Gig Economy
Unless you work in Transportation, Healthcare, Law enforcement or government, having a single career that could last you to retirement is wishful thinking. AI will affect many processes, including being able to write articles and checking them for plagiarism. It’s here to stay, so the only thing we can do is make use of it or get left behind.
To understand the Gig Economy, you have to know why it is prevalent in the first place. According to a 2019 study done in Mississauga and Brampton, There is something called “Under-employment.” Underemployment can be defined as “Underemployment exists when an individual’s employment is inadequate about specified norms of employment, including an account of occupational skill and availability for work.” (Source article) Underemployment can be due to several things, one of the most salient being overqualified for any particular job or career.
The subcategories of underemployment are visible, which means that it is observable in terms of the amount of work available in terms of hourly availability, and invisible underemployment when the employee’s knowledge, skills, and abilities are under-utilized. In both scenarios, there is also inadequate, substandard pay. The author recommends reading the entire report to understand fully what contributes to the gig economy.
Underemployment Recommendations for the Gig Economy
Several have been listed, but one in particular is well-documented unconventionally.
Workforce planning and employer groups need to work together to ensure improved alignment between the local needs and realities of the labour market and the expectations generated by the education and immigration systems. (36)
One aspect that this entire report leaves ambiguous is labour market information. It should be considered fair if this accurately represents the labour market, including the underground economy. Ethnographer Sudhir Venkatesh, author of The Floating City, highlights that New York colourfully illustrates the Underground economy. “I wondered how I could have overlooked a major drug dealer among the ordinary working people.” (pg. 31 Floating City) Even more poignant and demonstrative is the following excerpt.
I also saw the painful price they paid, from living in constant fear of the law to living almost entirely in a world of cash with little savings and no credit. Frequent exposure to street and domestic violence didn’t help, especially when they were afraid to go to the police. And they weren’t precisely building up a valuable résumé for future employment. (36)
So, some of the results contributing to the gig economy can lead to not only ending up underemployed but also having trouble obtaining standard long-term employment, a path that would potentially lead to participation in the underground economy—which could be anything from sex work to selling stolen goods.
Gigs in the Gig economy
Plenty of options are available for those who partake in the gig economy. From ridesharing with Uber to teaching English online, there are many ways to make money—many of which can now be done online due to the pandemic. It is unlikely that any side gig will be lucrative without full-time devotion, but the opportunity to do something without as much investment or risk can be advantageous enough. Another perspective is to take a hobby or something you’re passionate about and find a way to monetize you.
Outsourcing or working as a Freelancer
Sometimes, you might not even need to switch occupations if you can freelance your skills. If you’re a graphic designer, you can do small jobs for clients with a non-compete clause. If you’re a music editor, you can provide music editing services for clients who want to record songs for special events. Writing used to be quite familiar to outsource, but with tools like ChatGPT and Kapwing, it is now feasible to write entire novels and make AI-generated videos with scripts based on any given topic. Zero GPT can help with authenticity if absolute originality is a concern.
One significant benefit of incorporating AI endeavours into your gig/side hustle is that it allows you to learn other skills that have yet to be taken over by AI. You may be a great artist, but you lack confidence in sales. Grant Sabatier asserts in Financial Freedom that “Money will be with you for the rest of your life, so take the time to build a positive relationship with it—a relationship that you control.”
To summarize, that’s mainly what the gig economy exists for, for people to make a little bit of extra money on the side to have peace of mind and avoid stagnation and retrograde. The Gig economy‘s existence and continuous propagation relies on people discovering themselves and their latent abilities and how they can utilize these under current passions to create a niche for their identity. If there is one thing the gig economy teaches us, there are plenty of possibilities to discover and endless ways to reach them.
References:
Bounceback Ontario (no date) BounceBack Ontario. Available at: https://bouncebackontario.ca/ (Accessed: 26 January 2024).
(No date a) Free stock photos. Available at: https://www.pexels.com/ (Accessed: 29 January 2024).
The experience of UNDERemployment in Mississauga and Brampton. Published by the Peel Halton Workforce Development Group, July 2021. Report prepared by: Alinea Community Development Research support provided by: Brandon DeRiggs and Dallika Dehury
Sabatier, Grant. Financial Freedom: A Proven Path to All the Money You Will Ever Need. Available at Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. [1/25/2024]
Venkatesh, Sudhir. Floating City: A Rogue Sociologist Lost and Found in New York’s Underground Economy (p. 36). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
