Many Americans fear automation, that day in the future when most workers have been replaced by robots. The much more real threat, one that’s already more than a decade old, is the shift toward alternative work arrangements in the country. Alternative work arrangements are non-full-time jobs, usually filled by contractors, on-call workers, or temps, according to a story in Politico. These workers not only suffer in number of hours worked, but also are usually ineligible for the crucial benefits tied up in full-time employment, from health care to overtime pay to a mandated minimum wage. The numbers are startling: Between 2005 and 2015 in the US economy, all net job growth came by way of contingent jobs. Thus far, Washington has paid very little attention to this dramatic shift in the nature of American labor.
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