Unstable Schedules in Low Wage Work: A Hidden Employment Crisis

Tara Marlowe

May 2015

The low wage labor market today is characterized by the increased utilization of part-time and temporary workers with volatile work schedules. These practices shift business risk to workers, and place their lives in a constant state of instability. Unpredictable work schedules prevent workers from pursuing supplemental employment, training, or attending to caregiver responsibilities. This diminishes the future economic potential of workers, effectively creating a worker caste system, and establishing a structural barrier to income mobility. 

Policy intervention is needed to curb the unpredictable work scheduling practices that have become a ubiquitous part of low wage work. These practices have negative impacts that fall disproportionately on vulnerable groups of workers. They prevent economic mobility, subvert the social safety net into a subsidy for business, and impose negative effects on the economy. 

In the early morning of August 24, 2014, Maria Fernandes, a 32-year-old fast food worker, pulled her car over to take a nap between shifts. Unable to find full-time work, Maria held three part-time jobs with various Dunkin Donuts stores in Northern New Jersey. Nine hours later she was found dead in her vehicle, overcome by fumes as she slept.

This tragic event brought media attention to the struggle of the nearly 7 million involuntary part-time workers who contend with profound income and schedule instability. 

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Unstable Schedules in Low Wage Work: A Hidden Employment Crisis