Tuesday, April 12, 2011, 12:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.

British economist Guy Standing offers an interesting, new perspective on the condition of the working class in a new book, The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class.  Standing argues that globalized labor markets have shifted the inherent risks of capitalism from firms to workers creating a growing class for whom stable careers are increasingly tenuous and who labor for low or stagnating wages and benefits with inconsistent hours . The insecurity faced by growing numbers of workers, Standing argues, has dire implications for societal stability and calls on policy makers around the world to focus attention on reducing inequality and reconstructing the concept of work.

The Center for Economic Policy Research and the Economic Policy Institute invite you to hear Dr. Standing present these perspectives in a discussion joined by Heidi Hartmann of the Institute for Womens Policy Research and Prakash Loungani of the International Monetary Fund.