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Comment by spunker540 | Hacker News Reader

One of the interesting aspects of the gig economy (speaking mostly about ride-sharing) is sure the pay may be bad and the hours may be bad for certain regions/areas/drivers. But Uber and Lyft don't impose any sort of requirements. You can work exactly when and how much you want to work. That in and of itself is a huge win for workers. Part of the problem is Uber and Lyft also don't limit how many drivers drive at any given time, which results in some inefficiencies (which are mostly just felt by the drivers). If there are too many drivers on the road, fares go down which is good for everyone but the drivers: Uber will keep taking it's cut; riders get cheap fares quickly.

I think the fact that people can drive 15 hrs a week if that fits their childcare schedule or drive 60 hrs of week to pay for a vacation is incredibly valuable.

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As a small business owner it's a huge pain to hire employees. Payroll, taxes, health care, retirement, PTO, etc. add so much complexity that the only real solution is to hire a payroll agency to do that for you.

With a contractor, or a gig, you can define a single project price or hourly rate, sign a short contract and get down to work.

Another problem with Uber/Lyft is that a significant portion of their earnings comes from "quests" like "N rides today" or "N rides this week". Given the very low base pay, this incentivizes drivers to work long hours, with no breaks.

"freedom not to work" is not a freedom it's a threat.

It can be a freedom for some people.

People raising kids might love to work a couple days a week a couple months of the year (to match the school schedule).

Many of them would never consider a 9-5 FTE job.

Part time employment is very different from 'unpredictable hours with no certainty and poor workers' rights' which is what much of the gig economy actually is.

Part time employment with flexible working hours is a good thing, but that's not a benefit that the gig economy delivers, in fact quite the opposite.

An unregulated wage economy suppresses wages to the point that workers must work ever increasing hours to make a living wage. If that stops being the case, there will be someone willing to work a little longer for a little less. This feeds into a cycle where wages are suppressed right down to the point where to make a living wage you actually have to be working all the time.

Far from gaining control to "set your own hours" you actually get pressured into more and more hours.

Contrast to regulated industries where you are either salaried, or supply is restricted so that workers can genuinely earn and set their own schedules without feeling like they'll lose out by taking any breaks.

Describing the gig economy as some kind of workers' nirvana is just deceptive and wrong.

> workers must work ever increasing hours to make a living wage.

That sounds like trying to use the gig economy to make a living. I'm sure some people could do it, but it's hard like you mention.

The gig economy is designed for short, flexible gigs to supplement your income not replace it entirely. The people that are trying to make a full income entirely from piecing together tons of small gigs I'm sure are struggling because that's not what it's claiming to do. It's primary function is flexibility, not keeping up with the Joneses.

FTE is for building wealth, the gig economy is for flexibility. The gig economy filled a much needed gap for people that only want to work a few hours a week or like variety in their work. It's not supposed to be the cure to fill time employment, just an alternative.

It's like complaining that a "tiny house" isn't big enough. It's not what it was designed to do.

But the fact is that a lot of people ARE trying to use the gig economy to make a living. In many cases because it's the only option open to them.

When gigs represent an ever-increasing percentage of the employment available and steadier work is becoming harder to find, how are people expected to make a living?

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