If you have a regular job, the new labor market can be hard to grasp. Irregular employment is wide-ranging; and unnecessarily hard.
.
.
.
Nonstandard workers are everywhere
Someone seeking a job has an array of public services on their side. People who need, choose, or get forced into nonstandard work have almost none. That gap has been filled by commercial labor markets structured around short-term profits or cutting labor costs.
Insight into this world remains sketchy. Estimates of nonstandard activity in the workforce pre-pandemic ranged from 2% to 35% and above. It depended on definition used. Much activity is in the shadow economy with no data collection. But post-Covid, irregular work is overtaking standard employment for many.
.
.In this section:
→ Who are the nonstandard workforce? Some want irregularity, others can’t avoid it.
→ What problems do nonstandard workers face? Uncertainty, marginalization, skimpy marketplaces.
→ What is the scale of nonstandard work? Numbers are significant. Data gathering less so.