I do freelance work. I don't think Gig Work needs to be a race to the bottom at all. I have a serious medical condition. Gig Work has been a better answer for m

I do freelance work. I don't think Gig Work needs to be a race to the bottom at all. I have a serious medical condition. Gig Work has been a better answer for me than a regular job. The short version is that I can take off as much time as I need to when my health requires it without living in fear of losing my job. Yes, there are problems with it. I certainly wish I had more money and more stability. But the real root cause of my instability is my medical situation. Freelance work has been a far better answer for me than regular employment. There are a lot of people who have many other things on their plate beyond just trying to make a living. From parents of small children to parents of special needs kids to people with a sick relative or people going to college, there are a great many reasons why one might need to arrange for life to revolve around some other priority and have earning income take a back seat to that. Our expectation of a serious career actually is very problematic for such people. Historically, the family was the organizing them for most of the world. This is become less true. Families have a lot of flexibility that full time jobs typically lack. If the family is no longer going to be the primary way that people are taken care of, then work needs to become more flexible. I don't think it has to be a race to the bottom. We can intentionally design gig work so that it is not. I think this is the key to not only maintaining the high quality of life we expect, but improving it.