Gig Economy Growth

Social networks and the development of platform technologies have drastically transformed the way people live, work, and spend their money. The use of information and communication technologies has become an important aspect of jobs in occupations ranging from medical assistants to fast food operators, lawyers, steel workers, and others employed in traditional employment relations. The growth and popularity of online and app-based platforms like Uber, GrubHub, and TaskRabbit have raised the profile of the gig economy* and created the impression that employer-less work and gig jobs are a pervasive aspect of modern employment. A lack of consistent, rigorous data on twenty-first-century employment relations allowed speculation about the role of independent contractors, and especially gig workers, to dominate conversations about the future of work.
Predictions of the rise and dominance of the gig economy led many observers to fear these types of jobs would supplant traditional employment relations and leave many workers without the protections of minimum wage, overtime pay, family and medical leave, employer-provided vacation, or pension benefits. A 2015 study by economists Alan Krueger of Princeton and Larry Katz of Harvard provided academic support for the predicted shift of workers from traditional to alternative work arrangements. They found that between 2005 and 2015 the share of independent contractors in total employment rose by an impressive five percentage points, from 10.7 percent to 15.8 percent, and attributed much of the increase to gig jobs with Uber, Lyft, and similar companies. They also reported that 95 percent of all job growth over that period was in gig jobs, further fueling the belief that the gig economy holds the key to the future of work.
In May 2017, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) repeated its contingent worker survey (CWS) — a rigorous and systematic repeat of its 2005 and earlier surveys. In contrast to the Katz and Kreuger study, the CWS found that, as in 2005, nine-in-ten workers held a main job characterized by traditional employer–employee work arrangements. The CWS found no increase in the share of independent contractors in total employment over the 12 years from 2005 to 2017. And, it found that just 1.0 percent of workers held a gig economy job either as their main job, second job, or to make additional income. A study by JPMorgan Chase that tracked earnings of 39 million Chase checking account holders found that between October 2012 and March 2018, just 1.1 percent of the sample of account holders included a worker with earnings from an online platform, 1.0 percent from transportation platforms, and 0.1 from other employment platforms