Changing Work Relationships in Industrialized Economies

The contributors to this volume, from a variety of backgrounds and regions of the world, bring their varied expertise to a worldwide phenomenon: the changing work relationships in all industrialized economies, within the broader context of economic restructuring and demographic factors. Their focus is on those work relationships that have shifted from marginal to significant factors: part-time employment, temporary contracts, telework and telecommuting, and self-employment. The goal of the book is to examine the patterns of work experience entailed in such new work relationships and to discuss their policy implications. The book's major proposition is that in restructuring economies, such nonstandard employment forms have affected all workers, but women and younger workers in particular. Other demographic variables - contributors adduce education level, economic status, the racial and ethnic composition of the work force, immigrant status, and professional skill levels - as additional underlying forces in the construction and arrangements of nonstandard work.
As for the effects of these new relationships on workers as a whole, the research points to both positive and negative effects, without conclusive indications of which effect is stronger. Instead, for the present, the discussion presents various sides of an important debate and sheds light on its issues. "Changing Work Relationships" is comprehensive in its coverage of a variety of work arrangements; in its analysis of the topic within the experience of economic restucturing; and in the breadth of its collaboration. Its canvas is equally broad, instancing relevant experience in North America, Europe and Australia, and offering the viewpoints of representative unions, employed associations and intergovernmental organizations.