This website uses cookies.

By clicking the "Accept" button or continuing to browse our site, you agree to first-party and session-only cookies being stored on your device to enhance site navigation and analyze site performance and traffic. For more information on our use of cookies, please see our Privacy Policy.

« Back to Results

The Growth of Alternative Work Arrangements: Measurements and Implications

Paper Session

Friday, Jan. 3, 2020 10:15 AM - 12:15 PM (PDT)

Manchester Grand Hyatt, Harbor E
Hosted By: Labor and Employment Relations Association
  • Chair: Teresa Ghilarducci, New School for Social Research

Reservation Wages and Nontraditional Work

Michael Papadopoulos
,
New School for Social Research

Abstract

This study proposes a framework for understanding the increase in alternative work arrangements (AWAs) among older workers in recent years. Explanations in prior literature for the increase in AWAs concern demand side phenomena or claims that workers in these positions strongly prefer non-traditional work schedules. I hypothesize that older workers who have lower reservation wages -- due to financial desperation brought on by inadequate retirement income, recent job loss, and/or low self-perceived employability -- are more likely to take on work in on-call, temp agency, contract firm and gig jobs. I utilize a sample of 3,046 respondents ages 55 and older in the American Life Panel who completed equivalents of both the Contingent Work Survey and the Health and Retirement Study core questionnaire. I conduct multinomial logit analyses to compare workers in various employment arrangements with regards to exposure to indicators of a low reservation wage. Next, I estimate the reservation wages of each of these groups. Workers in on-call, temp agency, contract firm and gig jobs have lower predicted reservation wages than independent contractors or low-paid traditional employees. The findings inform discussions regarding the connection between retirement savings inadequacy, the aging labor force and increasing labor force participation at older ages.

Contract Work and Labor Force Participation at Older Ages

Katharine G. Abraham
,
University of Maryland
Brad Hershbein
,
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
Susan Houseman
,
W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research

Abstract

Ensuring the adequacy of older Americans' incomes is among the most salient policy challenges currently facing the United States. Although older workers face significant barriers to employment, labor force participation has been rising among those age 55 and over, reflecting, in part, the need to work later in life to make ends meet. Available evidence suggests that independent contractor arrangements, including "gig" work, have grown in recent years, a trend that may have facilitated workforce attachment among older Americans. To help fill the gap in what is known about this phenomenon, we will analyze new data on contract work collected in a module we designed for the Gallup Strada Education Pulse Survey. These data will measure the prevalence of various contract arrangements among older workers and provide new information on the reasons they take this work. Complementing the analysis of these data, we will analyze longitudinal data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to provide insights into changes in the prevalence of various work arrangements among older workers over time and the role they have played in increasing workforce attachment.

Are More Older Workers Moving to Non-Traditional Jobs as Globalization and Automation Spread?

Matthew Rutledge
,
Boston College

Abstract

This paper uses the measures of globalization and automation from Autor/Dorn and Acemoglu/Restrepo as the indices of the spread of globalization and automation to local areas, and determines whether workers in the more-affected areas are more likely to be in non-traditional jobs - defined as those without health and/or retirement benefits and volatility in employment, hours, or earnings. Our preliminary results indicate that areas exposed to greater competition from automation have seen more workers in non-traditional jobs, and more workers moving from traditional to non-traditional jobs.
Discussant(s)
Martha Susana Jaimes Builes
,
New School for Public Engagement
Teresa Ghilarducci
,
New School for Social Research
William M. Rodgers III
,
Rutgers University
JEL Classifications
  • J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs