Gigworker: Independent Work and the State of the Gig Economy

Gigworker: Independent Work and the State of the Gig Economy
Author: Brett Helling
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2021-04-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781544507750

You've likely heard about the gig economy but might be wondering exactly what it entails. It's easy to assume that driving for Uber or renting your house through Airbnb are the extent of your options, but the gig economy actually offers a much wider slate of opportunities. Whether you have a 9-to-5 job and are looking to pick up some extra income, or you're a recent graduate who's eager to earn as much as you want on your own time, the gig economy can offer the freedom and flexibility you're seeking. In Gigworker, Brett Helling provides the essential primer on the gig economy: how it evolved to where it's at now, and where it's headed in the future. He'll show you that it's possible to replace your full-time income with multiple gigs, or balance 9-to-5 work with a 5-to-9 side gig. You'll come away with a new zeal for the gig economy, ready to dive into the options at your fingertips and make money doing what you love.

Work in the Gig Economy

Work in the Gig Economy
Author: James Duggan
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 77
Release: 2021-07-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1000440206

Throughout the last decade, the ‘gig economy’ has emerged as one of the most significant developments in the world of work. As a novel, hyper-flexible form of labour, gig work features a uniquely fragmented working arrangement wherein independent workers partner with digital platform organisations to provide a range of on-demand services to customers. Work in the Gig Economy: A Research Overview provides a concise overview to the key themes and debate that encompass the gig economy literature. It covers five core themes: an introduction to gig work; classification issues; the role of technology; the experiences of gig workers; and the future of gig work. As an emerging and diverse research field, contributions stem from an array of perspectives including psychology, sociology, human resource management, legal studies, and technology management. The chapters synthesise the most prominent insights into this emerging field, key thinking on the complex relationships and conditions found in gig work, and the most significant issues to be addressed as the gig economy continues to develop. A critical introduction for students, scholars and reflective professionals and policymakers, this book provides much needed direction through the rapidly growing and expansive body of research on work in the gig economy.

Hustle and Gig

Hustle and Gig
Author: Alexandrea J. Ravenelle
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2019-03-12
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0520971892

Choose your hours, choose your work, be your own boss, control your own income. Welcome to the sharing economy, a nebulous collection of online platforms and apps that promise to transcend capitalism. Supporters argue that the gig economy will reverse economic inequality, enhance worker rights, and bring entrepreneurship to the masses. But does it? In Hustle and Gig, Alexandrea J. Ravenelle shares the personal stories of nearly eighty predominantly millennial workers from Airbnb, Uber, TaskRabbit, and Kitchensurfing. Their stories underline the volatility of working in the gig economy: the autonomy these young workers expected has been usurped by the need to maintain algorithm-approved acceptance and response rates. The sharing economy upends generations of workplace protections such as worker safety; workplace protections around discrimination and sexual harassment; the right to unionize; and the right to redress for injuries. Discerning three types of gig economy workers—Success Stories, who have used the gig economy to create the life they want; Strugglers, who can’t make ends meet; and Strivers, who have stable jobs and use the sharing economy for extra cash—Ravenelle examines the costs, benefits, and societal impact of this new economic movement. Poignant and evocative, Hustle and Gig exposes how the gig economy is the millennial’s version of minimum-wage precarious work.

The Gig Economy

The Gig Economy
Author: Diane Mulcahy
Publisher: AMACOM
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0814437346

Today, most Americans are working in the gig economy--mixing together short-term jobs, contract work, and freelance assignments. Learn how to embrace the independent and self-sufficient world of freelance! The Gig Economy is your guide to this uncertain but ultimately rewarding world. Packed with research, exercises, and anecdotes, this eye-opening book supplies strategies--ranging from the professional to the personal--to help you leverage your skills, knowledge, and network to create your own career trajectory. In this book, you will learn how to: Construct a life based on your priorities and vision of success Cultivate connections without networking Create your own security Build flexibility into your financial life Face your fears by reducing risk Corporate jobs are not only unstable--they’re increasingly scarce. It’s time to take charge of your own career and lead the life you want, one immune to the impulsive whims of an employer looking only at today’s bottom line. Start mapping out your place in the gig economy today!

