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Enforcing Labour Standards in Fissured Workplaces: The US Experience

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  • David Weil

Abstract

The employment relationship in a growing number of industries with large concentrations of low wage workers has become ‘fissured’, where the lead firms that collectively determine the product market conditions in which wages and conditions are set have become separated from the actual employment of the workers who provide goods or services. Instead, the direct employers of low wage workers operate in far more competitive markets that create conditions for non-compliance. We examine this evolution in employment and its implications for public policy in the US, discuss the factors driving fissured employment and sketch its main features and outcomes. We then look at the traditional methods used for labour standards enforcement in the US and discuss why they are poorly suited to address fissured workplaces. Finally, we survey how public policies might better address the realities of the modern workplace, including efforts in this regard by the Obama administration.

Suggested Citation

  • David Weil, 2011. "Enforcing Labour Standards in Fissured Workplaces: The US Experience," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 22(2), pages 33-54, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:22:y:2011:i:2:p:33-54
    DOI: 10.1177/103530461102200203
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Oded Stark & Walter Hyll, 2011. "On the Economic Architecture of the Workplace: Repercussions of Social Comparisons among Heterogeneous Workers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(2), pages 349-375.
    2. Blair,Roger D. & Lafontaine,Francine, 2011. "The Economics of Franchising," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521775892, Enero-Abr.
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    Cited by:

    1. Joy Jeounghee Kim & Skye Allmang, 2021. "Wage theft in the United States: Towards new research agendas," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(4), pages 534-551, December.
    2. Philip James & Alina M Baluch & Ian Cunningham & Anne-Marie Cullen, 2022. "Supply chain regulation in Scottish social care: Facilitators and barriers," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(3), pages 1319-1339, August.

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