The ‘Gig’ Economy – Opportunity or Threat?

I’ve written before on my views surrounding career advice given to youngsters and those who will be tackling the job market in years to come. Times and technology have changed dramatically and with it, the associated job markets and opportunities.

Despite regular lip service, I often feel that not enough attention is being paid by schools, colleges and career advice services to the future opportunities for job seekers – and if we constantly talk about changes for worse, rather than looking at the new job landscape, then youngsters will undoubtedly fail to meet the demands for skills and the huge opportunities that will affect them in years to come. For instance, facts like that of the widely-cited 2013 study from Oxford University that ‘nearly half of U.S. workers' jobs are at risk of being taken over by innovations in automation’ may well be true, but I think overwhelming negative reporting fails to address the huge number of possibilities that are also springing up for job seekers.

I know how it must sound, but the point of this most recent post is actually not to simply whine from atop my soapbox (I know, shocker!) rather to look at a new concept and opportunity for job seekers that appears to be quickly picking up pace.

And so I turn to a notion that is already salient in the U.S, the wonderfully catchy, on-demand, so called ‘gig economy’. This new ‘economy’ is creating exciting opportunities and unleashing a huge wave of innovation. But, according to Hilary Clinton in one of her presidential speeches, ‘it is also raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future’.

For the few of you out there not already familiar with the gig economy, what exactly is it? Well, The Guardian explains it as such; “Not so long ago, the only people who looked for ‘gigs’ were musicians. For the rest of us, once we outgrew our school dreams of rock stardom, we found ‘real’ jobs that paid us a fixed salary every month, allowed us to take paid holidays and formed the basis for planning a stable future.

“Today, more and more of us choose, instead, to make our living working gigs rather than full time. To the optimists, it promises a future of empowered entrepreneurs and boundless innovation. To the naysayers, it portends a dystopian future of disenfranchised workers hunting for their next wedge of piecework.”

So which is it?

Well, by my reckoning, it can be a mixture of both. Ask the million ‘makers’ selling jewellery, clothing accessories and homewares through online marketplace Etsy, or quiz the over one million ‘hosts’ from the short-term accommodation platforms Airbnb, Love Home Swap and onefinestay. Each of them would likely have their own opinion of this new ‘gig’ economy – some will relish in its riches, whilst others struggle from month to month.  

But the gig economy isn’t just creating a new digital channel for freelance work. It is spawning a host of new economic activity, and it’s those who already have a side hustle will likely thrive in its growth. The future looks set to be largely completed by independent contractors, like those who work for services such as Uber and Airbnb. But as I see it, there is also huge potential for the entrepreneurs buzzing with new platform ideas – we can see that these business models can thrive and succeed – so isn’t it time we really focused on encouraging true entrepreneurship from an early age?

It’s not that we don’t know about these ventures, or even how many people are working for them; far from it. But it seems like this is a new institutional form – the peer-to-peer platform – and it’s a positive movement for future job hunters. That’s why I love talking about it. I’ve spoken time and again about the statistics which show millennials are focused on a more balanced work-life balance, and this digitally-powered, hybrid, gig economy, driven by organising economic activity through the market and within the organization, offers just that. Providers, regardless of age, don’t have to commit to full time work, they have the option to continue with other pursuits, run another ‘gig’ alongside or pick up kids from school.

But the rough and the smooth are often just a hair’s breadth apart, and despite the obvious empowerment of being your own boss, there’s also something comforting about a steady monthly paycheck. It’s always going to be harder to plan your life when you’re not sure how much money you’ll be making from month to month. And this post is not intended to drift into the political debate in the UK surrounding terms and conditions or possible exploitation in certain segments of the market. Read more about that here.

It may not be for everyone, but I love the idea of an economy powered by millions of ‘solopreneurs’. If peer-to-peer ‘gig’ economies continue to grow in popularity, it potentially offers a utopian vision of the future where wealth is a little bit more evenly spread.

So, of course there will still be many of the same positions available in future, and of course there will also be challenges for job hunters, but there has been in the past too. I’m going to make it my mission to start spreading a little more good news about potential future industries, rather than scaremongering that technology is about to destroy the careers of many.

I end in complete agreement with Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University’s School of Business, who said ‘Although the broader socioeconomic effects of the gig economy are as yet unclear, it is clear we must rethink the provision of our safety net, decoupling it from salaried jobs and making it more readily available to independent workers’.

What are your thoughts on the ‘gig economy’ – would you be happy being your own boss regardless of the potential uncertainty? What experiences do you have (positive or negative) of being part of this gig culture? What skills do we need to develop in the younger generations to prepare them for this type of work?

As ever, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Mark.