10 books to read if you want to learn about the future of work

Uber drivers protest next to the Charging Bull statue in New York's financial district, Wednesday, May 8, 2019.AP Photo/Mark Lennihan

• Business Insider spoke to professors, police advocates, and organizers on the best books to learn about the future of work.
• Some books, including David Weil's "The Fissured Workplace," break down how employer-employee relationships have weakened since the mid-20th century.
• Here are the top 10 books they recommended for learning about the current — and future — state of work and workers in the US.

The way Americans work is undergoing tremendous change — and it's not all related to the coronavirus pandemic.

I've been covering jobs and the future of work for over a year at Business Insider, and reported on how companies are increasingly automating jobs and the dynamic of work-life balance declining while productivity increases. And that was before the coronavirus pandemic led to 20.5 million Americans losing their jobs in April, resulting in the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression.

Now some experts say many of those jobs won't come back.

Recruiting experts have told Business Insider that the pandemic will increase the size of the "gig economy," a job market more precarious than full-time work that doesn't guarantee workers minimum wage or health benefits.

To reflect how work has changed and where it's going, I reached out to several labor and workplace experts on the best books for understanding the future of work (and I added some of my own recommendations, too).

These books describe how Americans can prepare for careers during the time of automation and the productivity paradox, and how to understand the current state of labor organizing.

Here are the 10 best books on the future of work.