The Best Protection for Workers is the Market

Robert T. Miller argues in Public Discourse that market forces provide better protection for workers than the employment models criticized by Paul Osterman. Writing in a review of Osterman’s book, Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment, Miller disputes the claim that shifting employment terms are the primary cause of modern economic anxiety.

Osterman argues that American companies have moved away from valuing employee well-being toward a system where workers are used for company benefit and fired whenever convenient. This shift has resulted in lower pay and less job security, particularly for gig workers.

Miller contends that other factors drive economic worry. He points to the national debt and the risk of money printing as reasons for rising interest rates, which makes borrowing for homes more difficult. He also notes that the development of artificial intelligence represents a massive technological shift that replaces labor with capital, a process he suggests can raise living standards despite the disruption.