Should we take the gig economy seriously?

Abstract

The 'gig economy' has emerged rapidly as a form of service delivery that challenges existing business models, labour-management practices, and regulations. The ways in which platform companies transact with workers, in particular, has created a burgeoning public interest, but has yet to give rise to a corresponding academic literature. In this paper, we ask whether the gig economy deserves to be a subject of employment relations scholarship, given its current dimensions and likely future. We argue that academic analysis is needed, to better understand the power dynamics operating within the gig economy and how these are testing existing norms and institutions. We discuss two mains ways that employment relations researchers can expand their theoretical repertoires and, in doing so, improve the evidence on gig-based working arrangements. We begin to sketch the outlines of a systematic research agenda, by elaborating indicative questions that need addressing to advance understanding of 'gig work relations'. We caution, however, that academic analysis of the gig economy should not be predicated on an expectation that it is the future of work. A number of economic, industrial and political factors threaten to slow or halt the gig economy's growth.

Sceptics or supporters? Consumers’ views of work in the gig economy

“…As a technologically advanced, liberal-market economy with extensive international trading links, the responses of regulators and commentators in Australia to the rapid emergence of gig economy platforms will be recognisable to many non-Australian observers. Similar concerns were raised in Australia's case to those triggered elsewhere by platforms' arrival: competition, working conditions, tax compliance and consumer safety (Healy et al, 2017;Thelen, 2018). Yet, while there are certain similarities between Australia and other countries, in the regulatory and business environments that platforms encountered, there are also some distinctive local factors worth mentioning that might have shaped Australians' views of platforms and gig work.…”

“…Workers engaged by other leading platforms, such as Deliveroo, also see their work as having a high degree of temporal flexibility (Goods et al , ). Armed with evidence of this kind, it is relatively easy to depict gig work as harmless and to imply that it should be of little concern to regulators (Healy et al , ).…”

Apprenticeships and ‘future work’: are we ready?

“…Healy et al, 2017) the implications for apprenticeships are undeniable, as all apprenticeship systems currently involve an arrangement with an employer, whether it is a formal employment contract or other arrangement. Healy et al, 2017) the implications for apprenticeships are undeniable, as all apprenticeship systems currently involve an arrangement with an employer, whether it is a formal employment contract or other arrangement.…”

“…While the importance and eventual impact of the 'gig economy' is contested (e.g. Healy et al, 2017) the implications for apprenticeships are undeniable, as all apprenticeship systems currently involve an arrangement with an employer, whether it is a formal employment contract or other arrangement. Where people are engaged in activities such as Uber driving, or in food delivery for companies such as Deliveroo (Howcroft & Bergvall-Kareborn, 2018), there is no employer as such; individuals operate as sole businesses or contractors, although they may be responsible to a web-based platform.…”

The Platform Review Alliance Board: designing an organizational model to bring together producers and consumers in the review and commissioning of platform software

“…The platform economy thus creates a labor market which resembles nineteenth-century laissez-faire, where the platform operators set the rules (Fabo et al 2017); thus, the problems of worker power are just as relevant in the platform economy as they were in the era of centralized factory production. In the platform economy, workers are connected individually by a software algorithm to their temporary employers via a software system, which deters collective action (Healy et al 2017) through information asymmetry between workers and platform operators (Heeks 2017), leading to power asymmetry (Vandaele 2018). Despite this deterrence, there has been some collective action by workers in the platform economy to date, including the 2016 strike by Deliveroo food couriers in London, where they were able to use messaging apps and other smartphone technology to mobilize around the shared issues of pay and working conditions imposed by the platform (Vandaele 2018).…”