There are two major problems with the sharing economy that most people don't mention when they write articles about it. First, the overwhelming majority of gig

There are two major problems with the sharing economy that most people don't mention when they write articles about it. First, the overwhelming majority of gigs don't teach you any marketable skills whatsoever. So over the course of your contracting, you may as well be unemployed. This hurts most people's chances of finding gainful employment, and ends up being a massive hidden cost above and beyond car maintenance and similar expenses directly related to running the gigs. Second, because you make so little, you also save very little, if any, for retirement. Since saving for retirement is all about compound interest, people who run gigs while young instead of looking for full-time employment are in for lots of pain and discomfort later in life. In fact I suspect we're witnessing the creation of yet another underclass, consisting of people who will probably have to work until they die. Lots of Baby Boomers (who were unfortunate and/or made poor choices earlier in life) are already in this situation and it will only get worse. As an aside, one thing I don't get about the gig economy is how the workers can afford health insurance. I assume most don't have any, or they are on their parents or spouses' plans because even the cheapest plans are really expensive and I doubt your average Uber driver can afford them.