Gig work shifts labor from white wealthy clients to poorer black and Latino workers

Evidence

The demographics of the people who employ gig workers (in the United States, at least) seem to skew strongly toward young, white, wealthy urban dwellers. The demographics of the workers themselves (again, in the United States) skew toward those who are young, lower income (less than $30,000 per year), and black or Latino. Of the 8 percent of Americans making money from gig platforms, three-fifths felt that their platform income was “essential” or “important” to them. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 221

Categorization

• XREF: Matches the race-and-tech-labor literature and echoes the labor-stratification claims from Base Nation on racialized labor exploitation. — connects to: Gig-economy liberation rhetoric masks new and deeper labor exploitation — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 225; The contractor framing of gig work mainly benefits employers, not workers — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 217; Platform gig economy bypasses firms to make laborers self-branding contractors. — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 67
• QUESTION: Comparison to EU/global gig demographics could test whether this racial skew is US-specific.

Broader Connections

• Gig-economy liberation rhetoric masks new and deeper labor exploitation #expands (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 225
• The contractor framing of gig work mainly benefits employers, not workers #expands (0.82) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 217
• Platform gig economy bypasses firms to make laborers self-branding contractors. #expands (0.78) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 67