In addition to low wages and nonexistent benefit, millions of American workers have to deal with unpredictable scheduling that fluctuates week by week. A new survey shows just how pervasive the problem is in New York City.

The Retail Action Project (a pro-worker group) surveyed 200 retail workers in New York City for its new report on the impact of unpredictable, on-call scheduling. They found that one quarter of workers are scheduled for on-call shifts, that may disappear just two hours before they're supposed to begin; only 40% of workers have any set number of hours that they are guaranteed to work each week; and half of those working part-time say they would like to get full-time hours, but can't. And lest you dismiss retail workers as a bunch of teenagers (as people love to do for fast food workers, even though it is not true), a few other facts:

The retail sector employs a diverse cross section of the American workforce—62% women, 21% people of color, workers both young and old (median age is 34, average age is 38)...

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than half of the retail workforce works full time, and the number of those working fewer than 20 hours per week has grown by 14% in the past decade.

Retail is one of the few employment sectors that will be with us for a long, long time. Steady, predictable schedules is the very least that workers can ask for. (They can also ask for more hours and higher wages and some benefits.) If you're going to ask working people to be poor, at least let them be poor in a predictable manner that they can plan for.

(The plan is to steal from the rich.)

[Photo: FB]