4 ms·

Can anyone comment why so many positions are temporary and contract nowadays? How did such a shift happen whereby full-time permanent jobs became a luxury?

martalist 10y ago
I can think of a few things: - global competition, in that factory workers are competing against the pay/living-standards of those in poorer nations - no unions - a preparedness of employees to work for a pittance, towards unobtainable quotas, in unsafe conditions, for dangerously long periods of time. I'm not sure work gets any more full-time than 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. "Full-time permanent" sounds like semantics and a loophole for companies to exploit.
- chaostheory 10y ago
  You probably need to add the continually evolving automation and mechanization tech to the list.
  - martalist 10y ago
    indeed
Judgmentality 10y ago
My guess is it's just there are more people and proportionally fewer jobs. Wealth and power concentrate into big players who have more leverage. I think one reason we see more entrepreneurs today isn't just because it's easier - many people feel it's the only option. And in the same vein as above, a few VCs hold most of the money and get to dictate terms.
- mercer 10y ago
  A few years ago I moved to a different city and through circumstances made a lot of friends who are just-post-college, usually in their mid-twenties. At first I was quite excited that so many of them wanted to be freelancers and entrepreneurs, because in my post-college days I often felt like the odd one out, choosing freelancing and (minor) entrepreneurship. My views changed as I got to know them better. Most of them didn't really choose entrepreneurship or freelancing, but saw it as the only way out of the low-wage, unschooled college side-jobs that they were still doing. Most of them would've probably benefitted from a few years of work experience in an existing organization, and most of them, when asked, would take such a job over freelancing or their 'startup'. What I find most disturbing is the rather popular narrative (around here) of how self-employment and entrepreneurship are things to aspire to and preferable over employment. A lot of these friends buy or bought into this narrative without any idea of what a 'real job' is actually like. Quite a few of them are doing this whole bootstrapping thing by choice, or claim they do, but I can't help but wonder how much 'choice' this really is when they're actively pushed in this direction and where there are really no good alternatives. I get the same vibes from this situation that I get from the perennially single people I know who claim it's by choice; they prefer being alone. It might be true, but it feels like a lie (or at least a way to feel a bit better about things). The thing is: this is all wonderful for me, in theory. I have a huge supply of very smart, motivated people who are willing to work for a pittance or even just 'intern' for me, all just for the promise that my shitty startup-idea will take off. I don't take advantage of this, but it's tempting and I'm sure many others do.
Spooky23 10y ago
Right to work and Reagan era deregulation. Temporary and contract workers can fill in holes in the workforce and are easier to get rid of. Also, you push hiring and firing accountability to the contractor.
di4na 10y ago
Lack of faith in the future. By keeping things in temporary and contracts, you can easily downsize if a big problem happens. And you do not need ot invest in infrastructure that much. It is a problem of cost of liability and fear of the future.
aanm1988 10y ago
Companies realized they could avoid a lot of costs by making peoples temps and contractors. Unions won't stop them, government won't stop them. People just need to get a job, so they can't really stand up and say screw you. Oh, and that whole "it's hard to fire people" idea. You keep someone as a temp for a few months and then hire them if they can do the job. THat's not the worst thing in the world if you do it right. My first job in tech I was a "casual" position. So non-union, and not full time. I was working 40 hours a week, but it didn't really count. No benefits (health, pension, etc...), no vacation, my boss told me one day he was slashing my hours in half. It sucked. I didn't go to the dentist for about 2 years (that was real fun when I did go back, fortuantely nothing bad happened) because I didn't have coverage. Taking a day off for a trip with my friends meant either losing a days pay or having to make it up (my boss was real big on flex time). When he slashed my hours I went from making decent money to borrowing from my parents for bills. On the other hand, the union people had health benefits (this was canada, so not as big a deal as the states), pension, vacation, etc... Government job. OT and on-call pay too. The nice thing was when I got my hours cut I smartened up and applied for a much better job, which I got.

martalist 10y ago

I can think of a few things: - global competition, in that factory workers are competing against the pay/living-standards of those in poorer nations - no unions - a preparedness of employees to work for a pittance, towards unobtainable quotas, in unsafe conditions, for dangerously long periods of time. I'm not sure work gets any more full-time than 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. "Full-time permanent" sounds like semantics and a loophole for companies to exploit.

chaostheory 10y ago
You probably need to add the continually evolving automation and mechanization tech to the list.
- martalist 10y ago
  indeed

Judgmentality 10y ago

My guess is it's just there are more people and proportionally fewer jobs. Wealth and power concentrate into big players who have more leverage. I think one reason we see more entrepreneurs today isn't just because it's easier - many people feel it's the only option. And in the same vein as above, a few VCs hold most of the money and get to dictate terms.

mercer 10y ago
A few years ago I moved to a different city and through circumstances made a lot of friends who are just-post-college, usually in their mid-twenties. At first I was quite excited that so many of them wanted to be freelancers and entrepreneurs, because in my post-college days I often felt like the odd one out, choosing freelancing and (minor) entrepreneurship. My views changed as I got to know them better. Most of them didn't really choose entrepreneurship or freelancing, but saw it as the only way out of the low-wage, unschooled college side-jobs that they were still doing. Most of them would've probably benefitted from a few years of work experience in an existing organization, and most of them, when asked, would take such a job over freelancing or their 'startup'. What I find most disturbing is the rather popular narrative (around here) of how self-employment and entrepreneurship are things to aspire to and preferable over employment. A lot of these friends buy or bought into this narrative without any idea of what a 'real job' is actually like. Quite a few of them are doing this whole bootstrapping thing by choice, or claim they do, but I can't help but wonder how much 'choice' this really is when they're actively pushed in this direction and where there are really no good alternatives. I get the same vibes from this situation that I get from the perennially single people I know who claim it's by choice; they prefer being alone. It might be true, but it feels like a lie (or at least a way to feel a bit better about things). The thing is: this is all wonderful for me, in theory. I have a huge supply of very smart, motivated people who are willing to work for a pittance or even just 'intern' for me, all just for the promise that my shitty startup-idea will take off. I don't take advantage of this, but it's tempting and I'm sure many others do.

Spooky23 10y ago

Right to work and Reagan era deregulation. Temporary and contract workers can fill in holes in the workforce and are easier to get rid of. Also, you push hiring and firing accountability to the contractor.

di4na 10y ago

Lack of faith in the future. By keeping things in temporary and contracts, you can easily downsize if a big problem happens. And you do not need ot invest in infrastructure that much. It is a problem of cost of liability and fear of the future.

aanm1988 10y ago

Companies realized they could avoid a lot of costs by making peoples temps and contractors. Unions won't stop them, government won't stop them. People just need to get a job, so they can't really stand up and say screw you. Oh, and that whole "it's hard to fire people" idea. You keep someone as a temp for a few months and then hire them if they can do the job. THat's not the worst thing in the world if you do it right. My first job in tech I was a "casual" position. So non-union, and not full time. I was working 40 hours a week, but it didn't really count. No benefits (health, pension, etc...), no vacation, my boss told me one day he was slashing my hours in half. It sucked. I didn't go to the dentist for about 2 years (that was real fun when I did go back, fortuantely nothing bad happened) because I didn't have coverage. Taking a day off for a trip with my friends meant either losing a days pay or having to make it up (my boss was real big on flex time). When he slashed my hours I went from making decent money to borrowing from my parents for bills. On the other hand, the union people had health benefits (this was canada, so not as big a deal as the states), pension, vacation, etc... Government job. OT and on-call pay too. The nice thing was when I got my hours cut I smartened up and applied for a much better job, which I got.