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I think the fact that a gig economy company with fair (for lack of a better term) labor practices hasn't shown up yet (to my knowledge) is an indictment on the

I think the fact that a gig economy company with fair (for lack of a better term) labor practices hasn't shown up yet (to my knowledge) is an indictment on the lack of vision from VCs and entrepreneurs. As a recent NYT article showed, we are moving towards a bifurcated economy split between service workers and high skilled work based on technology. The gig economy has the correct foresight in merging the two but due to the shortsighted nature of VCs these companies have built a business model based on worker exploitation. It's hard to believe that a balance does not exist that would allow for a "gig" company to utilize full-time workers and still be profitable.

maxxxxx 8y ago
I thought the gig economy is about getting rid of burdensome things like paying employees regularly and reliably, or maintaining a fleet of vehicles, or health insurance and then putting the money into the pockets of the company. "It's hard to believe that a balance does not exist that would allow for a "gig" company to utilize full-time workers and still be profitable." Your plumbing business does it, also cleaning companies and most other service businesses. The gig companies can be more profitable because they take shortcuts.
SkyPuncher 8y ago
> I think the fact that a gig economy company with fair (for lack of a better term) labor practices hasn't shown up yet (to my knowledge) is an indictment on the lack of vision from VCs and entrepreneurs. IMO, The "fair" gig economies are inversely correlated with their broadness and accessibility. Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Shipt, etc will never be fair because so many people are able (and willing) to race to the bottom. Things requiring specialized skills generally seem relatively fair. They tend to pay less than a normal job, but still well above minimum wage. That's a fair tradeoff for the flexibility they come with. It's much better than the alternative of not having any options. Tutoring, tech support, care giving, nursing, and more have successful gig economy companies that offer people a way to easily make additional income.
kevin_b_er 8y ago
> I think the fact that a gig economy company with fair (for lack of a better term) labor practices hasn't shown up yet (to my knowledge) is an indictment on the lack of vision from VCs and entrepreneurs. Their vision is likely well aligned. The gig economy metes out little bits of work to a new underclass, while shifting nearly all risk onto them. This improves profit flow. The gig economy bypasses the American Labor Movement. The mandatory binding arbitration bypasses the Rule of Law. The VC's vision is excellent. They extract work out people who don't have much recourse, except they've figured out slavery isn't needed. You just need them hopeless enough to work for nothing, because they can't get anything else. Since they don't need to be paid minimum wage, they don't get benefits, and you can nickle and dime them because you've bypassed the rule of law, you get a lot of advantages over a normal company that has to play by the classic rules of treating humans with any kind of dignity and the laws they got passed to do so. The app concept makes things faceless so the company can make profit by making someone else do the hard work and take the risks.
- sitkack 8y ago
  It sounds like the mirror of a pay-day-loan. Maybe Uber could have all contractor banking done via pay-day-loans? I can only think that there needs to be a business need to take money out of a contractors bank account in real time.
ilaksh 8y ago
Not all of the high-skilled workers are highly paid.

maxxxxx 8y ago

I thought the gig economy is about getting rid of burdensome things like paying employees regularly and reliably, or maintaining a fleet of vehicles, or health insurance and then putting the money into the pockets of the company. "It's hard to believe that a balance does not exist that would allow for a "gig" company to utilize full-time workers and still be profitable." Your plumbing business does it, also cleaning companies and most other service businesses. The gig companies can be more profitable because they take shortcuts.

SkyPuncher 8y ago

> I think the fact that a gig economy company with fair (for lack of a better term) labor practices hasn't shown up yet (to my knowledge) is an indictment on the lack of vision from VCs and entrepreneurs. IMO, The "fair" gig economies are inversely correlated with their broadness and accessibility. Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Shipt, etc will never be fair because so many people are able (and willing) to race to the bottom. Things requiring specialized skills generally seem relatively fair. They tend to pay less than a normal job, but still well above minimum wage. That's a fair tradeoff for the flexibility they come with. It's much better than the alternative of not having any options. Tutoring, tech support, care giving, nursing, and more have successful gig economy companies that offer people a way to easily make additional income.

kevin_b_er 8y ago

> I think the fact that a gig economy company with fair (for lack of a better term) labor practices hasn't shown up yet (to my knowledge) is an indictment on the lack of vision from VCs and entrepreneurs. Their vision is likely well aligned. The gig economy metes out little bits of work to a new underclass, while shifting nearly all risk onto them. This improves profit flow. The gig economy bypasses the American Labor Movement. The mandatory binding arbitration bypasses the Rule of Law. The VC's vision is excellent. They extract work out people who don't have much recourse, except they've figured out slavery isn't needed. You just need them hopeless enough to work for nothing, because they can't get anything else. Since they don't need to be paid minimum wage, they don't get benefits, and you can nickle and dime them because you've bypassed the rule of law, you get a lot of advantages over a normal company that has to play by the classic rules of treating humans with any kind of dignity and the laws they got passed to do so. The app concept makes things faceless so the company can make profit by making someone else do the hard work and take the risks.

sitkack 8y ago
It sounds like the mirror of a pay-day-loan. Maybe Uber could have all contractor banking done via pay-day-loans? I can only think that there needs to be a business need to take money out of a contractors bank account in real time.

ilaksh 8y ago

Not all of the high-skilled workers are highly paid.