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Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology

New Developments in American Job Quality: Understanding the Recent Rise of Low-Wage Jobs and Nonstandard Work Arrangements

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RSF: THE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Issue on:
New Developments in American Job Quality: Understanding the Recent Rise of Low-Wage Jobs and Nonstandard Work Arrangements

Edited by
David R. Howell, The New School
and
Arne L. Kalleberg, University of North Carolina

The question of job quality has emerged as a key challenge for researchers and policy-makers in the 21st century. The growing realization that the quality, not just the quantity, of jobs is central to addressing a myriad of social and economic problems—such as economic development, family formation and social integration, poverty and inequality, and individual well-being—has put this age-old topic on the front burner for social scientists.

This issue of RSF will focus on two important dimensions of the quality of jobs created in the past three decades in the United States. First, there has been an expansion of low-wage jobs, a phenomenon that has been documented by numerous studies, many of which have been sponsored by the Russell Sage Foundation. This proliferation of low-wage work, especially among younger workers, has contributed to the weakening of the middle class, reversing the dramatic improvements experienced by the middle of the income distribution in the three decades following World War II (Sullivan, Warren and Westbrook 2001; Appelbaum, Bernhardt and Murnane 2006).

Second, there has been a dramatic increase in nonstandard jobs such as temporary help agency workers, on-call workers, contract workers, and independent contractors or freelancers. Many of these jobs are uncertain, unstable and insecure, in which employees bear most of the risks of work (as opposed to businesses or the government) and receive limited social benefits and statutory protections (e.g., Kalleberg 2011). Recent studies document an increased incidence of alternative work arrangements, especially among workers hired through contract firms (Weil 2014; Katz and Krueger 2016). While some nonstandard jobs may be good ones—such as well-paid consultants who have high control over the terms and conditions of work—most such jobs are characterized by low pay, low security, and poor working conditions.

Low-wage and nonstandard jobs are interconnected. In both types, workers typically receive few employment-related benefits. They also often lack statutory protections in the form of labor laws and benefits such as health insurance and pension contributions that some employers provide. Moreover, workers in low-wage and nonstandard jobs often tend to be the most vulnerable members of the labor force such as racial and ethnic minorities, women, immigrants and undocumented workers. While nonstandard jobs often pay low wages, low-wage jobs are also increasingly found in “standard” employment relations. The shifting of risks from employers to workers has reduced protections for standard workers too, leading to declines in their quality.

This journal issue aims to bring together papers that examine three main topics related to job quality in the United States: the causes of the increase in low-wage and nonstandard jobs; their impacts on workers and their families; and policies that are needed to enhance the quality of low-wage and nonstandard jobs.

Michael Esposito and Victoria Sass Present at 3rd Annual Interdisciplinary Population Health Research Conference

CSDE Fellow Michael Esposito and Trainee Victoria Sass presented papers at the 3rd Annual Interdisciplinary Population Health Research Conference “Improving Population Health: Now, Across People’s Lives, and Across Generations to Come,” which took place from October 2-4 in Austin, Texas. Esposito–the recipient of one of CSDE’s four individual Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS) memberships–presented the paper “Race, Place and Deaths Involving Suicide,” which he co-authored with affiliate Hedwig Lee and other colleagues. Sass presented the paper “The Effects of Air Pollution on Individual Psychological Distress,” which she co-authored along with affiliates Kyle Crowder and Anjum Hajat, former CSDE Fellow Nicole Kravtiz-Wirtz, and colleagues Steven M. Karceski and David Takeuchi.

Assistant/Associate Professor of Linguistic or Sociocultural Anthropology

The University of California San Diego Department of Anthropology invites applications for a position in linguistic or sociocultural anthropology at the rank of associate or assistant professor with a start date of July 1, 2018. Candidates must have received their PhD in anthropology or a closely related ethnographic field. We strongly prefer that candidates have received their PhD and have at least five years experience teaching or conducting research at the college or university level.

We seek ethnographically grounded and theoretically rigorous scholars whose research examines relations of power. We are particularly interested in a new colleague who focuses on: language use and regimentation; socioeconomic disparity and political ecology; formations of race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, or religion; or colonial/postcolonial relations. Geographic region is open; candidates whose area of expertise is the Middle East, Africa, or their diasporas are especially encouraged to apply. We seek a colleague who will complement and expand our department’s current conceptual, methodological, and regional strengths while communicating across disciplinary and departmental boundaries, including, when pertinent, co-teaching with departmental colleagues.

Applicants should have a robust publication record in established venues, a proven capacity for innovative and effective teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and a demonstrated capability for service in the department, on campus, and to the profession. We particularly welcome candidates whose experience in teaching, research, or community service has prepared them to contribute to our commitment to diversity and excellence.

Assistant Professor of Geography

The Department of Geography at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky is searching for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Geography in the area of health geography to begin August 2018. Our goal is to build upon and strategically expand the Department’s strengths in health and medical geography, critical human geography, environmental studies, and critical mapping. We welcome candidates conducting research across the broad spectrum of health geography including but not limited to critical health geographies; social differentiation of health outcomes; health and illness behaviors; health and the environment; political ecology of health; and global health and disease.

This position is part of a college-wide interdisciplinary cluster hire in health. The successful candidate will also contribute to the College of Arts and Sciences interdisciplinary undergraduate major in Health, Society & Populations, and will be encouraged to seek out broader initiatives across programs, including public health, medicine, Appalachian Studies, and International Studies. A PhD in geography or related discipline is required at time of appointment.

