The Gig Economy: Exploring the rise of freelance work and part-time jobs, and how it’s changing the traditional employment landscape.
- Param Vastani
- Oct 30
- 2 min read
By Param Vastani
In the past decade, the gig economy has grown astronomically. What is the gig economy? It is when people, instead of engaging in permanent jobs and full-time employment, engage in freelance work and short-time commitments as a means of earning. This is present in the world more than we first realize: the Uber drivers, food delivery workers, part-time tutors and so on.
Technology has been a driving force in this. Freelance workers have been given a platform by apps like Uber or Fiverr, where the customers can easily access them. This flexibility of work that they gain from this is a key feature of the gig economy. But why do workers engage in such temporary work instead of a permanent job anyways?
The reasons are numerous, such as the flexibility they get to work at any place according to their convenience, work remotely, use skills to the extent they might not have in a traditional job. It also serves as an additional income source if they choose to do it as a side hustle.
Another key point is that even the employers gain benefit from this. They don’t have to make as many provisions as they might have to for a full-time employee, like paid leave or insurance. They can hire and fire as per the specific things they want to achieve. They can also get a wider set of applicants by allowing remote work.
It’s not all uphill for this kind of work. The people working such jobs also have some challenges. For example, if they aren’t able to be productive or innovative enough, they may not find any meaningful work. As mentioned, they don’t get any benefits from the employer as well. They also become isolated and lose their work-life balance. These problems are indeed significant but the workers can try and make efforts to avoid them, such as avoiding isolation and maintaining a work life balance by engaging with more people in the community, not just for work.
The gig economy system will continue to grow in the future, and will perhaps improve as companies, workers and governments adapt to the changing landscape. As for the effects on traditional employment, there will be some permanent effects. The employers can now outsource work to gig workers, declining the number of permanent jobs. The same applies for providing expensive benefits to permanent employees. The system does make a business more adaptive and provides independence to workers, but there is a decline in job security. Workers must adapt to the market and develop more relevant skills.
Therefore, on the surface, what seems like a system that provides flexibility to workers has significant underlying impacts, some being detrimental. As the system grows, people must remain vigilant of what market they are entering and remain aware of the caveats. Policymakers should make laws to organize and regulate this sector. The gig economy is a system which offers tremendous results if properly embraced and developed.
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