Killing the Myth of the Gig Economy
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Many pundit types were thrown for a loop by the Labor Department's release of its Contingent Worker Survey yesterday. The survey, the first one since 2005, showed no increase in the percentage of workers employed as independent contractors, such as those who work for Uber and Lyft.
As has been pointed by out by Larry Mishel and others, most of the people doing gig economy work do it as a sidebar, in addition to their main jobs. But it is worth noting that even here the data points to a decline in the percentage of workers employed in multiple jobs over the last quarter century.
So even insofar as workers are turning to Uber or TaskRabbit to supplement their income, it seems to a large extent it is substituting for other side work they used to do. It seems the gig economy means much more to pundits than to workers.
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Hamsters running, running, running... just to keep from falling behind...
MAGA!
You can’t make a living driving for Uber or Lyft. The people that I know who drive for these services don’t even need the money, they just like to meet new people while making some side cash. That has been the case with many drivers who I’ve met as a passenger as well.
If it's a hobby, that's cool.
Statistically, there are lots of drivers who need the supplemental income.
I imagine that is true. Funny thing is, I don’t need the extra income, but I probably would if I were to buy a new car on par with the what the typical Uber driver uses. I’ve never personally seen an Uber or Lyft car as old and used as mine is. I’ve got 200k miles on her and plan to get another 100k. Lol.