How 35% of US employees are left on the margins
You've heard of gig workers, freelancers and temporary employees. But do you know about marginal workers? Accounting for about one in six U.S. jobs, it's a huge category of people who are going nowhere fast in the workplace—and don't really have much say about that.
Marginal workers, accounting for around one-sixth of U.S. jobs, represent a substantial and underserved group in the American workforce. These employees lack career prospects within their organizations and have little say in their employment status. According to MIT professor emeritus Paul Osterman, who authored a book on the subject, these workers make up 35% of the total U.S. workforce, or over 55 million people.
The term "marginal workers" was coined by Osterman himself, after conducting an analysis and survey of more than 6,000 workers. This category includes contract workers, organizational freelancers, and gig workers. The common factor among them is that these roles emerged as firms sought to cut labor costs and gain more managerial flexibility.
While Osterman acknowledges that firms are not inherently malicious, he emphasizes that their primary goal is to maximize profits, which often leads to a growing number of "disposable" workers with limited career advancement, healthcare benefits, and job stability.
Written by urgent.news from Phys.org's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
