NPR

The Mystery Of Contract Work: Why So Many Guys?

An NPR/Marist poll shows 65 percent of contract workers are men and 62 percent are under 45. Contract workers gain flexibility, but when business goes down, they're often the first to be fired.
Alex Belfiori, 28, is a contract worker at Dick's Sporting Goods near Pittsburgh. An NPR/Marist poll shows 65 percent of contract workers are men and 62 percent of such workers are under 45.

A new NPR/Marist poll finds that 1 in 5 jobs in America is held by a worker under contract. Within a decade, contractors and freelancers could make up half of the American workforce. In a weeklong series, NPR explores many aspects of this change.

Alex Belfiori has a big day coming up later this week. He'll sit down with his boss in a conference room at the Dick's Sporting Goods headquarters near Pittsburgh. The topic: his future with the company.

"I was told ... there were no guarantees for me getting hired full time," says the 28-year-old Belfiori.

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