Posted: 20 Apr 2010 07:58 AM PDT

Jobs are so 20th century. The future is part-time.

Whatever you want to call it -- contracting, contingent labor, part-time work, gigs, freelance -- independent work is on the rise. While the government does a poor job at consistently counting the self- and marginally-employed workforce, the available evidence all points to booming trend. According to various polls, almost a third of the labor force participates in freelancing, independent or part-time work.

Today the Times reports that the recession is adding to the appeal of working contract-to-contract without being tied down to a cubicle. Rather than destroying the old work model, the downturn is accelerating the transformation already underway, as white-collar workers grasp for hours, whether or not they come with benefits:

In just one snapshot of what is going on, the number of people who describe themselves as self-employed but working less than 35 hours a week because they cannot find full-time work has more than doubled since the recession began, reaching 1.2 million in December 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics ... As the economy continues its halting recovery and employers' confidence remains shaky, economists believe that it is likely that the ranks of these kinds of workers will continue to grow.

If this sounds like a positive development to you, then congratulations, because you are almost certainly very young! Twentysomethings might embrace a job market that lets them mix and match jobs to make a career. Older Americans with families and dependents would prefer positions with a little more support. The freelance market has grown in the last decade into something like a skyscraper built on string and haystacks: a lot of workers with zero foundation.

Independent workers rarely qualify for unemployment insurance, health insurance, or wage theft laws. So when freelancers go out on their own, they are, rather literally, out on their own. In economy where the marginally attached are truly marginal, perhaps that's a government failure one can ignore. But as the gigs go mainstream, policymakers will have to think about counting and providing for this shadow labor market. Even intrepid independent workers need a net when they fall.

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VDOT to close 4 local residency offices, cut 360 jobs ... - WSLS.com

Posted: 22 Apr 2010 05:36 PM PDT

SALEM - VDOT says it's almost finished with the major job cuts its been forced to make due to budget slashing.

Some of the changes you'll notice starting next week include the closing of 15 residency offices. Four of those locally: Amherst, Chatham, Hillsville, and Rocky Mount.

Also, by the end of this week VDOT will have 360 fewer employees.

VDOT says it has cut about 1,000 full-time jobs, and 450 part-time jobs since 2008 to make up for a $4.6 billion shortfall.

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Essay: Too Few Jobs or Too Many? Time Will Tell - AOL News

Posted: 21 Apr 2010 05:13 AM PDT

(April 11) -- When she learned last week that the country had actually started adding jobs instead of losing them, my friend Molly was unimpressed. She's a slim, lively 67-year-old who has been trying to find work since September.

"It doesn't do anything for me," she said. "They're looking for young people on the cheap. I'm not young and I'm not cheap."

Her timing's not so good, either. In another six or seven years, the U.S. may be eager to put people like Molly to work. A major new study holds that by 2018, there will be at least 5 million jobs going begging -- and it may be up to people of retirement age and beyond to fill them.

How is it possible for the country to go from the worst job market since the Depression to a big job surplus in a handful of years? According to Barry Bluestone, a professor of political economy at Northeastern University and author of the study, it's all about demographics.

"The baby bust generation is simply not big enough to handle all the new jobs created by an economic recovery," he told AOLNews. "If the baby boomers leave the labor market at the same age as past retirees, we'll be in real trouble."

The labor shortage would rob the economy of a potential $600 billion a year in GDP, Bluestone says. It would also squeeze health care and social services, where many of the new jobs will be created.

On the other hand, everything could work out fine if only some substantial number of the 78 million boomers opt to stay in or return to the labor market -- and there is evidence they might, with a little encouragement.

My friend Molly, for example, has some savings and could probably scrape by without a job, but retirement doesn't appeal. "I'm looking for part-time, something I'd enjoy," she said. "I want to use my talent and experience and participate in life. I want to give back."

Many boomers feel the same way: They're healthier than earlier generations and not ready to hit the rocking chair at age 65. Others expect to keep working simply because they don't have enough savings to provide for their retirement. For those who have lost their homes and/or jobs and gone deeply into debt, the economic downturn has effectively ruled out retirement.

The recession has also forced more retirees to go back to work -- 16 percent of those 65 and older now hold jobs versus 11 percent a decade ago. Many have taken low-paying entry-level posts usually filled by young people with limited education.

Bluestone expects that kind of generational competition to be gone by 2018, when there will be more than enough jobs for all.

To help make up the shortfall, he envisions a substantial increase in the labor force participation rate, the percentage of those employed or looking for employment, among older people.

Current trends will not do the job. The government projects, for example, that the participation rate for people 65 to 74 years old will be 30.5 by 2018. That figure takes into account the studies showing that many boomers plan to work longer. In his scenario for meeting the worker gap, Bluestone pushes the rate up to 33.3.

For that to happen, he acknowledges, the traditional job market will have to be turned on its head: Employers will have to find ways to entice the once-disdained elders to stay on the payroll or get back into the labor market.

Full-time jobs might be reconfigured as part-time, performed by pairs of older workers. Some tasks could be adjusted to make allowance for elders' reduced physical capacities as well as their desire to enjoy their work. Social and recreational facilities at the work site might help.

Some experts challenge the Bluestone scenario. It assumes no change in the rate of immigration, for example, and they suspect employers will lobby the government to allow many more foreign workers into the country. They also suggest that employers may export jobs overseas rather than jumping through hoops to attract older American workers. And the critics doubt that really large numbers of older boomers will delay their retirement for very long or return to the work force once they do retire.

The debate will have consequences. At some point, Washington will have to decide how the nation should prepare for the coming of age of the baby bust generation. There are all sorts of possibilities to play with. If larger numbers of older people do remain in the work force, for instance, their payments into the Social Security fund could push back that program's day of reckoning.

Meanwhile, a number of nonprofit organizations are already helping older workers and retired people find jobs.

The AARP, for example, has dozens of WorkSearch sites around the country. They provide access to skill testing and instruction as well as on-the-job training with partner companies.

New York-based ReServe places skilled retirees in part-time jobs with nonprofits or government agencies where they are paid $10 an hour. The stipend is intended to encourage both employer and employee to take their association seriously.

As it happens, Molly is trying to find work through ReServe. "I want to try something new, and I may have found it," she said. She has applied for a job in a prison. "It's in the office," she assured me.

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