Louis Hyman (1) (1977–)

A comprehensive (as far as I can tell anyway, as someone without a business background but who also appreciates lots of end note citations) look at the history of temping and how over time, temps went from "extra labor to let your perms go on vacation!" to strategic ways to claim low layoff counts and run lean corporations. Besides major agencies (McKinsey, Kelly, Manpower), Hyman also includes in his temp focus the ability of women and people of color to participate in the workforce, and the fact that so much of American labor depends on low cost, undocumented denizens (I've always assumed that the 1965 immigration reforms increased immigration, and it did for Asian countries, but by focusing on skilled quotas and eliminating the bracero program Latin American immigration actually *decreased*).

Recommended read if you have an interest in how our economy got to its present state. It's a tad depressing (especially if, like me, you've done the temp-to-hire thing and contemplate the dearth of "good jobs" available for skillset).… (mehr)

One of the best books I’ve read all year. Hyman tells several interlocking stories about how work has gotten so unstable, focusing on the US but with tendrils all over. One story is about the rise of consulting and how well-paid Harvard men decided that short-term jobs were good, for them and then for others. Another is about the rise of temporary labor including pink-collar and other jobs, especially in Silicon Valley. When you think about high-tech production, he says, you should really think about low-paid women who might well have been pieceworkers, putting together devices in small factories. Relatedly, there’s the story of immigration to supply demand for workers in agriculture, construction, and other physically demanding jobs, first as legal immigration and then formally illegal (though of course the employers were never punished). Together, these stories explain why work no longer works the way the American dream supposedly taught us to believe it did.… (mehr)

Beginning with a story about a young couple who purchase a house only to discover that the terms of the mortgage are set up in a way that makes repayment very difficult, the couple must refinance in order to keep their house. With mortgage-backed securities, refinancing was easier than ever. However, when the husband’s business slowed down and the economy started to fall, house prices also fell just when they were set to refinance again. This time the refinancing that was so easy a few years ago was impossible now. Their house was repossessed. It was 1932.

This book covers the history of credit and debt in the United States. A recurring theme is that since the beginning of the twentieth century when the country began to view debt and credit differently, we have been making the same mistakes repeatedly.

To be quite honest, the history is so convoluted and the repeated mistakes so myopic that going into the details is not only daunting but also boring. The government actively encourages and discourages the elements that alternately allow for abuse and remedy abuse. The history of debt is certainly something Americans should make themselves familiar with, but it is not surprising that history repeats itself and we keep making the same mistakes.

At the end of the book, Hyman offers solutions that we should be taking as a country to prevent another catastrophe. He calls for an end in investing in debt and a move toward investing in business. Debt investment is too speculative and too dangerous when forecasts turn out to be incorrect. Investing in business, on the other hand, would make businesses more transparent and investors could demand that businesses make more information available. Diversified investments would make risks go down and average people would be able to invest. He calls for the creation of a Bureau of Business Security that would protect investors and prevent businesses from securitizing debt.… (mehr)