Uber has been around for about ten years now, and it is one of the first firms which come to mind when discussing the ‘gig economy’. This form of work seems like the future in some ways, given how it creates an incentive structure which is centred on productivity and given the amount of tech firms which build and maintain platforms for this type of work. If future labour markets will be more geared towards the gig type of work rather than long-term contracts, at least in certain industries and professions, then how come it doesn’t seem like a salient political issue even among social democrats and socialists? In this blog post I will attempt to answer this question and give some predictions on how the politics around the gig economy is likely to look if we indeed do get a gig economy. But before we can discuss the politics of the gig working environment let’s establish a baseline by explaining gigs and their pros and cons.
If you’re unfamiliar with the term gig economy it refers to a working environment where an individual’s work is based on tasks instead of long-term contracts. To use a practical example, driving one fare through Uber is one gig, and the gig economy means that each worker can choose their own schedules and work. This form of work has some tremendous pros in that the worker can choose when they work and how much they work, and they have the ability to adapt their schedules frequently. This makes working gigs great for students and other groups of people who might not be able to work full time. Working gigs also means that productivity becomes key, the more gigs you complete the more you get paid unlike a desk job where some might look more productive than they really are, which of course can be both good and bad. The main problem with gigs is that it gives no security at all, if you for whatever reason can’t work you don’t get paid and you don’t get the perks of a normal job such as paid vacations etc.
If working gigs means that a worker has no security, no paid vacation, and no guarantee of a wage you can live on why aren’t socialists and social democrats more concerned about the pains of this type of worker? The simple answer is that working gigs is still not common enough that it is worth dedicating a lot of time and political capital to it. I’d bet that people from across the political spectrum disapprove of the working conditions in the gig economy on moral or ideological grounds but the fact of the matter is that parties aim to win elections which is done by focusing on key supporting groups and their interests and gig workers are not a key group for any party yet. I stress the word yet here as I believe that we might get more gig workers in the future as information technologies enable a more efficient on demand market for labour.
What would the politics around a gig economy look like, assuming we get a gig economy? My best guess is that it would be a classic right-left divide where the left would argue for increased protection for gig workers whereas the right would argue that gig work gives good incentives to work and makes the labour market more efficient and should therefore not be interfered with. Predicting specific policies is more difficult as, due to the nature of gig work, establishing and enforcing workers rights in a gig economy would likely be very difficult.
In summary, the reason why the gig economy isn’t a common topic of discussion in politics is that there is not a large enough group of voters with specific actionable interests in regards to the gig economy, and as soon as there is it will be naturally be integrated in to the current political climate as it is a fairly cut and dry right-left issue.
If you liked this brief explanation of the politics of a gig economy feel free to share it with a friend or co-worker! If you’re interested you can read all my writing on political economy here. Check back next week for another interesting blog post and sign up for Ipoleco’s email list.
Written by Karl Johansson, founder of Ipoleco
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