Associate Research Scientist

The Department of Sociomedical Sciences seeks an Associate Research Scientist to carry out daily management and coordination of research activities for projects at the Center for the Psychosocial Study of Health and Illness in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences located at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. Individual must hold a PhD in Sociology, Psychology, Public Health or related science and have training or experience carrying out qualitative research studies, and a record of peer-review publications.

Individual must possess experience in sociomedical sciences or related field and have excellent collaborative skills. Experience doing research with men who have sex with men (MSM) or LGBTQ individuals and with grant writing are desirable. He/she mus have excellent written and verbal communication skills and very good organizational and time-management skills. Knowledge of SPSS, Qualtrics, ATLAS-ti and ZOTERO are also required.

Sociology Speaker Series: Using the Violence Triangle to Understand the Lived Experience of Latino Male Youth in Urban Communities

Using the Violence Triangle to Understand the Lived Experience of Latino Male Youth in Urban Communities
Adrian Huerta, University of Southern California
Thursday, November 2
Savery Hall, Room 409
2:30-4:00 PM

In the US, Latino youth are overexposed to various forms of violence in their daily lives. Although Latino adolescents are often the victims of violence, the dominant narrative is that this group are the perpetrators of violence and are embedded in deviance and crimes. In this presentation, which focuses on the qualitative experiences of 26 Latino male youth from low to middle-income urban communities share their experiences with violence at home, schools, and their local communities.

Adrian Huerta was awarded a Minority Dissertation Fellowship in 2015 by the American Educational Research Association for his work on college access for Latino males in urban schools. His work focuses on the Latino male high school experience, and is currently working on a book based on this re-search. He is continuing research to identify at-risk factors for Latino male students who drop out. During the current academic year, he is a postdoc supported by the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin.

UW Data Science Seminar: “The Statistical Crisis in Science”

The Statistical Crisis in Science
Andrew Gelman, Professor of Statistics and Political Science
Columbia University
Oct. 25, 2017, 3:30 p.m.
Physics/Astronomy Auditorium (PAA), A102

Abstract: Top journals routinely publish ridiculous, scientifically implausible claims, justified based on “p < 0.05.” And this in turn calls into question all sorts of more plausible, but not necessarily true, claims, that are supported by this same sort of evidence. To put it another way: we can all laugh at studies of ESP, or ovulation and voting, but what about MRI studies of political attitudes, or stereotype threat, or, for that matter, the latest potential cancer cure? If we can’t trust p-values, does experimental science involving human variation just have to start over? And what do we do in fields such as political science and economics, where preregistered replication can be difficult or impossible? Can Bayesian inference supply a solution? Maybe. These are not easy problems, but they’re important problems.

Ali Rowhani-Rahbar Examines Loaded Handgun Carrying Behaviors in the US

Affiliate Ali Rowhani-Rahbar, Professor of Epidemiology, co-authored a recent study that examines the nature of loaded handgun carrying in the US. From a nationally representative survey of adults conducted in 2015, lead author Rowhani-Rahbar and his co-authors were able to assess carrying behavior among handgun owners within a 30-day period, as well as concealed carrying in the context of individual state carrying laws. The outcomes of the study—which has been featured in the Washington Post and US News, among other sources—indicate that an estimated nine million handgun owners carry loaded weapons on a monthly basis, while three million carry them on a daily basis. Of those respondents who carry, the majority cited protection as their primary motivation for doing so. The full study is available below.

Donald Chi Explores Outcomes for Communities Served by Dental Therapists in YK Delta

A recent study by affiliate Donald Chi, Associate Professor of Oral Health Sciences, and colleagues explores the role that treatment by Dental Therapists plays in dental health outcomes in Alaska Native communities in the Yukon Kuskokwim (YK) Delta. Using data from the YK Health Corporation dental clinic electronic health record (EHR) and 10 years of Medicaid claims, principal investigator Chi and his co-investigators assessed five community-level outcomes—three for children and two for adults—based on number of Dental Therapist treatment days. The study, which was cited last week in a Huffington Post article, demonstrates that a higher number of Dental Therapist treatment days is associated with better dental health outcomes—specifically, greater rates of preventative care and lower rates of treatment, such as extractions—for communities in the YK Delta. The full study is accessible below.

CSDE Staff Matt Dunbar, Assistant Director and Spatial Demographer, and Michael Babb, former Research Scientist and Trainee, were a critical component of this project’s study team. Donald Chi made use of CSDE’s expertise in geocoding and data linking in order to bring together Alaska Medicaid Data and Dental Clinic Health Records based on community of residence. Please contact CSDE staff within any one of our service areas to inquire about how we can support your population research.

 

Jake Vigdor Discusses Seattle’s Unique Work Culture and Amazon’s HQ2

Affiliate Jake Vigdor, Professor at the Evans School, was quoted in a recent Politico article that considers Amazon’s growth within and impacts on the city of Seattle in light of the upcoming deadline for the company’s second headquarters, “HQ2”. Though Amazon was certainly responsible for explosive economic growth in Seattle, these effects will not necessarily translate to another city in the same way. According to Vigdor, this is in part due to Seattle’s uniquely innovative and entrepreneurial atmosphere, which has long attracted and retained talented workers. “There’s this inclination to think, ‘Hey, this is a town where new stuff is happening, where there’ll be some startup or some other opportunity for me,” which applies even for those who are unemployed. Though Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has expressed his desire for the location of HQ2 to share qualities with Seattle, similar cities are likely to be expensive. As Vidgor notes, “bringing in 40,000 highly paid employees to compete for the same relatively constant supply of housing” would only compound the issue of affordability, which is one of Amazon’s selection criteria. The full article is available below.