Project on the Growth of Unregulated Work
We are conducting an unprecedented study on the spread of workplace violations in New York and Chicago, in close collaboration with immigrant advocates, community groups, and other applied researchers.
Low-wage labor markets in the United States have undergone substantial changes during the last decade. In industries ranging from construction and food manufacturing to grocery stores, restaurants, janitorial services and home health care, new forms of work organization have generated labor practices that are effectively beyond the reach of government regulation -- what we call "unregulated work." In these jobs, workers routinely face violation of minimum wage and overtime laws, unsafe working conditions, discrimination, and retaliation for speaking up or trying to organize.
Currently, public policy is not informed by a clear understanding of unregulated work and the factors driving its growth. But without adequate enforcement of labor and employment laws, these forms of workplace exploitation will continue to expand.
In response, the Brennan Center is partnering with other researchers to document the growth of workplace violations. Using a mix of research methods, we ask the following questions:
- Which industries and occupations have high concentrations of unregulated work?
- What are the economic and institutional forces shaping employers' decisions to pursue these work practices?
- Who are the workers most affected?
- Are they trapped in unregulated jobs, or do pathways to better jobs exist? What kinds of organizations serve as intermediaries in this process?
- How common are the various forms of workplace violations, such as the percent of workers earning less than the minimum wage or not receiving overtime pay?
Phase I: Qualitative Research in New York City
From 2003 to 2006, more than a dozen researchers conducted intensive field research in New York City to better understand the face and character of unregulated work, including 330 interviews with employers, workers, legal services providers, community groups and government officials, as well as secondary analysis of industry and government datasets.
See our findings in: Unregulated Work in the Global City: Employment and Labor Law Violations in New York City
Phase II: Worker Surveys in New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles
The Brennan Center is collaborating with the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at UCLA to design an ambitious worker survey that will attempt to estimate, for the first time, the prevalence of key workplace violations in urban labor markets. Using a methodology developed by Cornell University statistician Douglas Heckathorn to sample hard-to-reach populations, the survey will be conducted in all three cities with 4,500 workers, starting in early 2008. Learn more about this project.