Introduction -- The change in work arrangements in Denmark and Germany -- Regulatory convergence? -- Nonstandard work in Italy and Spain -- Nonstandard work arrangements in France and the United States -- The growth of nonstandard employment in Japan and the United States -- Employment choices...

Good data on the size and composition of the independent contractor workforce are elusive, with household survey and administrative tax data often disagreeing on levels and trends. We carried out a series of focus groups to learn how self-employed independent contractors speak about their work....

This paper compares employment and hours adjustment in Japanese and U.S. manufacturing. In contrast to some previous work, we find that adjustment of total labor input to demand changes is significantly greater in the United States than in Japan; adjustment of employment is significantly greater...