09/06/2026
What do an adjunct professor, an office cleaner, a freelance journalist and a potato chip taster have in common?
They’re all part of what labor economist Paul Osterman calls America’s growing class of “disposable workers “ – as explained in his new book “Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment”.
Osterman estimates that employers treat more than 1 in 3 U.S. workers this way – nearly 57 million people.
In these types of jobs, employees have little security or opportunity to be promoted. Employers make “no commitment to them regarding career prospects or job security,” writes Osterman.
It saves companies money in paychecks and gives them more flexibility, but there are other costs.
Disposable workers tend to earn less, and many report lower job satisfaction. And the effects can reach the rest of us: Research has found higher infection rates when hospitals outsource cleaning and more industrial accidents when companies rely on contractors.
It reflects a bigger change in how employers see their workers: less as people worth investing in for the long term, and more as people who can be replaced when needed.
https://theconversation.com/concierges-adjunct-professors-potato-chip-tasters-us-employers-are-relying-more-and-more-on-disposable-workers-285297
