Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

April 14-Today, the gig economic model is quietly taking over many industries in the United States, even making many regular jobs more and more like gigs. Lower-class workers in the United States are particularly affected than white-collar jobs that require their employees to be highly educated.

Brenda handy (Brenda Handy) has been doing odd jobs for nearly 40 years. In the 1990s, she lived in Tampa, Fla., and took odd jobs through a phone call from her boss, Tony Braswell (Tony Braswell). She was paid once a week.

Now, handy is scrambling to pick up all kinds of nursing jobs through apps on smartphones. Although she still works for Blaswell, the days when she called to dispatch orders are gone. In 2016, Blaswell realized that only automation would allow him to continue to expand his business. He created a software platform called Gale Health, and handy can now log on to the app and grab a suitable nursing job in a matter of seconds. "it's like in a grocery store, you place an order when you see something you like," she said. "they can show up at any time of the day. You have to learn to grab orders."

This makes handy have to keep an eye on his cell phone in his spare time.

For most Americans, the concept of "gig" has always been synonymous with a small number of Silicon Valley technology companies such as Uber and DoorDash. But over time, the gig economy has involved a variety of professions, including drivers, repairmen, designers, and even lawyers and consultants. The definition of odd jobs is also becoming so blurred that no one is entirely sure how many Americans are doing odd jobs.

According to an annual study commissioned by freelance platform Upwork, 39 per cent of the US workforce worked freelance last year, with a total of 60 million, with an income of $1.35 trillion, an increase of $50 billion over 2021. A study conducted by the Pew Research Center, which focused more on platform-based odd jobs, found that 16% of American adults had found jobs through online platforms. Ticket inspectors and restaurant waiters may be using apps to take over; copywriting and marketing professionals provide services on Upwork, Fiverr or LinkedIn; bartenders, carpenters and even doctors are looking down at their phones for their next order.

The platforms used by all these gig workers vary so much in terms of rules and structure that it is difficult to determine the boundaries of the modern gig economy. Some platforms are supported by Silicon Valley venture capital and work in a variety of industries, while others only work in smaller markets or specific industries; some companies use temporary workers to perform piecemeal tasks for their customers, while others just play an intermediary role between workers and customers. Some companies allow workers to pick and choose tasks, while others punish registered users for not logging into the system or refusing to dispatch orders. Lawyers on Upwork can set their own service prices or negotiate directly with clients, but many tasks posted on shift platforms are usually priced. For different express delivery and driving platforms, the rates for each service are different, which makes the income of odd workers uncertain. In addition, regardless of the level of income, the platform is usually in a position to resolve disputes and control job opportunities, and low-income workers may find themselves completely dependent on the policies and algorithms of the platform they use. The only thing all these odd workers have in common is that they are so affected by comments that as long as there are a few negative comments, their income will dry up or even be kicked out of the platform.

Kristen Anderson (Kristen Anderson), chief executive of gig welfare platform Catch, likens odd jobs to the concept of K-shaped (some upward, some downward) economic recovery. "High-income earners and low-income earners are independent, and they have completely different experiences and completely different needs," she said. "

Highly educated white-collar workers can particularly benefit from flexible work arrangements, which they can use to achieve a better work-life balance. Samer Bazzi, an online marketing professional, is a long-time freelancer who takes orders through Upwork and charges $200 an hour for service. In his view, it only makes sense when you earn more than $100 an hour and your reputation is good enough for the company to start looking for you. Buzz not only has to finish the job he has received, but also has to look for new tasks. One of the biggest challenges, he says, is to manage his reputation on the platform: "when the work is over, don't rest assured until you receive feedback."

But for workers, the opportunity cost of odd jobs is higher. The flexibility in many low-paid jobs has been confused with the concept of timely labor management. This means that many companies will quickly hire temporary workers to do all kinds of urgent tasks according to their real-time needs. According to an advertisement on Snagajob, an on-demand employment platform, "70 per cent of our work is done in 10 minutes or less."

On-demand employment makes the economic boundary of odd workers' participation the most blurred. For retail employees, this may mean working overtime during peak shopping seasons and unstable weekly income; it may mean that computers closely track productivity per minute, and even small differences can seriously affect earnings. For railway workers, this may mean that calling in sick during periods of busy transport will be rejected or punished. For example, Amazon uses the scheduling platform to give full-time employees the option of working shifts, giving them paid leave at work, or canceling paid leave through an automatic punishment system. This partly draws on the flexibility, uncertainty and technical control of the gig economy. In addition, the wages of full-time jobs are so low that many Amazon employees need to work part-time on platforms such as DoorDash and Uber.

Daniel Olaevara (Daniel Olayiwola) is one of them. He worked at Amazon for five years at an hourly rate of $18.40 (currently about 127 yuan). Auraivora works flexibly and must work 30 hours a week. "if you don't do it, you'll get a point and get fired once you get an 8." Late or absenteeism will be scored, and shifts have a specific time, when you must clock out in accordance with the regulations, "otherwise you will have to work the night shift continuously." Auraivora said.

The pay for this full-time job makes Amazon employees have to work part-time to earn enough living expenses. Some people drive for the delivery platform during the break, while Auraivora repairs the roof every few days. "you have to be creative in arranging your life," he said. "

Auraivora arranges her schedule through a platform and shifts as needed. He must meet the production quota and carefully record the time to rest and go to the toilet, as any failure to meet the target may trigger a review process. "they put you in an awkward position where you can easily get fired," he said. " Auraivora says it has become an endless cycle of punishment and re-hiring. "some people I know have been fired several times. I always feel like I've been fired when I work."

This makes many people worry that the most unpleasant innovations and technologies in the gig economy may infiltrate more industries and jobs, making regular regular jobs more and more like odd jobs in the future.

However, this has not affected the sustained growth of the gig economy. The concept of flexibility and flexible labour management continues to shift from one industry to another. Workers compete for shifts with "flexible" work schedules, and a well-designed penalty system makes work feel like a high-risk game. Data collection covers all aspects such as mouse movement frequency and toilet time, and can monitor the entire labor process. The technology behind all these gig economies is constantly seeping into a variety of industries.

In the best case, the gig economy can give employees time to take care of their families, strike a balance between life and career, expand employment opportunities and speed up the recruitment of enterprises. But in the worst case, the gig economy can also give huge control to opaque, impersonal, demanding platforms.

David Weil, dean of the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandys University, believes that platform companies such as Uber and Lyft have already done so. They classify all drivers as independent people and position themselves as management systems that only allow these people to work, minimizing labor costs. However, because these companies control almost every aspect of odd jobs, many people think that they are not management systems, but employment systems. "A lot of platforms want to have two ways at the same time," will said. they want to control products and services as much as possible, but they don't want to face the chaos of becoming an employer. "

"I've been spinning around," said handy, a nursing worker who has a full schedule and now works more shifts than ever before. "I don't want to work the night shift. I want to work the way I want. But now I can't stop. I must continue to work hard."

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