{"id":125,"date":"2025-12-22T21:16:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T21:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu\/osterman\/?page_id=125"},"modified":"2026-06-02T17:25:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T17:25:44","slug":"disposable-workers-the-transformation-of-employment","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mitmgmtfaculty.mit.edu\/osterman\/homepage\/disposable-workers-the-transformation-of-employment\/","title":{"rendered":"Forthcoming Book: Disposable Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment <\/em>is Paul Osterman's forthcoming book from Harvard University Press. Slated for publication in August 2026, Disposable Workers<\/em> draws on Osterman's research into the decline in traditional employment arrangements\u2014and the accompanying growth in the\u00a0 number of contract employees, freelancers, and what Osterman calls \"marginal workers.\" (\"Marginal workers,\" according to Osterman, are technically W-2 employees but do not have opportunities for training or advancement.) The three categories combined, he finds, now make up more than a third of the U.S. workforce. The book offers a unified account of how and why employers rely on these workers, argues that employers treat 35 percent of the adult workforce as disposable, and lays out policy proposals to address the significant consequences for worker well-being.<\/p>\n

Learn more about the book Disposable Workers<\/em>.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n


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What Reviewers are Saying:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Disposable Workers identifies the profoundly important new development of marginal employees who have no real prospects of stability or career advancement, and who far outnumber the much-discussed \u2018gig workers.\u2019 Even at companies we think of as the best employers, the growing ranks of employees who churn through these marginalized jobs is an important and underappreciated factor in the loss of the American Dream.\"<\/em>
\n\u2014Peter Cappelli, author of\u00a0Our Least Important Asset<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cDisposable Workers<\/em>\u00a0is a deep and important look at a disturbing trend: the unfortunate Uberization of the US economy, in which corporations increasingly regard employees not as valuable assets but as pawns to be casually tossed aside. As Paul Osterman makes clear, companies are offering less and less of what workers need: steady employment with good wages, benefits, and promotions. These corporate practices are badly squeezing millions of Americans.\u201d
\n\u2014Steven Greenhouse, author of\u00a0Beaten Down, Worked Up<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cDisposable Workers<\/em>\u00a0is a carefully researched and engaging book documenting the degradation of employment in recent decades. Combining original survey data, insightful analysis of recent literature, and a cornucopia of worker accounts, Paul Osterman provides a counterweight to oversimplified accounts of the \u2018future of work,\u2019 shedding new light on the eroding conditions facing millions of workers and the difficult but critical reforms required to address them.\u201d
\n\u2014David Weil, author of\u00a0The Fissured Workplace<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is tempting to say that Paul Osterman\u2019s greatest contribution\u00a0in Disposable Workers<\/em>\u00a0is the important new survey information he introduces. But what is most impressive is his incisive analysis of what the data\u2014placed alongside a large body of other research and framed in historical context\u2014tells us about work in America today. Osterman paints a picture full of nuance and complexity without ever obscuring the main point: Far too many employers are willing to treat their workers as dispensable as a way to hold down costs and maximize profits.\u201d
\n\u2014Rick Wartzman, author of\u00a0The End of Loyalty<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe decline of unions and the explosion of inequality underlie this prescient and scrupulously documented account of the current and future precarity of the American workforce, and the associated threat this poses to the very foundation of our democracy. Paul Osterman employs his well-honed observations and analytic genius to expose a bifurcated system, whereby a growing number of contract and freelance workers are left to the whims of employers unconstrained by regulations or commitment. A stunning and terrifying cautionary tale.\u201d
\n\u2014Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of\u00a0The Job<\/em><\/p>\n

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  Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment is Paul Osterman’s forthcoming book from Harvard University Press. Slated for publication in August 2026, Disposable Workers draws on Osterman’s research into the decline in traditional employment arrangements\u2014and the accompanying growth in the\u00a0 number of contract employees, freelancers, and what Osterman calls “marginal workers.” (“Marginal workers,” according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":523,"featured_media":0,"parent":4,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-125","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nForthcoming Book: Disposable Workers - Paul Osterman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment," is a new book by MIT Sloan Professor Emeritus Paul Osterman. 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