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How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

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Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#11

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

marsrover wrote: post #6

> On average, it estimated they were making $10.75 per hour in the Houston area, $8.77 per hour in Detroit, and $13.17 in Denver, which was slightly less than Walmart’s average full-time hourly rate in 2016 I'm not saying this is ok, but I think there are also more intangible things that come into play here. Working for Uber gives you the freedom to work when you want. You don't have to call in sick or find someone t…

When you’re earning $9 to $14 an hour you don’t take time off.

When you’re earning so little you don’t have the freedom to take a day off because you feel unwell.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#12

Post by JansjoFromIkea »

marsrover wrote: post #6

> On average, it estimated they were making $10.75 per hour in the Houston area, $8.77 per hour in Detroit, and $13.17 in Denver, which was slightly less than Walmart’s average full-time hourly rate in 2016 I'm not saying this is ok, but I think there are also more intangible things that come into play here. Working for Uber gives you the freedom to work when you want. You don't have to call in sick or find someone t…

It's the allure for sure but I imagine quite quickly gets proven wrong as you find yourself working certain hours due to higher rates and/or increased demand. With wages that low (these are Uber's own figures too) and close to no upward mobility career wise, it seems like a colossal dead end one could easily become trapped in.

I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of drivers failed to adequately budget for the maintenance costs of their car being used that more heavily too, which could abruptly land them in the red when a garage bill comes in.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#13

Post by dionidium »

JansjoFromIkea wrote: post #12
marsrover wrote: post #6

> On average, it estimated they were making $10.75 per hour in the Houston area, $8.77 per hour in Detroit, and $13.17 in Denver, which was slightly less than Walmart’s average full-time hourly rate in 2016 I'm not saying this is ok, but I think there are also more intangible things that come into play here. Working for Uber gives you the freedom to work when you want. You don't have to call in sick or find someone t…

It's the allure for sure but I imagine quite quickly gets proven wrong as you find yourself working certain hours due to higher rates and/or increased demand. With wages that low (these are Uber's own figures too) and close to no upward mobility career wise, it seems like a colossal dead end one could easily become trapped in. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of drivers failed to adequately budget for the maintenance…

>I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of drivers failed to adequately budget for the maintenance costs of their car

Nearly every car owner fails to adequately budget for (or even understand) the full cost of ownership of their car :)

Edit: I forgot my audience for a second. Guys, college-educated engineers and 1% developers aren't typical. People routinely fail to properly account for the TCO. The entire auto-sales model is centered around tricking people into accepting terms worse than the perceived TCO. Don't worry. I wasn't talking about you.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#14

Post by Matticus_Rex »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #11
marsrover wrote: post #6

> On average, it estimated they were making $10.75 per hour in the Houston area, $8.77 per hour in Detroit, and $13.17 in Denver, which was slightly less than Walmart’s average full-time hourly rate in 2016 I'm not saying this is ok, but I think there are also more intangible things that come into play here. Working for Uber gives you the freedom to work when you want. You don't have to call in sick or find someone t…

When you’re earning $9 to $14 an hour you don’t take time off. When you’re earning so little you don’t have the freedom to take a day off because you feel unwell.

Having been in that category of worker and having taken gig jobs, I can promise you that the flexibility of the gig jobs really is a life improvement. I appreciate that you think you're looking out for people, but that kind of sentiment will end up actually harming people because you apparently don't know how we feel about things and can't support policies accordingly.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#15

Post by crankylinuxuser »

This really needs reposted:

Uber is an Old Scam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwZcR0q6VE

Seriously, watch the video. Professor Richard D Wolff.

Long story short, when taxis first came out, we saw the following: unsafe everything, assaults, kidnappings (pay more or you get dropped in $bad_location), wrecks and injuries and no insurance. The result of that was regulation, which improved conditions for riders and drivers both, but raising the bottom line.

It's only time until the regulation hammer hits Uber and similar businesses.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#16

Post by aphextron »

Have you eaten in at a take out place lately? It's literally nothing but ageing, disheveled looking people who could barely operate a smartphone running in and out desperately, working either Uber Eats, Doordash, etc. stacking orders, getting stressed out over maybe making $3. It's the most depressing fucking thing I have ever seen.

Maybe there's an argument to be made that these people are better off than they would be otherwise. But I'm not so sure it's that simple. You have this zero sum game where the health and well being of humanity is being arbitraged for VC profits and increased efficiency for the restaurant owner.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#18

Post by duxup »

lynnah wrote: post #2

Disheartening. Interesting article. We need to get healthcare uncoupled from jobs.

Amen. I'm making a career change and my wife is going bay to work and half our questions about a new job... healthcare benefits, not necessarily the better career choice...

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#19

Post by ggg9990 »

Matticus_Rex wrote: post #14
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you’re earning $9 to $14 an hour you don’t take time off. When you’re earning so little you don’t have the freedom to take a day off because you feel unwell.

Having been in that category of worker and having taken gig jobs, I can promise you that the flexibility of the gig jobs really is a life improvement. I appreciate that you think you're looking out for people, but that kind of sentiment will end up actually harming people because you apparently don't know how we feel about things and can't support policies accordingly.

Not to mention, “we” is a pretty varied group. I’ve met Uber drivers who were refugees trying to survive in America and I met one who was a retired Stanford surgeon who just liked to get out of the house and meet people a few times a week. He picked me up in a BMW 5-Series.

Re: How the gig economy is making life harder for North American workers

#20

Post by sjg007 »

srslymissng wrote: post #7
lynnah wrote: post #2

Disheartening. Interesting article. We need to get healthcare uncoupled from jobs.

We need to stop importing children and adults until we make sure all current citizens have jobs. Not everyone has cancer nor needs healthcare. The truly broke get it for free. Only thing not covered is cosmetic dentistry like non silver fillings and partial dentures and brand name medication.

How about we just vote for single payer? Simple. The truly broken end up homeless in the end.. unless by magic you find section 8. And then there is the paperwork, the miles and miles and miles of paperwork. And then, soon, there will be the work means test. No medical if you don't work. Got cancer? Too bad, work. The only positive is that it equalizes medicaid with the working stiff... which might bring about single payer faster.
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