Working in America: A Blueprint for the New Labor Market, and: The Last Good Job in America (review)

These two books are centered around the changed relationship between workers and their employers—the disappearance of the social contract that implied long-term job security in return for worker loyalty. In this new economy, even middle-class workers are no longer able to rely on companies for training, income increases, stability, or paid health and welfare benefits.

The authors of Working in America are worried about two things. First are problems with the new economy: a persistent low-wage labor market, rising income inequality, lack of employee voice in the workplace, and challenges companies face in obtaining much-needed flexibility. Second is the absence of significant national debate about these problems. The authors set out to create a framework for this debate and suggest that the solution is to update institutional structures (unions, government, and labor-market intermediaries) to match the new reality of today's world of work.

That new reality is the by now familiar story of declining union density, a lack of institutions that link short-term work opportunities, the outsourcing and corporate mobility that arises from the flexibility of information technology, global competitive pressure, and the rising importance of intellectual capital. Working in America elaborates and quantifies these changes and the accompanying challenges in a way that is understandable, useful, and interesting for a broad audience.

For those familiar with labor and workforce issues, the suthors' statement of the problem provides a useful framework for discussion, but the authors' accompanying solutions are often lacking in political context. The authors offer a clear roadmap for mitigating the effects of the new economy—such as portable health insurance or pension funds, better laws to protect union organizing, more flexible unions, more creative government, and opportunities for lifelong learning. But there is no indication by the authors of the political or organizational possibilities of any of these changes actually happening. Given a federal executive branch that wants to cut funding for workforce development and reduce the ability of TANF recipients to receive job training, this neutral tone is surprising and often frustrating.

The Last Good Job in America is a collection of essays more or less related to the same economic shift discussed in Working in America, but it focuses more deliberately on the power dynamics driving and characterizing the shift. Aronowitz looks at the new economy from several angles, including race, class, unions, education, globalization, culture, and technology. His discussions, often referencing other political authors or writings, provide the socio-political analysis that Working lacks. The chapters "Between Nationality and Class," "On Union Democracy," and "Unions as a Public Sphere" raise critical questions about how labor does and should position itself in an increasingly hostile economy. In several chapters, Aronowitz sharply critiques the increasing vocationalization and corporatization of education and emphasizes the importance of a national debate on these issues that could lay bare our assumptions about class and opportunity.

Aronowitz' writing can be thick with references, and readers may have to work to find the thread that connects these pieces. But the breadth of topics he covers hints at several dimensions affecting American economic life, and his political references remind us that the downsides of this "new economy" are nothing that workers haven't faced in some form before. These books would be useful reference texts for labor educators who teach non-credit classes and also could be used in classes on labor economics.