Review of “Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment”

t is generally accepted that the post-World War II norm (at least for white men) of the “standard” employment relationship (whereby work is done at the employer's place of business, under the employer's control, with the mutual expectation of continued employment, and eligibility for legally mandated benefits and protections) was transformed during the past half-century into various nonstandard forms, such as contract and temporary work, involuntary part-time work, and independent contractors. Research on the incidence of such nonstandard workers, the reasons for their use, and their consequences for individuals, organizations, and society have long been of considerable interest to sociologists and economists, among others. In this book, Paul Osterman, an institutional labor economist and veteran observer of labor and organizations, contributes to this topic by describing and explaining the adoption by employers of a human resource strategy that emphasizes “disposable workers, not employees,” whereby employers seek to get work done while minimizing the economic and process costs associated with standard employment. The book builds on the work of numerous scholars who have also studied these issues (many of whom are acknowledged in his preface) and seeks to provide a unified theory of different forms of disposable workers that serves as a useful guide to policies to improve their situations.