ABSTRACT
People who hold one permanent, five-day, forty-hour-a-week job are in the minority in the United States (US). Only about 30 percent of employed Americans regularly work this standard schedule. Like those with alternative work arrangements the nonstandard workers work full or part-time, but they have secure employment and irregular work schedules. Contingent, nonstandard, and part-time work are important and widespread in the alternative employment landscape. The nonstandard, part-time workers, the largest segment of the contingent workforce have regular, ongoing employment but reduced hours. They face an additional handicap: their bosses often send them home early if business is slow, making it hard for job holders to stabilize and rely on their income. Nonstandard work leaves parents with no option but to pass each other in the day or night, handing over management of the second shift and its household tasks to their partner. Contingent work arrangements produce a profound experiential spectrum across and within families.
