4 ms·
This analysis, like many others, compares gig economy workers to their full-time equivalents and therefore misses a lot of the positive aspects. The flexibilit
by payne92 10y ago
This analysis, like many others, compares gig economy workers to their full-time equivalents and therefore misses a lot of the positive aspects.
The flexibility has huge value that is difficult to quantify, especially for folks that are augmenting an existing job, a school commitment, retirement, family obligations, or some other constrained situation.
Consider the same at work in two different arrangements: one with a very rigid schedule that pays X dollars per hour, and the other with a completely flexible schedule that pays Y dollars per hour. What's the ratio of X to Y?
- peacetreefrog 10y agoExactly. The National Bureau of Economic Research just did a paper on this: http://www.nber.org/papers/w23296 http://www.nber.org/papers/w23296 and found twice the supplier surplus compared to more inflexible working arrangements. They estimate that if drivers had to work at the same rates, but for inflexible hours, they'd reduce their hours worked by 2/3s.
- prostoalex 10y agoAgree, my most recent Lyft ride was a [by choice] stay-at-home father whose wife was working full time, which enabled him to moonlight in the busy 6-10 pm hour. Anecdotal evidence, but still. Not many job opportunities are available at weird hours and the ones that are (e.g. bartending, retail) usually require more rigid and unpredictable schedule than driving for a ride-sharing network.