The Gig Economy

The labor market is starting to see a greater percentage of employees working part-time jobs. Experts have labeled this phenomenon the Gig Economy.

Market-Edison Research Poll found that a quarter of American workers are working in the Gig Economy. The numbers might be higher because there really is no system to count all the gig employees because the government doesn’t really have a concrete system to count all these part-time employees.

These gig workers tend to be Uber drivers, freelance writers, ethical hackers, nannies, tutors, housekeepers, and computer programmers.

As competition increase for these part-time jobs, so does the use of technology to land these jobs. This means that a job seeker needs to be connected to the internet 24/7 to land a job and requires them to buy phones that keep them connected to potential employers.

Where humans might have controlled who got a job in the past. On the freelance job sites, the algorithms and rating systems decide who receives the job. So, workers with higher numbers get the highest percentage of jobs. This seems unfair to those just starting out in the business.

Pay can also low on these sites. Workers must move at a pace that causes stress because they need to complete a lot of jobs to make a living.

Poor working conditions are also a consequence of the Gig Economy. Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford did a study on the effects of working in such remote gig jobs.

“Our findings demonstrate evidence that the autonomy of working in the gig economy often comes at the price of long, irregular and anti-social hours, which can lead to sleep deprivation and exhaustion,” said Dr. Alex Wood, co-author of the paper.

The Harvard Business Review pointed out that the US tax and labor practices reward the fulltime employee. These freelancers lose the benefits that come with fulltime work and lack the rights that fulltime employees enjoy.

There isn’t a lot of regulations when it comes to gig jobs, and this is a cause of concern for some politicians that fear that there need to be more laws protecting the rights of temporary employees.

These gig jobs don’t offer a lot of security. They are only temporary in nature and there is no guarantee that past clients will need any more services.

These gigs do offer benefits to people that are just looking to supplement their income or because they offer flexibility in hours and pay. They also offer a variety of work and there are just some people that need the freedom that comes from being their own boss.