Pay at risk : compensation and employment risk in the United States and Canada /

Do US and Canadian workers bear greater employment-related financial risk than in the past? To address this question, contributors to this volume first briefly consider how to conceptualize and measure risk, then carefully examine a wide range of labor market developments and institutions. They do not present new findings but systematically synthesize information from an impressive range of sources. The first substantive chapter covers wage, earnings, and job instability, concluding that in the US there has been little overall change in job instability, but a rise in job insecurity for older males. The next chapter examines "nonstandard" work arrangements, finding that the relative growth of the contingent and alternative workforce has been small. The final four chapters study nonwage benefits--health insurance, social security, pensions, and workers' compensation--detecting moves toward greater financial risks in some of these areas. The US-Canadian comparisons and up-to-date coverage will make this volume useful to both policy makers and those teaching policy-related courses. The writing is succinct, clear, and evenhanded--as one would expect from an Upjohn Institute publication--although it is fairly dry and is occasionally overly pessimistic. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate through professional collections. R. M. Whaples Wake Forest University