The way we have talked about the rise of the social contract
following the Second World War might
make it seem a little bit more utopian
than was actually the case.
Wages did rise in tandem with productivity,
and this meant a high standard of living for many Americans.
There was also less emphasis on shareholders
and immediate short term returns.
There was also high levels of job stability.
People often came into a company without very much experience
at all and expected to work their way up
through promotions over time.
But there we're also downsides to employment over this period.
The trade off of job security, of having
a stable career with a predictable career trajectory
was often the risk of boredom and monotonous work.
Corporations, in the 1950s, were very
hierarchical and conformist.
Intellectual diversity and creativity were discouraged.
These corporations, of course, we're
also dominated by white men.
There wasn't very much diversity,
and there were very sizable gaps in pay
based on gender and race.
So while we can learn a lot from this period,
it's not exactly a golden age to which we should return.
We've made a lot of progress since this period as well.
There's more diversity in the workforce than ever before.
And pay gaps between demographic groups,
though they still exist, are becoming smaller.
With the rise of the knowledge economy moreover--
an economy that encourages ideas and creativity and innovation--
workers are being given more discretion in how
they go about their work and even the types of projects
on which they work.
Some organizations are even trying
to make themselves look and feel as non-corporate-y as possible
as a way to attract and retain talent,
and there's evidence that this can
be good for the bottom line.
In addition, due in large part to advances
in information technology, new technology
mediated work arrangements are becoming more popular
and facilitating various forms of freelance work.
Freelancing is not new of course.
The word actually dates back to medieval times
where one could be a freelance mercenary for hire.
Various new websites and applications
are springing up throughout the economy that
connect people-- buyers and sellers--
in unique and innovative ways.
So for software, for example, there's
companies like freelancer.com where
someone can go on and post a project, for example, solicit
help coding a new website, and people
will bid on those projects.
I actually used one of these sites not for a website per se,
but to help me learn a new coding language called Python.
I went on the site.
I posted my project.
And I found an undergraduate student based in California--
a very bright young man-- who stayed up with me
into the early hours of the morning helping me
learn how to code.
And there are plenty of other examples of technology mediated
work--
Mechanical Turk, for example, where
buyers can pay people to do basic, often routine tasks
like taking surveys.
Taskrabbit.com, where people can find people to do basic life
chores for them.
And care.com, where people can locate,
for example, house and pet sitters for when they are away.
These alternative modes of employment
have distinct advantages in terms of flexibility
and individual expression.
People don't typically have a boss
looking over their shoulder, at least not in a physical sense.
They have flexibility to work different hours,
often from various locations, including their own home.
But there are common reoccurring disadvantages
to these modes of work as well.
There are high levels of uncertainty and insecurity.
You don't know whether you'll have work
from one month to the next.
You don't know who your next boss will be,
whether they'll be fair and ethical, whether they'll
pay in a timely way.
If you have an issue with an employer,
for example, withholding promised pay,
it's often difficult to resolve these issues.
There's broad, often global competition,
which could put downward pressure on wages.
So for example, when I hired this coder
to help me with this freelancing project,
he was competing against people located in China and India.
There are other trade offs as well.
There's isolation, a lack of pension and retirement,
lack of paid vacation and time off,
the need for continuous learning that can accommodate
the diverse and changing needs of employers,
and needing to finance the education out
of your own pocket.
In addition, many of these employees
lack the protections that are traditionally
afforded to workers under more stable employment contracts.