Workers Without Traditional Employment

An International Study of Non-standard Work

John Mangan, Professor of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia

Workers Without Traditional Employment aims to provide a comprehensive and global analysis of the significant changes in employment relationships that have occurred over the last two decades. The author discusses the incidence, causes, and social and economic implications of non-standard employment. Shifts in the nature of employment are placed within the wider context of modern labour markets seeking to cope with rapid changes in international business practice and the pressures of a globalised economy. The book argues that while much non-standard employment has country-specific aspects, there exists a common set of underlying factors influencing the spread of non-standard employment across the world. The final part of the book deals with the implications of employment change for work/family interaction and examines likely future trends.

‘Appropriate for labor economics and labor studies collections, upper-division undergraduate and above.’
– J.P. Jacobsen, Choice

‘Non-standard forms of employment have emerged as a worldwide phenomenon. Mangan has put together a wide-ranging and sober review of the economic reasons for their appearance, taking in both supply side and demand side influences. He pays close attention to questions of international comparison, and delves deeply into the implications for individuals and for economic performance. This will be an important reference point for understanding the ongoing transformation of labour markets around the advanced capitalist world.’
– Francis Green, University of Kent at Canterbury, UK

‘John Mangan provides rich empirical insights into the international world of the new forms of non-standard employment, its dynamic, structure and impact on industrial relations, income, job satisfaction, productivity and family friendly work . . . a very thoughtful piece of causal analysis which prevents the interested reader from quick utopian conclusion, be they over-pessimistic (“the end of work”) or over-optimistic (“the boundary-less career”). The study finally challenges policymakers, managers and trade union leaders to be more inventive in containing the dangers of marginalisation to low wages or oppressive work relationships and in enhancing the potential of flexibility and individual autonomy related to part-time work, temporary work, contract and self-employment. The future of the labour market in transition is still open.’
– Günther Schmid, the Social Science Research Centre (WZB), Berlin and Free University of Berlin, Germany