The Gig Economy

The Gig Economy
Author: Jamie Woodcock
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020-01-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781509536368

All of a sudden, everybody’s talking about the gig economy. From taxi drivers to pizza deliverers to the unemployed, we are all aware of the huge changes that it is driving in our lives as workers, consumers and citizens. This is the first comprehensive overview of this highly topical subject. Drawing upon years of research, stories from gig workers, and a review of the key trends and debates, Jamie Woodcock and Mark Graham shed light on how the gig economy came to be, how it works and what it’s like to work in it. They show that, although it has facilitated innovative new services and created jobs for millions, it is not without cost. It allows businesses and governments to generate value while passing significant risk and responsibility onto the workers that make it possible. This is not, however, an argument for turning back the clock. Instead, the authors outline four strategies that can produce a fairer platform economy that works for everyone. Woodcock and Graham’s critical introduction will be essential reading for students, scholars and general readers interested in the massive shifts that characterize our modern digital economy.

The Fissured Workplace

The Fissured Workplace
Author: David Weil
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2014-02-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 067472612X

In the twentieth century, large companies employing many workers formed the bedrock of the U.S. economy. Today, on the list of big business's priorities, sustaining the employer-worker relationship ranks far below building a devoted customer base and delivering value to investors. As David Weil's groundbreaking analysis shows, large corporations have shed their role as direct employers of the people responsible for their products, in favor of outsourcing work to small companies that compete fiercely with one another. The result has been declining wages, eroding benefits, inadequate health and safety protections, and ever-widening income inequality. From the perspectives of CEOs and investors, fissuring--splitting off functions that were once managed internally--has been phenomenally successful. Despite giving up direct control to subcontractors and franchises, these large companies have figured out how to maintain the quality of brand-name products and services, without the cost of maintaining an expensive workforce. But from the perspective of workers, this strategy has meant stagnation in wages and benefits and a lower standard of living. Weil proposes ways to modernize regulatory policies so that employers can meet their obligations to workers while allowing companies to keep the beneficial aspects of this business strategy.

You Can Do Anything

You Can Do Anything
Author: George Anders
Publisher: Little, Brown
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2017-08-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0316548855

In a tech-dominated world, the most needed degrees are the most surprising: the liberal arts. Did you take the right classes in college? Will your major help you get the right job offers? For more than a decade, the national spotlight has focused on science and engineering as the only reliable choice for finding a successful post-grad career. Our destinies have been reduced to a caricature: learn to write computer code or end up behind a counter, pouring coffee. Quietly, though, a different path to success has been taking shape. In You Can Do Anything, George Anders explains the remarkable power of a liberal arts education - and the ways it can open the door to thousands of cutting-edge jobs every week. The key insight: curiosity, creativity, and empathy aren't unruly traits that must be reined in. You can be yourself, as an English major, and thrive in sales. You can segue from anthropology into the booming new field of user research; from classics into management consulting, and from philosophy into high-stakes investing. At any stage of your career, you can bring a humanist's grace to our rapidly evolving high-tech future. And if you know how to attack the job market, your opportunities will be vast. In this book, you will learn why resume-writing is fading in importance and why "telling your story" is taking its place. You will learn how to create jobs that don't exist yet, and to translate your campus achievements into a new style of expression that will make employers' eyes light up. You will discover why people who start in eccentric first jobs - and then make their own luck - so often race ahead of peers whose post-college hunt focuses only on security and starting pay. You will be ready for anything.

Humans as a Service

Humans as a Service
Author: Jeremias Prassl
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2018-04-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0192517384

WHAT IF YOUR BOSS WAS AN ALGORITHM? The gig economy promises to revolutionise work as we know it, offering flexibility and independence instead of 9-to-5 drudgery. The potential benefits are enormous: consumers enjoy the convenience and affordability of on-demand work while micro-entrepreneurs turn to online platforms in search of their next gig, task, or ride. IS THIS THE FUTURE OF WORK? The gig economy promises to revolutionise work as we know it, offering flexibility and independence instead of 9-to-5 drudgery. The potential benefits are enormous: consumers enjoy the convenience and affordability of on-demand work while micro-entrepreneurs turn to online platforms in search of their next gig, task, or ride. HOW CAN WE PROTECT CONSUMERS & WORKERS WITHOUT STIFLING INNOVATION? As courts and governments around the world begin to grapple with the gig economy, Humans as a Service explores the challenges of on-demand work, and explains how we can ensure decent working conditions, protect consumers, and foster innovation. Employment law plays a central role in levelling the playing field: gigs, tasks, and rides are work - and should be regulated as such.

Ultimate Gig

Ultimate Gig
Author: John T. Fleming
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2021-03-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1839828609

Ultimate Gig will serve to answer questions and help gig-providing companies and workers make decisions by informing, inspiring and motivating as well as serving as a teaching tool. Most importantly it will give the reader a better understanding of the most significant labor revolution in the past 100 years as to how work can be done.