I do worry that the “app / gig economy” independent contractors with weak i9 verification is basically trying to import the developing-world inequality permanent underclass service sector here.
Uber alone supposedly has 1M "independent contractors" in the US. Quick google searches would put them as the 3rd biggest employer in the US behind Walmart & Amazon, if they were actually classified as employees.
in Canada they use Temporary Foreign Workers, but it's the same idea. Import the developing world inequality instead of using locals -- but only because the population base isn't there.
I’m not saying that you meant to say that it’s our first round with this…just pointing out that Americans have significant experience at maintaining a underclass.
Arguably migrant workers working the harvests on farms is similar and bridges the Jim Crow era to now, but that has been more behind the scenes and didn't have the veneer of "tech".