Comment by andyjohnson0 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by andyjohnson0 | Hacker News Reader

If you have in-demand skills then maybe the 'gig' economy can be a nice place to be: money and flexibility can create quite a nice lifestyle, if some comments I read on HN are to be believed.

But for those not in the top-layer its going to be "welcome to the precariat" [1]. Constant hustling, unpredictable income and housing, moving-on a lot, fewer social ties. For those at the bottom it's zero-hour contracts driving for Uber and stacking shelves at Amazon fulfilment centres.

Traditional full-time jobs provide a lot of the security necessary for long-term commitments like raising children, educating them properly (so that they in turn have sell-able skills), and engaging/participating in society. When almost everyone is chasing the next contract to pay the rent, the result can be a hollowed-out society where we all end-up poorer.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precariat

I often get the feeling that proponents of the gig economy underestimate just how transient their "in-demand skills" really are. A person's in-demand skills can only take them so far before someone else comes along with equal (or even better skills) and undercuts the "top-layer". At which point, instead of having the time to acquire new skills, the individual instead needs to devote their time to the "constant hustle" of finding the next gig before their reserves are depleted.

I totally agree with this. It creates amazing short-term opportunity for many, but possibly at large cost to society long-term.

I also find it interesting that the two examples you gave, Uber drivers and Amazon shelf stacking, are two that will certainly be fully automated in the next 5 - 10 years.

I watched my trash collection truck last week, it had just the driver, and a robotic arm that picked up each trash bin and emptied it. I was just thinking "and it's the driver next".

I agree on the negative impact to the society - just want to point out that there are not too many 'traditional full-time jobs' left. Most people I know in high tech -and increasingly other industries- change jobs every 2-3 years (not always voluntarily). These jobs are, in fact, gigs, just longer.

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