A UCLA law professor discussed the shrinking middle class and trouble with short-term employment in a campus lecture Wednesday evening.
Katherine Stone addressed the effects of the “Digital Era” on the modern economy and work place, touching on factors such as short-term employment, the degradation of unions and the growing separation between classes.
Stone teaches at the UCLA School of Law and specializes in labor law and public policy.
Her lecture, entitled “Rupture and Invention: The Changing Nature of Employment, the Vanishing Middle Class, and the Implications for Social Policy,” was part of the 116th Faculty Research Lecture.
The Faculty Research Lectures began in 1925 in order to showcase the research by members of the UCLA Academic Senate. Starting in 1986, a second lecture per year was added, in order to have one lecture apiece by North Campus and South Campus faculty members.
The point of these lectures is to let UCLA’s distinguished researchers share what they have been working on, said Janice Reiff, chair of the Academic Senate.
In her talk, Stone emphasized that the drop in the number of labor unions is connected to short-term employment because workers who have worked for only say, two years do not want to take the risk of forming unions.
Melissa Myambo, a Mellon postdoctoral fellow and visiting assistant professor at UCLA, said she attended Stone’s talk because she is researching a related topic.
“The decline of unions has been the decline of the middle class. Most people don’t understand that. The numbers are striking and she had them all right there,” Myambo said.
Although Myambo appreciated the speech, she pointed out what the speech lacked, in her opinion.
“(The speech) was well put together, but I think social policy must address the phenomenal wealth of the 1 percent. Some people are getting so much money in this economy while others are suffering,” Myambo said.
Stone also discussed how young workers have a difficult time finding long-term employment because employers are constantly fluctuating their workforce.
“Jobs do not offer fixed pay and a fully developed skill set that is acquired by the age of 25 does not last a lifetime. Younger worker do not get jobs but get tied down to specific projects or ‘gigs,'” Stone said.
Short-term employment and the increase in independent contractors and unpaid internships have caused a lack of trust between employers and employees, Stone said.
Richard Sander, a professor at the UCLA School of Law, said he came to the lecture because he thinks Stone has an important voice on employment.
Stone said that giving the lecture was a tremendous honor and a big moment in her career. She added that new social policies must be invented to address the changes in social work.
“The first step is to understand and describe this new reality. … Universities are places where insights can grow into ideas and we can create a sustainable middle class going forward,” Stone said.
Stone also mentioned what she hoped for the audience to take away from her speech.
“I’m hoping that they will see the social challenges and problems we have difficulties with in a way to make it possible to think about new ways to view social policies and preferences,” Stone said.