Also reflecting the desires to keep costs down, there has been a shift to using nontraditional workers. Nontraditional workers include those who hold multiple jobs, or who are “contingent” of part-time workers, or people working in alternative work arrangements (such as a mother- daughter team sharing one flight attendant job at JetBlue airlines). Today, almost 10% of American workers-13 million people-fit this nontraditional workforce category. Of these, about eight million are independent contractors who on specific projects and move on once the projects are done. Top publishing specialists.15 furthermore, automation and just-in-time manufacturing systems mean that even manufacturing jobs require more reading, mathematics, and communication skills than before.