Too Good to Be True? A Comment on Hall and Krueger’s Analysis of the Labor Market for Uber’s Driver-Partners

Abstract

In their comment on the article on Uber driver-partners by Jonathan Hall and Alan Krueger, the authors analyze the article’s methodological problems, including sample bias, leading questions, selective reporting of findings, and an overestimation of driver earnings, which do not account for the full range of job-related expenses and is based on outdated data. The authors also argue that Hall and Krueger make unsubstantiated claims that extend beyond the scope of their research and ignore a rapidly growing literature that is critical of the Uber model as well as the broader for-hire vehicle industry in which Uber operates. As policymakers grapple with how to respond to transport network companies, the authors argue that a fuller understanding of the costs and benefits of services such as Uber is critical for making informed policies.

Are we ‘sharing’ or ‘gig‐ing’? A classification system for online platforms

“…Platforms like Uber claim that they do not exercise control over workers because they function as ‘market creators’, akin to eBay or Etsy, where workers can sell their services to customers (Hall et al ., 2017; Rosenblat, 2018). While many are sceptical of this position (Berg and Johnston, 2019), neither the typology nor mechanism approach offers much theoretical guidance on the issue. The typologies approach resolves this debate through definition.…”

Gigs, Side Hustles, Freelance: What Work Means in the Platform Economy City/ Blight or Remedy: Understanding Ridehailing’s Role in the Precarious “Gig Economy”/ Labour, Gender and Making Rent with Airbnb/ The Gentrification of ‘Sharing’: From Bandit Cab to Ride Share Tech/ The ‘Sharing Economy’? Precarious Labor in Neoliberal Cities/ Where Is Economic Development in the Platform City?/ Shared Economy: WeWork or We Work Together

“…As scholars have been quick to point out, gig and temporary labor are linked with growing inequality and insecurity for workers on the one hand and subsequently capital accumulation for firms on the other (Scholz, 2017;Standing 2011;Theodore, 2003;Zwick, 2018). Temporary and gig laborers often go for long periods of time without health insurance, paid leave, and a stable income (Berg & Johnston, 2019;Purser, 2012). Further parallels emerge between the temp and gig industries, as they both extract profit from workers, use mechanisms of surveillance and control and function as a job matching service (Gonos, 1997;Healy et al, 2017).…”

“…For example, in 2016, London Uber drivers with the support of the GMB union, won the right to be classified as employees instead of independent contractors, resulting in protections for these workers (Johnston, 2016). Similarly, after a two-year campaign in New York city, ride-share companies have been required to pay a higher minimum base-pay of approximately $17 an hour (Santus, 2018), a rate that drivers in other cities are unlikely to reach without a mandated minimum wage (Berg & Johnston, 2019). Conversely, recent rulings in Miami went in favor of the gig-industry, as a worker was denied unemployment benefits after he was shut out of a ride-sharing app, essentially firing him from his job (Hanks, 2017).…”

“…In addition to the spatial dynamics of the gig industry, broader labor market precarity is revealed as an integral component for workers who rely on gig work as supplemental or primary income (Berg & Johnston, 2019). Workers who have stable, secure and well paid jobs have little need to earn extra cash by driving for Uber in their spare time, posting their apartment on Airbnb when out of town, or waiting at a staffing agency for the afternoon, seeking a job placement.…”

The Taylor Review: understanding the gig economy, dependency and the complexities of control

“…Indeed when offered the hypothetical choice between flexibility and greater labour protections, Uber drivers overwhelmingly support the former over the latter (Hall and Krueger, ; Berger et al ., ). This has frequently been deployed by Uber in its attempts to avoid regulation, despite the fact that labour protections may, in practice, only have limited impact on worker controlled flexibility (Berg and Johnstone, ).…”