Full-time permanent employment is fast becoming an anachronism in today’s
changing economy. Since 1973 the rate of nontraditional employment has grown
faster than the rate of full-time work. By 1988, nearly twenty-seven million
workers, or 23 percent of U.S. workers, were employed outside the permanent full-
time labor force. This workforce represents a growing category of diverse work
arrangements including part-time and temporary work as well as low-wage
self-employment.