archive

Our working lives

Cathy O’Neil on how algorithms rule our working lives: Employers are turning to mathematically modelled ways of sifting through job applications; even when wrong, their verdicts seem beyond dispute — and they tend to punish the poor. Harnessing the power of the new working class: If the new proletariat starts identifying as a class, it could transform politics. Valerie Wilson on how people of color will be a majority of the American working class in 2032. We work too much, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Job training works — so why not do more? Workplace wellness programs are a sham: They’re a waste of time and money, they don’t improve health outcomes, and they’re a front for shifting costs onto employees. Confronting the parasite economy: Nick Hanauer on why low-wage work is bad for business — and all of us. Cathie Jo Martin on how business and labor don’t have to be enemies. When the hell did the NLRB become more activist than labor?

From n+1, who works for the workers? Gabriel Winant on how the union movement’s problem isn’t that workers don’t want to fight; it’s that they don’t want to lose. From EPI, Jake Rosenfeld, Patrick Denice, and Jennifer Laird on how union decline lowers wages of nonunion workers: The overlooked reason why wages are stuck and inequality is growing. Neil Gross on the decline of unions and the rise of Trump. We are witnessing a new age of social justice movements — and that includes labor.