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The Gig Economy is Actually Smaller Than It Used To Be, Labor Department Says (marketwatch.com)
The so-called gig economy is actually slightly smaller than it used to be, according to a new Labor Department report released Thursday that chronicles the jobs market in the age of Uber. From a report: In May 2017, the Labor Department counted 5.9 million people, or 3.8% of workers, in what it calls contingent jobs, which are those that the workers don't expect to last or that workers call temporary. In 2005, the last time the government looked into the issue, there were 4.1% of workers who classified themselves this way. "Taken at face value, the results indicate that the role of non-traditional work arrangements in the U.S. economy has remained largely unchanged during the past 20 years, even as excitement and media coverage of the growth of the 'gig economy' has increased," said Brian Schaitkin, senior economist for The Conference Board.
That makes sense. People take "gigs" to tide them over until they can get a real job. But real jobs are more available now.
There was a bunch of people out of work a decade ago when rising gas prices made the housing bubble burst leading to the Econopocalypse that everyone likes to references with "These hard economic times". But those times are over. We've had steady (if slow) employment growth and now unemployment is creeping below 4%. Down into rates we haven't seen since the 1960's.
Anyone in the gig economy is underemployed (or has REALLY shitty job prospects). As times get better, fewer people need to do shitty gigs to make ends meet.
(And it's less... new. For a while, all those people were being paid with venture capitalist money)
Few of the "gig" workers I know would show up on a survey like this. I am a gig tech worker. I don't have an LLC and am paid for tasks or work performed or for an end product via cash or check. From their point of view, I'm essentially unemployed though I make a living.
In the non-tech arena, I know many people in a more rural area who lost traditional jobs in the 2009-2012 period who never returned. They now cut down trees, perform handyman jobs, do construction under-the-table, etc. Their work is steadier than you might imagine with many working a job for a couple months at a time though being paid daily. Most will tell you they are doing better now than before and certainly enjoying their lives more. They would also indicate that they are unemployed. The state is showing decreased unemployment though the total employed is still much lower than pre-recession.
You have to work harder to evaluate the gig economy. Even for tech workers like me, it mostly works in the way day-labor markets work. Often, it is even worse. I know gig economy tech workers who work for a piece of the pie upon success instead of pay. The problem is, success happens one time in four or so.