Introduction : The Boom in Poorly Paid and Precarious Jobs -- New Inequalities : The Deterioration of Local-Serving Industries -- Beyond Low Wages : The Problem of Degraded Work -- The City That Sweats Work : Growth and Inequality in Post-Fordist Chicago -- Oases in the Midst of Deserts : How Food Retailers Thrive in Disinvested Neighborhoods -- "They're Happy to Have a Job" : Midsize Supermarkets and Degraded Work -- Building Degradation : Dangerous Work and Falling Pay during a Construction Boom -- A Perfectly Flexible Workforce : Day Labor in a Precarious Industry -- New Answers to New Problems : The Creative Work of Reversing Degradation -- Conclusion : Building a Fair Labor Market in Postmanufacturing Economies
Summary
Drawing on fieldwork in Chicago, this book examines changes in two industries in which inferior job quality is assumed to be intrinsic: residential construction and food retail. Arguing that a growing service sector does not have to mean growing inequality, the author proposes creative policy and organizing opportunities to improve job quality despite the overwhelming barriers to national political action
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 247-261) and index