There are an increasing number of people willing to work part-time or in temporary positions within the remit of the
gig economy culminating in cheaper, more efficient services.
So does this mark a turning point for the
gig economy? Maybe not.
Although the
gig economy has been touted as an effective way for Americans to make money on their own terms, most gig workers 85pc make less than $500 a month, on average, through those services, according to San Francisco-based loan provider Earnest, which analysed tens of thousands of loan applications to study the impact of gig-economy jobs.
(12) Even though companies like Uber are deciding to extend some protections not usually given to contractors, the growth in
gig economy work necessitates adapting the law to offer increased rights and protections for workers while also allowing workers and businesses to maintain some of the flexibility the current contractor relationship allows.
The
gig economy is a way of working that is based on people having temporary jobs or doing separate pieces of work, each paid separately, rather than working for one employer.
Employers say millennials don't stay long in their jobs anymore and are easily bored but that's another story.Whatever it is that is pushing the growth of the
gig economy, I think it's likely to stay.
"The
Gig Economy & the Future of Employment and Labor Law," University of San Francisco Law Review 51: 51-64.
Thriving in the
Gig Economy is an actionable guidebook outlining ways to maneuver in this new world to create a path that optimizes success.
But gig work has turned into the
gig economy. This means people working full-time but always on a selfemployed gig basis, getting paid on the basis of each piece of work they do but never getting an actual job.
Many Uber drivers, and millions of other workers in the so-called
gig economy, may not realize that they're becoming independent contractors, and therefore are signing up for a more complex tax status.
The Forum for Early Career Professionals is coordinating a yearlong initiative that explores contingent labor, an effort that we call "SAM and the
Gig Economy." Our goal is to raise awareness about the ways in which contingent employment--defined as temporary, short- term, and/or freelance work--shapes the lives of American music scholars.
The RBI will also provide a mechanism for monitoring self employment rates as we transition from regular work into the new "
gig economy." Theoretically, the
gig economy should result in an increase in self employment rates but the dip in self employment during 2017 (and a healthy economy) indicates that there must be more people than ever that are working a regular job while earning extra income from gigs on the side.