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Civitas Outlook
Topic
Politics
Published on
Jun 26, 2026
Contributors
Kevin Frazier
Washington, DC., USA- January 12, 2020: The United States Department of Labor (DOL) sign and building in Washington, DC. Shutterstock.

Trap is Set: Job Market is About to Get Crushed if Labor Department Doesn’t Act Now

Contributors
Kevin Frazier
Kevin Frazier
Senior Fellow
Kevin Frazier
Summary
There is another way to boost power for blue-collar workers in the AI era: the de-commoditization of labor.
Summary
There is another way to boost power for blue-collar workers in the AI era: the de-commoditization of labor.
Listen to this article

“I work every other Sunday as a closer, which [ends] at 10:30 or really 11-ish, then [I am] scheduled at 6 a.m. the next morning.” “Managers, if you talk to them about the schedule, they’ll blame [any issues] on the software.” “They expect you to always say yes [to the next shift].”

The quotes from America’s lower-paid employees describe today’s realities for breadwinners whose work hours are decided algorithmically. Quantitative research shows the constant instability. Harvard researchers found “80% of workers have little to no input into their schedules and 69% are required by their employer to keep their schedules ‘open and available’ to work whenever needed.” Many end up with fewer hours than necessary to make ends meet.

Read the full article on the Washington Examiner.

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