Book contents
- Beyond the Algorithm
- Beyond the Algorithm
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Rise and Scope of Gig Work Regulation
- 2 An Uber Ambivalence
- 3 Invisible Work, Visible Workers
- 4 The Importance of Qualitative Research Approaches to Gig Economy Taxation
- 5 Just a Gig?
- 6 Algorithmic Management, Employment, and the Self in Gig Work
- 7 Regulating Transportation Systems without Authority (or Data)
- 8 Words Matter
- 9 Rewriting the Rules
- 10 What Regulators Could Gain by Listening to Rideshare Drivers
- Index
- References
5 - Just a Gig?
Sharing Economy Work and the Implications for Career Trajectory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 October 2020
Edited by
Book contents
- Beyond the Algorithm
- Beyond the Algorithm
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 The Rise and Scope of Gig Work Regulation
- 2 An Uber Ambivalence
- 3 Invisible Work, Visible Workers
- 4 The Importance of Qualitative Research Approaches to Gig Economy Taxation
- 5 Just a Gig?
- 6 Algorithmic Management, Employment, and the Self in Gig Work
- 7 Regulating Transportation Systems without Authority (or Data)
- 8 Words Matter
- 9 Rewriting the Rules
- 10 What Regulators Could Gain by Listening to Rideshare Drivers
- Index
- References
Summary
While gig-based work is marketed by platforms as an attractive opportunity, little attention has been paid to the long-term experience of gig workers. Based on longitudinal interviews with 11 gig workers, this chapter seeks to answer the question, what is the impact of gig economy work on a worker’s future career trajectory and personal life? To paraphrase Kalleberg (2011), is gig-based work a good or bad job? What distinguishes those workers who move out of gig work from those workers who remain engaged in gig work, whether by choice or circumstance? Do workers think that extensive time spent in gig work as a primary source of income has affected their ability to move to stable traditional employment? This chapter connects gig work to a larger discussion of “side hustles” and worker reliance on additional sources of income, and the impact of underemployment on wages and employment call-backs. The negative career implications of gig work, especially long-term gig work, suggest serious inequities in regards to worker opportunity or experience. These inequities should be cause for concern among labor and employment law scholars, and further support the importance of establishing a social safety net and workplace protections for gig workers.
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Beyond the AlgorithmQualitative Insights for Gig Work Regulation, pp. 103 - 122Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020
References
Autor, D. H., and Houseman, S. N.. “Temporary Agency Employment: A Way Out of Poverty?” in Working and Poor: How Economic and Policy Changes Are Affecting Low-Wage Workers, eds. Blank, Rebecca M., Danziger, Sheldon H., and Schoeni, Robert F.. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2016.Google Scholar
Baker, D. “Don’t Buy the ‘Sharing Economy’ Hype: Airbnb and Uber Are Facilitating Rip-Offs.” The Guardian, May 27, 2014. www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/27/airbnb-uber-taxes-regulation.Google Scholar
Bell, D. N. F. and Blanchflower, D. G.. “Young People and the Great Recession.” Institute for the Study of Labor Discussion Paper Series 5674, 2011. http://ftp.iza.org/dp5674.pdf.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Botsman, Rachel and Rodgers, Roo. What’s Mine Is Yours: The Rise of Collaborative Consumption. New York: Harper Collins, 2010.Google Scholar
Brand, J. E. “The Far-Reaching Impact of Job Loss and Unemployment.” Annual Review of Sociology, 41, 359–375, 2015.Google Scholar
Bureau of Labor Statistics. U.S. Department of Labor, “The Economics Daily, Number of people working part time for economic reasons falls in June 2016” at www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2016/number-of-people-working-part-time-for-economic-reasons-falls-in-june-2016.htm.Google Scholar
Chokshi, N. “Yes, People Really Are Eating Tide Pods. No, It’s Not Safe.” The New York Times, Jan. 20, 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/us/tide-pod-challenge.html.Google Scholar
