IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v49y2012i5p1003-1025.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Counting and Understanding the Contingent Workforce

Author

Listed:
  • Cathy Yang Liu
  • Ric Kolenda

Abstract

Contingent workers are a large and increasingly important segment of the US labour force. This paper uses the Contingent Work Supplement of the Current Population Survey to gain some understanding of this workforce and to link that information to larger on-going annual and decennial surveys for sub-national-level estimation and analysis. A typology is developed of the non-standard workforce based on their work arrangement and the industries in which they concentrate; with four types of worker: contingent core, standard workers in contingent industries, non-standard workers in traditional industries, and traditional workers. The state of Georgia is used as an example of a regional economy that has experienced much economic growth in recent years and possibly a surge in contingent workforce as well. Characterising these workers by demographic and economic characteristics demonstrates much diversity across these four groups. Possible policy implications on employment quality and economic development are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Cathy Yang Liu & Ric Kolenda, 2012. "Counting and Understanding the Contingent Workforce," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(5), pages 1003-1025, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:5:p:1003-1025
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098011408139
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098011408139
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098011408139?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marc Doussard & Jamie Peck & Nik Theodore, 2009. "After Deindustrialization: Uneven Growth and Economic Inequality in “Postindustrial” Chicago," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(2), pages 183-207, April.
    2. Michael J. Chriszt, 2002. "Temps have a permanent place in the workforce," EconSouth, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, vol. 4(Q3), pages 14-19.
    3. Jamie Peck & Nik Theodore, 2001. "Contingent Chicago: Restructuring the Spaces of Temporary Labor," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 471-496, September.
    4. Lonnie Golden, 2008. "Limited Access: Disparities in Flexible Work Schedules and Work-at-home," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 86-109, March.
    5. Jamie Peck & Nik Theodore, 2007. "Flexible recession: the temporary staffing industry and mediated work in the United States," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(2), pages 171-192, March.
    6. Giuliano, Genevieve, 2003. "Travel, location and race/ethnicity," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 351-372, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mundra, Kusum & Rios-Avila, Fernando, 2016. "Immigrant Birthcountry Networks and Unemployment Duration: Evidence around the Great Recession," IZA Discussion Papers 10233, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Darja Reuschke & Carol Ekinsmyth, 2021. "New spatialities of work in the city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(11), pages 2177-2187, August.
    3. Cathy Yang Liu & Marc Doussard & Nichola Lowe, 2023. "Fixing Work, and Moving Beyond It," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 37(1), pages 64-72, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marc Doussard & Jamie Peck & Nik Theodore, 2009. "After Deindustrialization: Uneven Growth and Economic Inequality in “Postindustrial” Chicago," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 85(2), pages 183-207, April.
    2. Stephan J. Goetz & Sundar S. Shrestha, 2009. "Explaining Self‐Employment Success and Failure: Wal‐Mart Versus Starbucks, or Schumpeter Versus Putnam," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 90(1), pages 22-38, March.
    3. Rutvica Andrijasevic & Devi Sacchetto, 2017. "‘Disappearing workers’: Foxconn in Europe and the changing role of temporary work agencies," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 31(1), pages 54-70, February.
    4. Jamie Peck & Nik Theodore, 2008. "Carceral Chicago: Making the Ex‐offender Employability Crisis," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 251-281, June.
    5. Thanos Fragkandreas, 2022. "Three Decades of Research on Innovation and Inequality: Causal Scenarios, Explanatory Factors, and Suggestions," Working Papers 60, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Feb 2022.
    6. Bora Pajo & David Cohen, 2013. "Time Spent With Children and Working Parents’ Willingness to Medicate ADHD-Like Behaviors," SAGE Open, , vol. 3(4), pages 21582440135, November.
    7. Bhat, Chandra R. & Astroza, Sebastian & Sidharthan, Raghuprasad & Alam, Mohammad Jobair Bin & Khushefati, Waleed H., 2014. "A joint count-continuous model of travel behavior with selection based on a multinomial probit residential density choice model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 31-51.
    8. Tom Barratt & Caleb Goods & Alex Veen, 2020. "‘I’m my own boss…’: Active intermediation and ‘entrepreneurial’ worker agency in the Australian gig-economy," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 52(8), pages 1643-1661, November.
    9. Yang, Guanyi, 2018. "Welfare under friction and uncertainty: General equilibrium evaluation of temporary employment in the U.S," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(3), pages 404-413.
    10. Norma M Rantisi & Deborah Leslie, 2021. "In and against the neoliberal state? The precarious siting of work integration social enterprises (WISEs) as counter-movement in Montreal, Quebec," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(2), pages 349-370, March.
    11. Karner, Alex & Niemeier, Deb, 2013. "Civil rights guidance and equity analysis methods for regional transportation plans: a critical review of literature and practice," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 126-134.
    12. Eliot L. Sherman, 2020. "Discretionary Remote Working Helps Mothers Without Harming Non-mothers: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1351-1374, March.
    13. Nichola Lowe & Greg Schrock & Ranita Jain & Maureen Conway, 2021. "Genesis at work: Advancing inclusive innovation through manufacturing extension," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 36(3), pages 224-241, May.
    14. Scott Hall & Shelley MacDermid, 2009. "A Typology of Dual Earner Marriages Based on Work and Family Arrangements," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 30(3), pages 215-225, September.
    15. Mine Hancioglu & Bastian Hartmann, 2014. "What Makes Single Mothers Expand or Reduce Employment?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 27-39, March.
    16. Gershenson, Seth, 2013. "The causal effect of commute time on labor supply: Evidence from a natural experiment involving substitute teachers," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 127-140.
    17. Ian Fitzgerald & Jane Hardy, 2010. "‘Thinking Outside the Box’? Trade Union Organizing Strategies and Polish Migrant Workers in the United Kingdom," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(1), pages 131-150, March.
    18. Miwa Matsuo, 2020. "Carpooling and drivers without household vehicles: gender disparity in automobility among Hispanics and non-Hispanics in the U.S," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 1631-1663, August.
    19. Neil Lee & Paul Sissons & Katy Jones, 2016. "The Geography of Wage Inequality in British Cities," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(10), pages 1714-1727, October.
    20. Zhuofei Lu & Senhu Wang & Wendy Olsen, 2023. "Revisiting the ‘flexibility paradox’: degree of work schedule flexibility and time use patterns across gender and occupational groups," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:5:p:1003-1025. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.