ideological shift from workers as assets to workers as liabilities. When “labor” (workers) became a “good” that could be acquired at the lowest possible price, employment triangulation skyrocketed. Once this triangulation occurs- who is responsible for benefits (if any), who is responsible for worker conditions.
The temp industry also actively creates markets for their “product” (temporary workers) which depresses wages for everyone else by increasing competition. Since over 90% of employers in the U.S. in all sectors use temp agencies to fill long-term positions or entire departments, we are ALL suffering under this precarity and threat of precarity. We probably know people who have been taken in by these pyramid schemes.
In the conclusion, Hatton proposes four policy solutions. A new labor movement is emerging. Let’s recognize our common struggle and agitate to protect all workers from misclassification and exploitation.
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