Contract Jobs for Unemployed
Contract Jobs for Unemployed
Have you considered working contract jobs?
U.S. Labor Department released its latest unemployment figures Friday and the picture isn’t rosy. The unemployment rate is still 9.5% not counting those who’ve given up looking for work. Private employers, like banks who refuse to lend, aren’t adding substantially to their payrolls fearing the economy will continue declining.
New job hires aren’t sufficient to absorb new workers entering the job market let alone replace the eight million jobs lost in the recession. So, naturally, businesses are keeping head count low and increasing hours for existing employees.
A possible solution to this relentless dilemma is offering contract jobs to the unemployed, subsidized by the Feds, to encourage businesses to increase their payrolls.
Contract Jobs Make you Employed
Most people, businesses, labor unions, government and the media are obsessed with the word “job.” Since the Great Depression, the U.S. Labor Department, in particular, has focused too much on “jobs” and too little on “work.” Employers need workers; they’re not in the business of creating “jobs.”
Whether producing widgets or offering services, employers must solve customer needs and problems to remain viable. To do that, they require workers or employees with the necessary knowledge and skills.
With the elimination of millions of manufacturing, it’s clear that a lot of “jobs” are gone forever. The Feds may have bailed out GM but the U.S. is no longer a manufacturing country. Our economy’s growth is primarily based on services fueled by technology and, in particular, the Internet.
Contract Job Careers?
Instead of bailing out dying companies, what if Congress and the President created incentives for small businesses, the largest segment of the employment market, to subsidize contract jobs? The subsidy could take many forms: tax credits, direct salary reimbursement, career training payments, etc. But the focus of the subsidies would be career rather than job-focused.
Contract Positions to Kick-Start Hiring
Subsidies would encourage small businesses to hire without incurring employee benefit costs that now amount to nearly 40% of total compensation. While I can hear the howls by many about employers taking advantage of workers hired under contract, these are not normal times. Plus they’re other ways for workers to obtain health insurance and retirement benefits. (The Freelancers Union is an organization for those seeking freelance jobs.) To avoid abuse of the program, he Feds could limit the number of contract worker subsidies per employer.
Subsidized contract work also makes it easier for employers to offer higher wages since their “total cost of employment” is significantly less than hiring full-time or permanent employers. Contract jobs also give employers and employees opportunities to explore careers. Employers, in particular, could hire workers whom they’d otherwise not consider due to lack of experience or education. Workers who have the drive and potential to learn new career skills would also find it easier to find employment.
Are Contract Jobs the Future of Work?
As I’ve written before on PCS, more people succeed in their jobs and careers if they’re doing what they love to do. We live in a Web 3.0 age where making a living requires different models (working multiple part-time jobs, contract or part time jobs, consulting, self-employment). However, adapting to these new career models requires employers, workers and government leaders to “think outside the box” of traditional employment. Contract jobs with Federal help is one possibility.
