The Impact of Public Policy on Nonstandard Work Arrangements

Abstract

The social compact between workers, firms, and governing bodies has been typified by the balancing of market efficiency, social fairness, and bargaining power. This balancing act has produced the minimum wage, overtime pay, protections from discrimination in hiring and firing, unemployment insurance, social security, and so much more. Yet, whether it is through an explicit terminology of employment or an implicit organizational structure, the classification of who is an employee remains a critical component of who has access to the benefits of this bargaining effort. The criteria of this classification has changed over time with expansions in the Fair Labor Standards Act, the common law agency test, the economic reality test and the ABC test (Shimabukuro, 2021). This dissertation explores the ways in which public policy impacts the less-conventional forms of work in the United States. The chapters of this dissertation draw on prior work relating to the minimum wage, employer supplied health insurance, nonstandard work arrangements, monopsonistic competition, and tax evasion to examine the impacts of public programs and government regulation of the labor market on self-employment and multiple jobholding.