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Praising the "gig economy" means he knows nothing about what the "gig economy" means for ordinary workers. The gig economy is when you have to spend more time s
by panglott 10y ago
Praising the "gig economy" means he knows nothing about what the "gig economy" means for ordinary workers. The gig economy is when you have to spend more time scrounging up odd jobs than actually working to get paid. The gig economy is having to work multiple part-time jobs since companies won't hire full-time workers—except each of the part-time jobs expect you to be on-call 24 hours/day. The gig economy is non-compete agreements for part-time low-wage service workers. The gig economy is hiring friendly white people for the purposes of branding, then firing them all to cut wages once your image is established. The gig economy is offloading costs of business onto your employees. In short, the "gig economy" is a rebranding is corporate exploitation of low-wage service workers in the context of high unemployment and lack of regulation.
Saying "these sorts of jobs provide the upside to a universal basic income’s floor: our goal should be to make it vastly easier for individuals to better themselves if they choose to do so" is just blaming unemployed people for losing their jobs when the financial industry cocked up the economy with "financial innovations" (i.e., fraud).
- golergka 10y agoYou describe the things that you would miss in the gig exonomy in a language that suggests that you're entitles to those things. May I ask why?
- zaccus 10y agoCan you point to an example in the parent post where such language is used? I'm not seeing anywhere saying "I would miss entitlements x, y, and z".
- panglott 10y agoI'm not claiming that anyone is entitled to anything; I'm simply pointing out that the labor market is a shit sandwich for a very large class of workers. The OP frames nonparticipation in the "gig economy" as a failure of moral rectitude on the part of those who lack "the desire to better themselves." Economics concerns the simple exchange of resources, and is unconcerned about whether it is "fair" for a drought to cause famine and death. But we humans live in societies that require a high level of trust, social cooperation, and an expectation of fairness. Those who would tear up the social contract ought well consider what wind they would sow.
- dd9990 10y ago> Those who would tear up the social contract ought well consider what wind they would sow. Which is exactly why the Brexit happened.
- hsod 10y ago> The gig economy is when you have to spend more time scrounging up odd jobs than actually working to get paid. The gig economy is having to work multiple part-time jobs since companies won't hire full-time workers—except each of the part-time jobs expect you to be on-call 24 hours/day. The gig economy is non-compete agreements for part-time low-wage service workers. The gig economy is hiring friendly white people for the purposes of branding, then firing them all to cut wages once your image is established. As far as I can tell, none of these apply to Uber/Lyft which I think of as the poster children for the gig economy.
- eschaton 10y agoUber and Lyft are actually among the most exploitative, in terms of real income versus the promises they make.