>Retention metrics should tell us something about this, right? If someone does a job for a few months to a year they should have a good handle on whether or not

>Retention metrics should tell us something about this, right? If someone does a job for a few months to a year they should have a good handle on whether or not they've lost money. There are things that are more difficult to measure than just "money". For example, as a gig worker you don't really build up any good "skills" or you're not working on a "career" so to speak. In this sense you're not going up on the ladder which means that you are, in a relative sense, actually dropping down the ladder. Stuff like this is hard to measure but the effect is nonetheless real. Furthermore, think of car depreciation costs (Uber) which happens on your dime but is also hard to measure (or at least, many people don't think about it or factor it in until its too late). These are just 2 examples but I can probably think of more examples. The point I'm trying to make is that being a gig worker might seem promising on the surface (you trade your time/labour for tangible money) but that there are a lot of hidden costs (not just hidden monetary costs).