Review by Choice Review
This series of studies by 19 authors, ably edited by Gleason (Pennsylvania State Univ.), brings together thorough research on what are variously termed nonstandard, contingent, self-employed, multiple-job holder, part-time, and shadow workers--any worker not employed under the "normal" rules of the game. Finding a norm in modern industrialized economies is an ephemeral task, but for purposes of this study comparisons are to the organization or factory workers of post-WW II decades. They worked standard workweeks, climbed career ladders, suffered occasional bouts of unemployment largely remedied by appropriate government policies, and in the end retired from work having enjoyed a prosperous, secure life. Naturally, reality was never this pretty, and workers today have a legacy of safety net polices tempering market risks. The majority of this volume informs the circumstances and outcomes when such policies confront nonstandard workers in the US, Europe, and Japan. It includes a taxonomy of nonstandard workers, critical analyses of the success and failures of safety nets in aiding such workers, and recommendations for both future research and future policy. Of value to any reader interested in 21st-century labor markets. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduate through faculty collections. D. J. Conger Ithaca College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
