They call it the “gig” economy, as in “Cool, man. I got a gig at the jazz club tonight.” But it isn’t cool, except in Kool-Aide. As in, drinking it.
Diane Mulcahy, who wrote “The Gig Economy,” is one of those who is thrilled about the rise of this kind of work. She’s a university professor and author who wrote a book about it. Her book blurb says:
Today, more than a third of Americans are working in the gig economy—mixing together short-term jobs, contract work, and freelance assignments. For those who’ve figured out the formula, life has never been better!
The formula, apparently, is knowing how to answer your email and teleconference while you’re in bed with your husband, or caring for a sick child.
Mulcahy exults about traveling the world while doing your gigs. No longer anchored to a desk, you can climb mountains or skydive while still earning a living. Fine, if that’s what floats your boat. But what about the worker who can’t or doesn’t want to be free? What about the kid who doesn’t want to build a website and worry about SEO and visibility while trolling for gigs? What if you’re not entrepreneurial?
She can work from any place!
Of course, our corporate overlords love the idea. Humans become even more disposable. Concerned about your workers’ need for maternity leave or health insurance? Easy: make ’em contractors! Here’s how journalist Llewellyn King puts it:
The gig economy knows and cares nothing about health care, sick leave, Social Security payments, tax collections, vacations and working conditions.
And how are these gig economy workers supposed to retire? I don’t want to have to hustle gigs when I’m eighty.
I’m not a Luddite. I love technology. My first laptop was a DOS PC! There’s so much reason to celebrate what technology can do for us. And I’m not opposed to the idea of working without being tethered to a desk. I have done it for years (in my retirement, as a side gig). For some folks, having a virtual business means they can make a living from remote outposts.
But it can go too far. Take away the cool buzzwords and all the chortling about freedom. Recognize what we lose when humans are no longer attached to a workplace. Some of us enjoy daily contact with coworkers, and the social advantage of shared challenge and daily life.
Mulcahy says “no problem!” because now, all the independents can work at shared offices, renting space in buildings designed specifically for freelancers. Instead of going to work in an office provided by your employer, the employer can shift that responsibility to you.
YOU provide the office, oh empowered freelancer. You pay for the desk, the light, and the heat. Bravo, free thinker!
The people who will be getting rich will be the ones who have buildings to rent out, or the ones doing seminars and coaching us on how to maintain work/life balance. Teaching you how to schedule your time, when you not only go to work every day but have to hustle to find the work in the first place.
Sorry about the birthday party, little one. Daddy has to hustle gigs!
Gig worker on vacation.
One of the beautiful things about getting old is we’re less afraid of speaking the truth. This is my truth: I’m afraid we’re going too far in our expectations of the gig economy. I see our grandkids not just working hard in one job, but hustling hard to find jobs, month in and month out. Regardless of their nature, disposition, or dreams, they’ll have to cobble together one gig after another. Or as Llewellyn said to Mulcahy in a recent interview, “I can’t help but visualize downtown Ho Chi Minh city.”
The American economy is changing, affected by world economics. That’s not inherently bad, but let’s not go backwards in some Darwinian pursuit of efficiency and self-sufficiency.
What do you think? Is the gig economy going too far, in your opinion? Or am I reading it wrong?
Well to be honest Lynne, I am a little pink (as in social democracy) around my edges. Thank you Franklin D. Roosevelt (during the depression of the 1930s) for having the forward thinking understanding about those “holes” in a capitalist economy. As in safety nets (retirement savings, paid off mortgages and decent health care). Thank you for Social Security… and now I have grown fond of my Medicare Health Benefits. I could go on about the CCC but I will leave it. A great society takes care of its society as best as it can (i.e., Denmark) one shouldn’t throw the weaker or not as fortunate to the wolves. While it is admirable if someone starts a savings account on their own, or plays with investments on line, pays off a mortgage and credit card debt, but NOT many young folks do because they live hand to mouth… or Gig to gig. Who is going to feed and house all these folks when they need hip or knee replacements at 65 and a roof over their head that is paid for? Roxanne put is very nicely, the folks that are interested in this kind of job security will seek it out — perhaps we can fill gaps (As Rocky Balboa said) with gigs and love. I don’t want to go all grasshopper and ant here…So I guess what I’m saying is we could have both choices and ideas available — safety nets are good; gigs are good,
And best yet: if a retired person wants to augment her income with an occasional gig or two, wouldn’t that be nice? As in, no age discrimination in the workplace.
I’m pink, too.
I really want to comment on What You’re Reading but can’t find a spot, so I’m writing here. This list is wonderful! I’ve read about half the books but hadn’t heard of many of them. I’ve put them on my Good Reads list and just bought Dakota Blues from Amazon and look forward to that little gift to myself arriving tomorrow. I love books about grownups and movies, too – though those are harder to find. My writing partner and I have a new blog on positive aging – richlyaged.com – and were so delighted to find your blog and the others listed on smartliving365.com. I plan to visit them all regularly. Many thanks!
Wow, how good to hear from you, Pam. I see by my stats that people do look at my Older Adult book page, but I didn’t activate the comments because they’d be at the bottom of a LOOOOONNNNNG page! So I’m glad you told me. It makes me feel like my efforts are worthwhile. My full list is at my Facebook author page here, and I put together a set of movie titles for older people on Pinterest, here. I sense that, with the numbers you cited on your blog, this trickle of interest will become a stream and then a torrent. One can hope! Best wishes with RichlyAged.com.