Davis, S. J., and Haltiwanger, J.. “Labor Market Fluidity and Economic Performance.” NBER Working Paper No. 20479. Cambridge, Mass.: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014.Google Scholar
Dixon, A. “Survey: Nearly 1 in 3 Side Hustlers Needs the Income to Stay Afloat.” Bankrate.com, June 5, 2019, www.bankrate.com/personal-finance/side-hustles-survey-june-2019/.Google Scholar
Dynan, K., Elmendorf, D. and Sichel, D.. “The Evolution of Household Income Volatility.” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy, 12(2), 1–42, 2012. Retrieved 18 Aug. 2017, from doi:10.1515/1935-1682.3347.Google Scholar
Evans, J. “Meet the New Serfs, Same as the Old Serfs.” TechCrunch, Oct 5, 2013. http://techcrunch.com/2013/10/05/meet-the-new-serfs-same-as-the-old-serfs/.Google Scholar
Farber, H. S., Silverman, D., and von Wachter, T. M.. “Factors Determining Callbacks to Job Applications by the Unemployed: An Audit Study.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(3), 168–201, 2017.Google Scholar
Farrell, D. and Greig, F. E.. “The Online Platform Economy: Has Growth Peaked?” (November 15, 2017). https://ssrn.com/abstract=2911194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrell, D. and Greig, F. E.. “Paychecks, Paydays, and the Online Platform Economy: Big Data on Income Volatility.” JP Morgan Chase & Co. Institute, February 2016. https://ssrn.com/abstract=2911293.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Federal Reserve Board. “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2016.” May 2017. www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2016-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201705.pdf.Google Scholar
Federal Reserve Board. “Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2018.” May 2019. www.federalreserve.gov/publications/files/2018-report-economic-well-being-us-households-201905.pdf.Google Scholar
Ferber, M. A., and Waldfogel, J.. “The Long-Term Consequences of Nontraditional Employment.” Columbia University Academic Commons, https://doi.org/10.7916/D8794FDK. ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 650 (1), 78–97, 1998.Google Scholar
Frenken, K., Meelen, T., Arets, M. and van de Glind, P. “Smarter Regulation for the Sharing Economy,” The Guardian, May 20, 2015. www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2015/may/20/smarter-regulation-for-the-sharing-economy.Google Scholar
Frasquilho, D., Matos, M. G., Salonna, F., Guerreiro, D., Storti, C. C., Gaspar, T., and Caldas-de-Almeida, J. M.. “Mental Health Outcomes in Times of Economic Recession: A Systematic Literature Review.” BMC Public Health, 16, 115, 2016.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, S. The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Worker. New York: Knopf, 2008.Google Scholar
Greenhouse, S. Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. New York: Knopf, 2019.Google Scholar
Grusky, D. B., Western, B., and Wimer, C., eds. The Great Recession. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011.Google Scholar
Hart, K. “Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana.” The Journal of Modern African Studies, 11(1), 61–89, 1973, retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/159873.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hart, K. “The Informal Economy.” Cambridge Anthropology, 10(2), 54–58, 1985, retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/23816368.Google Scholar
Heinrich, C., Mueser, P. R. and Troske, K. R.. “Welfare to Temporary Work: Implications for Labor Market Outcomes.” The Review of Economics and Statistics, 87(1), 154–173, 2005.Google Scholar
Hout, M., and Hastings, O. P.. “The Social Recession: Americans’ Subjective Reactions to the Great Recession and Lagging Economy Since 2006.” Paper presented at annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. San Francisco (August 16–19, 2014).Google Scholar
Kalamar, A. “Sharewashing Is the New Greenwashing.” OpEdNews.com, May 13, 2013. www .opednews.com/articles/Sharewashing-is-the-New-Gr-by-Anthony-Kalamar-130513–834.html.Google Scholar
Kalleberg, A. Good Jobs, Bad Jobs: The Rise of Polarized and Precarious Employment Systems in the United States. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2011.Google Scholar
