Gig economy

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Foodora driver on his own bike (2017)

Gig Economy (from English gig for "appearance" and economy for " economy ") describes a part of the labor market in which small jobs are given at short notice to independent self-employed persons , freelancers or marginally employed persons. An online platform often serves as an intermediary between customer and contractor , setting framework conditions and whose operator withholds a commission .

General

In addition to their labor , the contractors usually also bring in other resources such as vehicles or mobile phones, without which a service cannot be provided. Well-known examples of the gig economy are platforms such as Uber (drivers for passenger transport), Deliveroo and Foodora (bike couriers for food delivery) or MyHammer (craftsman services). There are also platforms in the gig economy for cleaning staff, as well as for designers , translators and copywriters.

origin

The expression gig economy is an analogy from the music industry, where musicians earn their living from one paid gig to the next, like a courier driver who orders via an online platform to pick up food from restaurants and to transport it to customers receives. The term came up in the USA around 2009, when online platforms such as Uber and Lyft emerged, which mediated services between end customers and freelancers and also provided a digital platform for technology, marketing and billing. At the height of the financial crisis at the time , many laid-off workers held combinations of several such small jobs.

features

The gig economy is characterized by a lower degree of loyalty and responsibility towards the staff employed in this way compared to traditional employment relationships. The companies see themselves in different ways as intermediaries and less as employers . Depending on the industry and national legal situation, mini-jobs are offered or the service providers work independently and are therefore not entitled to paid vacation and sick days. You then have to take over social and other insurance yourself. As a result, social security and employee rights such as co-determination are practically only available to employees to a very limited extent.

Some companies take advantage of their market position. The online retailer Amazon is trying to transfer delivery orders to drivers with private cars.

Reactions

According to information from the “International Business Times” from 2016, only 13% of British people believe that by 2025 they will still be working in traditional occupational models. 87% of the British, on the other hand, are convinced that the gig economy will replace the traditional “nine to five” working days in ten years. Critics fear in such an expansion of the Gig Economy "an army of digital day laborers ," while advocates in the jobs of the Gig Economy in addition to the potential for new business models a high degree of flexibility and self-determination see, eg for the sideline .

Traditional unions do not yet play an important role in the relationship between workers and employees in the gig economy and their clients. In contrast, the Zeit.de portal reported on the first efforts of employees to organize themselves or with the help of the anarcho-syndicalist Free Workers' Union .

In the case of Uber, the Frankfurt Regional Court prohibited the company Uber from brokering transport services in 2015 unless the driver had an official passenger transport permit. In the UK, the rights of Uber drivers were strengthened in October 2016 when a court ruled that they were to be regarded as employees and therefore entitled to minimum wages and vacation pay. Meanwhile, other platforms try to put public opinion, courts and their own workforce to a milder tone through voluntary services. For example, Uber competitor Lyft has introduced pension insurance for its drivers. People who rent out their accommodation privately through Airbnb have recently been given liability insurance through the platform.

Gig economy today

Although independent “gig” work has been around for a long time, it has never been clearly defined or consistently measured within official labor market statistics. A survey by the McKinsey Global Institute with 8,000 participants from the USA, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, France and Spain revealed a previous statistical underestimation of the gig economy. Overall, the related report by the advisory institute estimates that the independent workforce in the USA and the EU-15 states makes up around 20 to 30 percent of the workforce . More than half use casual work as an additional source of income instead of just living on it. The majority follow this form of work at their own request and not out of necessity and state a high level of satisfaction. Nonetheless, a proportion of 30 percent of those who work temporarily are forced to do so due to a lack of alternatives.

While only 15 percent of independent earners use platforms, these digital marketplaces such as Uber, Airbnb or Etsy are growing faster and faster. Platforms of this type could have a significant impact on the labor market because they successfully and efficiently bring together a large pool of workers with their service consumers. The form of work in the gig economy is predicted to have considerable potential for transformation in the coming years, based on the increasing demand for these services and organizations. Proponents expect economic benefits from this by increasing the absolute labor force, stimulating consumption and creating additional employment opportunities.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jasmin Schreyer, Jan-Felix Schrape : Algorithmic work coordination in the platform-based gig economy. February 17, 2018, accessed February 6, 2020 .  ( PDF )
  2. ↑ a b c What was it again ... the gig economy? - brand eins online. Retrieved November 9, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Natalie Gratwohl: Freelancers are the employees of the future In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of November 9, 2018
  4. ↑ a b c Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung GmbH: Digitized labor market: The opportunities of the "gig economy". July 26, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  5. ↑ Die Zeit: Delivery service: Deliver Amazon parcels by private car. November 10, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  6. ↑ Bauke Schram: Sharing economy: 87% of Brits see 'gig economy' taking over from 9-5 working days in 10 years . In: International Business Times UK . September 15, 2015 ( ibtimes.co.uk [accessed November 26, 2017]).
  7. ↑ Bernd Kramer: Courier driver: The labor dispute began on WhatsApp | Temporary work. October 27, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  8. ^ LG Frankfurt am Main, March 18, 2015 - 3-08 O 136/14
  9. ↑ a b McKinsey Global Institute: INDEPENDENT WORK: CHOICE, NECESSITY, AND THE GIG ECONOMY . Ed .: McKinsey.
  10. ^ Exploding myths about the gig economy. Retrieved November 10, 2017 .