Working Without Commitments offers a new understanding of the social and health impacts of this change in the modern workplace, where outsourcing, limited term contracts, and the elimination of pensions and health benefits have become the new standard. Using information from interviews and surveys with workers in less permanent employment, the authors show how precarious employment affects the health of workers, labour productivity, and the sustainability of the traditional family model. A timely and relevant work for uncertain economic times, Working Without Commitments provides helpful information for understanding the present workplace and securing better futures for today's workforce.From the end of the Second World War to the early 1980s, the North American norm was that men had full-time jobs, earned a "family wage," and expected to stay with the same employer for life. In households with children, most women were unpaid caregivers. This situation began to change in the mid-1970s as two-earner households became commonplace, with women entering employment through temporary and part-time jobs. Since the 1980s, less permanent precarious employment has increasingly become the norm for all workers."Working Without Commitments is a timely and innovative contribution to scholarship on precarious employment and work and health in the contemporary North American labour market." Mark Thomas, Department of Sociology, York UniversityWayne Lewchuk is a professor of labour studies and economics at McMaster University. Marlea Clarke is an assistant professor in political science at the University of Victoria and a research associate of the Labour and Enterprise Policy Research Group (LEP) at the University of Cape Town. Alice de Wolff is a research coordinator who has managed projects and organizations related to equity, employment, adult education, and international development. She was a member of York University's Alliance on Contingent Employment.CA