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I think, with the rise of the gig economy, the number of unemployed persons is not a very good metric anymore, because it doesn't make a distinction between a f
by matrix_overload 4y ago
I think, with the rise of the gig economy, the number of unemployed persons is not a very good metric anymore, because it doesn't make a distinction between a full-time employee, a shift worker getting 20 hours per week, and an Uber driver working at a loss, if you count the car depreciation.
A better metric could be the number of billable work hours within the last month, or the payroll distribution curve. The latter can be easily computed from the monthly payroll taxes and should show if people are being massively shifted to part-time or laid off and not immediately finding another job.
- miohtama 4y agoDoes the US keeps statistics of full-time employed vs. part-timers?
- malfist 4y agoYes, the U6 I believe counts "underemployeed". https://www.macrotrends.net/1377/u6-unemployment-rate https://www.macrotrends.net/1377/u6-unemployment-rate > U6 adds on those workers who are part-time purely for economic reasons
- filesystem 4y ago> an Uber driver working at a loss, if you count the car depreciation I hate to nitpick but I see this sentiment word-for-word on HN way too much. Uber drivers don't actually operate at a loss unless they only Uber for a short amount of time and they total their car during that stint. They just tend to earn less profit (often way less) than they think they are earning due to the car depreciation and other factors. But a working class person cannot afford to operate "at a loss" without noticing immediately, and a $25,000 car cannot depreciate infinitely.