Pop Goes the Gig Economy?
There are many reasons to love the gig economy. It allows people to make cash on the side while pursuing other avenues in their lives. That side hustle can be the only way that some can pay the rent.
Massive companies have been built on the back of the gig workers. A classic investment strategy to breakdown barriers and jigger old businesses into new businesses. Using technology to create a more efficient system. The problem arises when it becomes obvious to all of us that the companies that employ gig workers are taking too much cash from contacts such as a restaurant or a passenger.
The more significant issue is gig workers have no safety net. They don’t have health insurance, they don’t have savings, and they don’t have days off. They rely on the system to make them money, but during Covid, it hasn’t been efficient enough to fill their pockets and bank accounts.
Is it ok for Uber to make sure that their shareholders continue to make money even though the workers they are using to obtain those numbers are hurting? I don’t think so.
We are in desperate need of healthcare for all, but that doesn’t mean that companies representing gig workers should rely on that kind of system and continue to profit from it.
I do not want to see the gig economy end. I want to see the gig economy become responsible for their employees that make their bottom line sing. It is time to fix the businesses we built.