Does the growth of service sector jobs in North American cities imply greater urban inequality? What are the implications of deteriorating job quality in our cities? How can organizers, workers, and policymakers challenge the degradation of work? On the podcast, Marc Doussard discusses his recent book, Degraded Work: The Struggle at the Bottom of the Labour Market, which is based on extensive field research in Chicago.

His 2013 book details the deteriorating conditions of employment in local-serving industries immunized against international competition. The book builds on a long-term engagement with regional economic development, and challenges the assumption that low pay and poor working conditions are intrinsic characteristics of service-sector jobs. Marc Doussard is assistant professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.