The article came across as alarmist while completely failing to provide the bigger picture of whether this is actually a bad thing or not. We instantly assume it's bad because it would indeed be awful for us in the US to live like that.

I'd be interested in knowing how these workers get by, is housing and other important things cheaper there?

Flexible employment is not a bad thing, in fact, it's great. What would be bad here is not being able to afford basic necessities in a system like that and this article completely ignore that side of the equation.