This project examines how access to and experiences in skilled (and unskilled) and secure (and insecure) work has changed over time relative to workers' race and gender. It examines the period starting in the 1970s when minorities and women were gaining increasing access to skilled jobs, just as those positions were becoming increasingly insecure. The project poses five central questions. Do race, gender and skill shape exposure to and experiences of insecure work? Has employment insecurity become a distinguishing feature of racial and gender divisions? What do these broad economic changes mean in the lives of people? Do the narratives that men and women use to explain their own economic fortunes and struggles?and those of others?confirm or depart from the narratives that have been traditionally used to justify durable inequalities? How is the rise of insecure work affecting conceptions of masculinity and femininity, across different racial and class positions?
This study will answer these questions by studying employment insecurity, through the lens of racial and gender inequality, over the last 30 years. We utilize an innovative mixed-method approach with three components: (1) a cross-sectional panel based on Current Population Survey - Merged Outgoing Rotation Group (CPS-MORG) data from 1979 to 2012 which enables us to analyze trends over the past 30 years in exposure to insecure work; (2) an analysis of the CPS Contingent Worker Supplement (CPS-CWS) from 1995-2005 to document racial-gender variation in the experience of employment insecurity; and (3) 80 in-depth interviews to investigate the extent to which the rise of insecure work has disrupted or strengthened narratives of privilege and disadvantage in access to work. This three-pronged approach enables us to unpack the implications of the rise of insecure work for understanding racial and gender inequality, and determine the extent to which durable inequality has persisted or been transformed in the postindustrial era.
The proposed research advances social scientific understanding of employment insecurity and gauges the durability of racial and gender inequality. Our quantitative analysis builds and extends the existing literature on job insecurity by specifying its impact on different segments of the population. Our qualitative analysis goes a step further and focuses on how individuals conceptualize and make meaning of their experiences under insecure work conditions. Finally, having designed a multi-faceted plan for public engagement, we will use the findings and insights from our study to contribute to civic discussions of rising employment insecurity.
