The contractor framing of gig work mainly benefits employers, not workers
Evidence
Workers are seemingly empowered because, as contractors, they set their own hours and choose their own tasks. But employers are empowered too, since they don’t have to pay payroll taxes, can avoid regulations concerning minimum wage and overtime work, and can get millions of microtasks performed that regular employees might resist doing. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 217
Categorization
- DEFINE: Naming the double empowerment structure that underlies the gig-economy rhetoric.
- XREF: connects to: Gig-economy disruption benefits dissipate as consumers become workers — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 226; Platform gig economy bypasses firms to make laborers self-branding contractors. — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 67; Gig-economy liberation rhetoric masks new and deeper labor exploitation — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 225 (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Gig-economy liberation rhetoric masks new and deeper labor exploitation
#corroborates(0.90) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 225 - Gig-economy disruption benefits dissipate as consumers become workers
#expands(0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 226 - Contract workers at profitable companies are excluded from profit-sharing bonuses
#exemplifies(0.85) — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 373 - Platform gig economy bypasses firms to make laborers self-branding contractors.
#qualifies(0.80) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 67 - Neoliberal freelance work can genuinely provide self-actualization despite exploiting workers
#qualifies(0.80) — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, 519