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Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

nytimes.com

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Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#11

Post by volkk »

anyfoo wrote: post #9
danschumann wrote: post #3

People(most people) like to do the same thing every day. Even me, I'm a programmer and have different tasks, but I get most of my work through one client. I would hate to be chasing down new clients all the time.

Is that true, do most people like doing the same thing every day? It certainly is not true for me. EDIT: A few repliers clarified that it's probably about the stable and reliable income, and not about the nature of the work that's done every day. I can agree with that!

i think OP meant more along the lines of: people like stability and ones with families can't rely on an inconsistent income that the freelance world generally provides. not actually doing the exact same thing everyday

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#12

Post by taurath »

lalos wrote: post #5

It did reshape it. Turns out you can offload your costs to your 'employees' that hardly will organize and project costs and earnings to the future (like a competent business). I've talked with bunch of car sharing drivers who were bamboozled with car loans, get hit by traffic infractions, costs of maintenance and the list goes on and on. I feel that the gig economy preys on people who have not developed that risk man…

That’s what we have done for teachers for decades.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#13

Post by cmrdporcupine »

lkrubner wrote: post #7
oli5679 wrote: post #2

Reminds me of the economist Robert Solow's quip: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."

This is a good comment. It is interesting to consider how much rhetoric there is about robots and AI and Machine Learning and how these technologies can revolutionize work and lead to big productivity gains. And yet, in reality, the economy shows no sign of this. Productivity growth was very strong in the mid-20th century, but since 1973 productivity growth has been stagnant.

Because all the competitors are doing it, too.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#14

Post by nerdponx »

lalos wrote: post #5

It did reshape it. Turns out you can offload your costs to your 'employees' that hardly will organize and project costs and earnings to the future (like a competent business). I've talked with bunch of car sharing drivers who were bamboozled with car loans, get hit by traffic infractions, costs of maintenance and the list goes on and on. I feel that the gig economy preys on people who have not developed that risk man…

Interesting that this thread and the "chatbots aren't so great after all" thread hit the front page on the same day.

Anyone who actually thought people gave a shit about chatbots was either deluded, a chatbot API salesman, or a manager/owner trying to cut costs by downsizing their call/chat support center.

Anyone who actually thought the gig economy was helping anyone but business owners was either deluded or a shill.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#15

Post by kjeetgill »

lkrubner wrote: post #7
oli5679 wrote: post #2

Reminds me of the economist Robert Solow's quip: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."

This is a good comment. It is interesting to consider how much rhetoric there is about robots and AI and Machine Learning and how these technologies can revolutionize work and lead to big productivity gains. And yet, in reality, the economy shows no sign of this. Productivity growth was very strong in the mid-20th century, but since 1973 productivity growth has been stagnant.

I don't know much about the subject. How do we measure productivity? What units do we use?

I ask because it _feels_ like everything has changed since 1973 at least. So I'm curious where my intuition differs from reality.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#16

Post by taurath »

lkrubner wrote: post #7
oli5679 wrote: post #2

Reminds me of the economist Robert Solow's quip: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."

This is a good comment. It is interesting to consider how much rhetoric there is about robots and AI and Machine Learning and how these technologies can revolutionize work and lead to big productivity gains. And yet, in reality, the economy shows no sign of this. Productivity growth was very strong in the mid-20th century, but since 1973 productivity growth has been stagnant.

Call centers, accounting, and help desk and other things that used to take a small army are now a subscription service for far less money. The “efficiency” rating is probably wrong if it doesn’t think that’s increased efficiency.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#17

Post by justin »

oli5679 wrote: post #2

Reminds me of the economist Robert Solow's quip: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."

Maybe productivity metrics aren't a perfect measure of society. On many qualitative dimensions we have a much higher quality of living now because of computers: You can talk to anyone almost anywhere in the world for free, instantly. You can recall any information or media instantly. The list goes on..

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#18

Post by thaumasiotes »

lkrubner wrote: post #7
oli5679 wrote: post #2

Reminds me of the economist Robert Solow's quip: "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics."

This is a good comment. It is interesting to consider how much rhetoric there is about robots and AI and Machine Learning and how these technologies can revolutionize work and lead to big productivity gains. And yet, in reality, the economy shows no sign of this. Productivity growth was very strong in the mid-20th century, but since 1973 productivity growth has been stagnant.

Productivity has been stagnant, or productivity growth has been stagnant?

Constant productivity growth is a terrible argument that computers haven't contributed to productivity. No single innovation, however broadly defined, will produce constant growth. As one source of growth peters out, another one picks up.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#19

Post by lhorie »

That's not really surprising at all. The article says the category of workers in "gig" type of jobs went from 11% in 2005 to 10% in 2017. To change this number above some level of statistical significance, people would have to move away from salaried work to gig jobs en masse or vice-versa, but that's not really how skillsets and careers work.

You don't wake up one day and say: "geez, I'm going to stop being a lawyer and go drive for Uber to spend more time with my kids". It is much more likely that a person flipping burgers somewhere might try being an Uber driver and that an Uber driver somewhere else might get fed up and end up going back to one of the low-skill alternatives (flipping burgers, retail, etc) at roughly equal rates.

Re: Maybe the Gig Economy Isn’t Reshaping Work After All

#20

Post by thaumasiotes »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #13
lkrubner wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a good comment. It is interesting to consider how much rhetoric there is about robots and AI and Machine Learning and how these technologies can revolutionize work and lead to big productivity gains. And yet, in reality, the economy shows no sign of this. Productivity growth was very strong in the mid-20th century, but since 1973 productivity growth has been stagnant.

Because all the competitors are doing it, too.

This is nonsense. The inflation-adjusted cost of producing one can of beer would be a pretty standard measure of productivity (in the beer industry). It can rise and fall completely independently of whether beer companies all use the same strategies or all use unique strategies.
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