Era of the disposable worker

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CASE INCIDENT 2 Era of the Disposable Worker?

The great global recession has claimed many victims. In many countries, unemployment is at near-historic highs, and even those who have managed to keep their jobs have often been asked to accept reduced work hours or pay cuts. Another consequence of the current business and economic environment is an increase in the number of individuals employed on a temporary or contingent basis.

The statistics on U.S. temporary workers are grim. Many, like single mother Tammy Smith, have no health insurance, no retirement benefits, no vacation, no severance, and no access to unemployment insurance. Increases in layoffs mean that many jobs formerly considered safe have become “temporary” in the sense that they could disappear at any time with little warning. Forecasts suggest that the next 5 to 10 years will be similar, with small pay increases, worse working conditions, and low levels of job security. As Peter Cappelli of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School notes, “Employers are trying to get rid of all fixed costs. First they did it with employment benefits. Now they’re doing it with the jobs themselves. Everything is variable.” We might suppose these corporate actions are largely taking place in an era of diminishing profitability. However, data from the financial sector is not consistent with this explanation. Among Fortune 500 companies, 2009 saw the second-largest jump in corporate earnings in the list’s 56-year history. Moreover, many of these gains do not appear to be the result of increases in revenue. Rather, they reflect dramatic decreases in labor costs. One equity market researcher noted, “The largest part of the gain came from lower payrolls rather than the sluggish rise in sales …” Wages also rose only slightly during this period of rapidly increasing corporate profitability.