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In all seriousness, I’m unsure that official job numbers (even if they weren’t intentionally distorted, which is a big if these days) have caught up with the gi

by btown 7mo ago

In all seriousness, I’m unsure that official job numbers (even if they weren’t intentionally distorted, which is a big if these days) have caught up with the gig/creator economy. If a person making ends meet with food delivery and a few dollars of ad revenue is classified as “self-employed,” is that the same level of stability and ability to keep up with cost-of-living increases (which may outpace traditional inflation) vs. self-employed freelancers with clients? Which isn’t to cast shade on those paths, but it’s meaningful to the metrics we choose to follow.

el_nahual 7mo ago
Yes, they have. The BLS actually tracks a number of different "unemployment" numbers, whose definition you see here [0]. The "official" unemployment number, the one now reported as 4.4%, basically only counts the "percent of people actively looking for work that can't find it, who have been looking for work for more that 15 weeks. The number you are trying to capture is what the BLS calls "U-6". That number is defined as: > total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers. In other words, anyone that would like more work but can't get it. I encourage you to read the entire definition and footnotes at the link I shared. It's very interesting! Right now U-6 is at 8%. During the 2007 recession it peaked at about 17%. [1] [0]: https://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm https://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm [1]: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/U6RATE https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/U6RATE
- btown 7mo ago
  Thanks for bringing this up, and you're right that this is closer. I still think it's imperfect, because a gig economy worker who works 35+ hours per week would be considered "employed full time" (footnotes, https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat36.htm https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat36.htm) and as far as I know would not be included in the U-6. I don't have a more recent statistic, but in 2018 half of Uber rides were provided by drivers working 35+ hours per week: https://www.epi.org/publication/uber-and-the-labor-market-uber-drivers-compensation-wages-and-the-scale-of-uber-and-the-gig-economy/ https://www.epi.org/publication/uber-and-the-labor-market-ub... So while I was perhaps too harsh on the work of the BLS, I do think that newer metrics are warranted.

by btown 7mo ago

el_nahual 7mo ago

Yes, they have. The BLS actually tracks a number of different "unemployment" numbers, whose definition you see here [0]. The "official" unemployment number, the one now reported as 4.4%, basically only counts the "percent of people actively looking for work that can't find it, who have been looking for work for more that 15 weeks. The number you are trying to capture is what the BLS calls "U-6". That number is defined as: > total unemployed, plus all marginally attached workers, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all marginally attached workers. In other words, anyone that would like more work but can't get it. I encourage you to read the entire definition and footnotes at the link I shared. It's very interesting! Right now U-6 is at 8%. During the 2007 recession it peaked at about 17%. [1] [0]: https://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm https://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm [1]: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/U6RATE https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/U6RATE

btown 7mo ago
Thanks for bringing this up, and you're right that this is closer. I still think it's imperfect, because a gig economy worker who works 35+ hours per week would be considered "employed full time" (footnotes, https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat36.htm https://www.bls.gov/cps/cpsaat36.htm) and as far as I know would not be included in the U-6. I don't have a more recent statistic, but in 2018 half of Uber rides were provided by drivers working 35+ hours per week: https://www.epi.org/publication/uber-and-the-labor-market-uber-drivers-compensation-wages-and-the-scale-of-uber-and-the-gig-economy/ https://www.epi.org/publication/uber-and-the-labor-market-ub... So while I was perhaps too harsh on the work of the BLS, I do think that newer metrics are warranted.