Outsourcing jobs over the internet to use individuals as cheap labor is called the “Gig Economy”. Any time you still have “employees” reporting to managers, it is not a “complete rethinking” of work. It’s plain old hierarchy, pure and simple. Gig Economy, perhaps, long overdue given the use of similar platforms in other industries (e.g., advertising) seems like a natural progression of technology and market forces and we should be excited to participate in its unfolding. Gig economy has potential to change everything.
The Gig Economy is the peer-to-peer economy used in transactions such as ride sharing and home sharing. For an English-speaking native, without a doubt, the easiest job to find abroad is a teaching gig. If you travel to countries where your physical appearances stray from the ‘norm’ of the locals, you also may walk down the street and find yourself approached by multiple people offering you modelling jobs.
There are 3.2 billion people, who are trying to improve their lives through education will be in no better position trying to compete globally as everyone of them must match the lowest salary even if currencies are radically valued or devalued. So employee’s where their comparable cost of living costs much less make those in countries where it costs more to live effectively poor.
The gig economy revolves around :
Apportioning risk and Direct Work
Trust building and Inclusion of the ‘single entity’, IP and legal
Human choice, “right decision, right time, right reason” ethics
Economic differences due to valuations of currencies
Creation of cheap labor pools for corporations so they can hire cheap labor rather than locally
Middle man treating people as commodity and making (n)xBILLIONS.
Gig Economy of Pakistan
Gig Economy in Pakistan is same like anywhere worldwide. ForiMazdoori is a Skill Bazaar that provides a digital service that bridges the gap between an employer and a worker by providing an easy to use system for searching and hiring everyday. Like wise, Mazdur Loog is where contractual arrangements take on completely new meanings. The instances of “wage compression” will far outnumber cases of “dramatically opened opportunities.
Recently, we have seen Careem overtaking UBER by change. The localized competition in commuting services is at the helm of debacle. The whole UBER thing is coming apart due to economic realities. It costs Uber divers around forty thousand a year to make ten thousand after paying taxes, car insurance, maintenance and then adding on value to compete with more and more drivers coming online while working forty plus hours minimum. A few people save some money over a taxi, Uber makes a fortune as the man in the middle and jobs go away.
Challenges with Gig Economy?
Let’s face it - outsourcing is probably unstoppable, but glorifying it as a “gig economy” won’t make the transition in the workforce any less painful. The benefits of a “nimble core of managers” with outrageous salaries is really what it’s all about. So this is really just another justification for the libertarian “dream” of “whoever is the most willing to throw his fellow humans under the bus wins.” Globally, millions will lose their livelihood, and millions more won’t even have a chance to get into the workforce.
Using technology as a replacement for labor to create a man in the middle dollar is creating ridiculous wealth for investors and a few founders while creating hardly any jobs. The infrastructure doesn’t exist in most truly rural areas to support the broadband necessary to make work-from-home viable for most positions, and building it out isn’t going to be profitable due to the low user density present.
What is in there for the worker? With a surplus of talent — e.g., the current market — how does one charge enough to cover the benefits no longer received because it’s a work-for-hire situation, rather than typical employee setting? Seems like the upside is all on the employer’s end. IT people, it’s great to explore beyond the gig economy headlines, general concept and success stories, and start to ask more “how will this really work?” questions. Who loses, what becomes harder, what foundations (e.g. culture) are a prerequisite for success?