GIGity ECONomy

Here is an interesting little ditty from the NC Labor and Economic Analysis division about the GIG Economy.  It touches base on the GIG economy, saying that the gig economy is a tiny fraction of the alternative employment (mostly uber right now) yet it’s growing very rapidly.

Uber is just the beginning of the treadmill.   There are several other companies positioned to move into this model that the information age has allowed and that Uber has enabled.

Doordash, Handy, Roadie, the list goes on and on.  It’s no wonder why.  As one reporter succinctly puts it, the Gig economy  allows them to offload capital and overhead expenses onto the worker.  We have seen this before. The best analogy is the transition from the pension plan to the 401K.  What started as a trickle became a full on deluge of the transition of risk from the employer to the worker.  Just like the gig economy the benefits of the 401k were sold hard (Hey, your retirement is now portable!).  Also like the gig economy there is an array of hidden negatives all relating to the individual risk now carried by the employee  /’gigger’ vs. the pooled risk owned by the traditional employer.

This trend isn’t stopping any time soon.  Right now the gig economy is starting to look like a life trap.  We just have to be aware of it and make sure not to fall into it, or if we do, make sure we do it eyes wide open.