Kalleberg, A. L. and von Wachter, T. M.. “The U.S. Labor Market During and After the Great Recession: Continuities and Transformations.” RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences, 3(3), 1–19, 2017.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mathews, J. “The Sharing Economy Boom Is About to Bust.” Time, June 27, 2014. http://time.com/2924778/airbnb-uber-sharing-economy/.Google Scholar
McAfee, A. and Brynjolfsson, E.. Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future. New York: Norton, 2017.Google Scholar
McCue, T. J. “Looking for a Side Hustle or Freelance Gig? Check Out These Sites.” Forbes, July 28, 2019. www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2019/07/28/looking-for-a-side-hustle-or-freelance-gig-check-out-these-sites/#3676e76b56ad.Google Scholar
Mieszkowski, K. “Don’t Wanna Be Your (Temp) Slave.” Fast Company, August 31, 1998. Retrieved Aug 26, 2017. www.fastcompany.com/35119/dont-wanna-be-your-temp-slave.Google Scholar
McKinsey Global Work Institute. Independent Work: Choice, Necessity and the Gig Economy. 2016. www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Global%20Themes/Employment%20and%20Growth/Independent%20work%20Choice%20necessity%20and%20the%20gig%20economy/Independent-Work-Choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy-Full-report.ashx.Google Scholar
Morduch, J. and Schneider, R.. The Financial Diaries: How American Families Cope in a World of Uncertainty. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017.Google Scholar
Nunley, J. M., Pugh, A., Romero, N., and Seals, R. A. Jr. “Unemployment, Underemployment, and Employment Opportunities: Results from a Correspondence Audit Study of the Labor Market for College Graduates.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 70(3) 642–669, 2016.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. “Shared, Collaborative and On Demand: The New Digital Economy.” May 2016. www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/05/19/the-new-digital-economy/.Google Scholar
Pew Research Center. “How Income Volatility Interacts with American Families’ Financial Security: An Examination of Gains, Losses, and Household Economic Experiences.” March 9, 2017. www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2017/03/how-income-volatility-interacts-with-american-families-financial-security.Google Scholar
Portes, A. “The Informal Economy and Its Paradoxes,” in Handbook of Economic Sociology, eds. Smelser, Neil J. and Swedberg, Richard. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Ravenelle, Alexandrea J. “Sharing Economy Workers: Selling, Not Sharing.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 10(2) 281–295, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsw043.Google Scholar
Ravenelle, Alexandrea J. Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2019.Google Scholar
Schor, Juliet B. “Does the Sharing Economy Increase Inequality Within the Eighty Percent?: Findings from a Qualitative Study of Platform Providers.” Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 10(2) 263–279 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsw047.Google Scholar
Schor, J. B. and Fitzmaurice, C.. “Collaborating and Connecting: The Emergence of a Sharing Economy,” in Handbook on Research on Sustainable Consumption, eds. Reisch, Lucia and Thogersen, John. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2015.Google Scholar
Schor, J. B. “Debating the Sharing Economy,” Great Transition Initiative (October 2014), www.greattransition.org/publication/debating-the-sharing-economy.Google Scholar
Schor, J. B. True Wealth: How and Why Millions of Americans Are Creating a Time-rich, Ecologically-light, Small-scale, High-satisfaction Economy. New York: The Penguin Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Song, J, and von Wachter, T.. “Long-Term Nonemployment and Job Displacement.” Evaluating Labor Market Dynamics, Proceedings from the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium Sponsored by the Federal Reserve Board of Kansas City, Jackson Hole, Wyo. (August 2014). www.kansascityfed.org/publicat/sympos/2014/2014vonWachter.pdf.Google Scholar
Standing, G. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2011.Google Scholar
Weiss, R. S. Learning from Strangers: The Art and Method of Qualitative Interview Studies. New York: The Free Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. trans. Fischoff, Ephraim et al. eds. Roth, Guenther and Wittich, Claus. Berkeley: University of California Press, [1922] 1978.Google Scholar
- 2
- Cited by