ABSTRACT
The institutionalist approach to analysis relies heavily on empirical observations and data collection as well as use of historical material to create stylized facts and to uncover underlying structural features that explain those facts or observations. This chapter looks at data to examine trends and patterns in the use of contingent and nonstandard labor. It sets out definitions of contingent and nonstandard labor. The chapter discusses nonstandard labor in the larger context of the changing macroeconomy and changing demographics to understand the shift away from the employment model that described labor relations in the 1950s and 1960s. It focuses on changes in the workplace and workplace institutions and suggests issues to be considered as policy makers, households, and businesses face the dynamics of evolving economic institutions. The current population survey (CPS) provides the most commonly used operational definitions of contingent work. The CPS identifies four main alternative forms of employment: independent contractors, agency temporaries, contract workers, and on-call workers.
