Abstract:
Atypical work forms – such as independent contracting, on-call, or temporary work – have been criticized as providing employment that is more precarious than that offered by regular (open-ended) employment. One of the concerns attached to these work forms is that they allow employers to evade labor market protections afforded to regular workers. In such cases, we might be expected to see a greater prevalence of atypical workers in those states with greater labor market protections. We test for this possibility using Current Population Survey data from 1995 to 2005. Our results would suggest that at least one form of atypical work – contracting and consulting work – is less likely to be observed in right-to-work states after controlling for state-level characteristics.