Thank you for your interesting and thought-provoking post. You’ve given me a lot to consider! My son is part of the “gig” group, and it seems to be working out well for him, at least right now. However, he is a responsible person and has started saving for his retirement. He also has an emergency fund for times when he’s between gigs. If all gig-ers do that, then … why not? The problem is, I think, that lots of younger people don’t look to the future.
I also agree with someone who left a comment and said this gig idea is just a re-branding of entrepreneurship.
It very much is, IMO. We call it a cool new name but it’s just entrepreneurship. Which is great for many but not all. (Wow, your son sounds like one smart kid! Congrats, Mom.)
Diane Mulcahy is young. I couldn’t find her age, but her picture on Linkedin puts her in early thirties, I’d think. So, she will have many decades to alter her mindset, once life throws her a few wrenches. The thing young people have all stopped talking about is the ‘safety net’. That disturbs me. Of course, it’s because they have given up, thinking there is no such thing, if there ever was. Yes, there was a safety net—it provided health care, unemployment insurance, pensions. It’s fine to be in the gig game, if you have some assurance (or your family has money) that you won’t end up on the street, if you fall ill, or when you get old. I think we need to start looking at the GAI (Guaranteed Annual Income) to protect people. It’s a new idea, but it’s catching on!
If we didn’t have to be tethered to a job to have health coverage, that would free people up to be creative and entrepreneurial. As a retiree with a pension, I wish people of all ages could have time and the basic monetary sustenance to enjoy life without so much pressure and uncertainty.
Lynne, there’s a lot to be said for getting paid for what you love to do. I have experienced the agony of being in jobs that we’re not the right match and know the stress involved. It’s a huge trade-off to leave the corporate world and all the security benefits provided. It’s always a choice but I strongly believe that making provisions for financial security should be an important p of the equation. I say this as a retiree who is now enjoying the benefits of having planned for my future. And I did find a job with benefits that I loved. Interesting discussion, as usual. Thank you!
You found a job with benefits, Kathy. So did I. So did Sue, and others in this thread. I can’t imagine if that became just a thing of the past, that our grandkids will only muse on. Before getting back down to business. At 80. Because they have no retirement security.
As long as it’s a choice, it can be positive. The downside is when someone of a certain age is let go once on the wrong side of middle age and forced to scramble. I saw it happen to friends at a large tech company who later hired them for gigs – proving they want the expertise without paying for benefits. Maybe if we actually HAD universal health care and free higher education it’d be a real positive option. As it stands, it looks like further erosion of the middle class. Hope unions gain traction in this area or the generation coming up could find it difficult to gain the financial stability needed to buy a house (-or at least move out of mom & dad’s!), raise a family, etc.
Yes, as always, there has to be balance and choice. I love the idea of not being tethered to a job because of health insurance, or caught without it if we’re not part of some big group structure. You are right. That would make a huge difference!
You’ve really got me thinking about this topic!
Like you, Lynne, I have experienced both worlds. Roxanne asked, “…how many of us stayed in one job for our entire work life and retired with the proverbial gold watch?” I did…and that is the reason I can now enjoy an “encore career” where I can work (or not). My “work life” now, as a tour director, has me going from gig to gig, but I am not trying to support myself or a family. It seems to be such a hard way to “make a living” while trying to “make a life”…but that may only be due to my “perspective.” Kathy presents such a positive and encouraging “view” of entrepreneurship. All of the responders, so far, seem to think there is room for both types of work. For the sake of young people who would like more stability, I hope that is the case. Technology has “opened” doors that were not available when I graduated from college, and for that I am extremely grateful. My personal world since (my first) retirement has “expanded” in ways I could have never imagined, thanks to the “gig economy.” It also has me “dreaming bigger” about ways I can parlay my interests, experience, skills and talents into other opportunities. Back in the last century, we learned that young people were going to have 5 to 7 career moves in their lifetime. The best preparation for that kind of future is the willingness to be a lifelong learner. To me, this Alvin Toffler quote lays it out succinctly: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Thanks for asking!
Drop the mic, Sue. 😎
😂👍😎
Hi Lynne…. as a person who has always been self-employed and entrepreneurial, I think that it’s really pretty much the same as calling it a “gig” economy. The author is using the current buzz word to provide information and encouragement, but I agree that you are either that type of person by nature or you aren’t. There is room for both approaches in the future but I agree with Roxanne that it is becoming more and more common for people to NOT to stay with one employer more than a few years anyway. And actually, those of us who are entrepreneurial need more discipline to make it than those who work for others because we have to be responsible and self-motivated for ourselves. That is something that young people could benefit from no matter which way they go. PLUS, with so many young people going to college and coming out with enormous student loan debt in fields with no jobs, they might be far better off taking a more entrepreneurial approach. I think like most things, there are good and bad on either side of the equation. It’s an interesting topic for sure! ~Kathy
There is a lot of positivity in this, Kathy, but here’s a sort of bottom-line question: what would you tell a kid who is trying to figure out what industry to go into in the future? What college degree should she seek?
Following on Roxanne’s comments; it doesn’t have to be either or, it’s another option. Some will chose it, other’s won’t. Nice to have the choice. I don’t see corporate America disappearing anytime soon.
Who knows, with universal health care and portable pensions, we might like it. At my age, it no longer matters. Engineering made it easy to be gypsy.
Your view of it is a positive one, Dennis, like Roxanne’s. Thanks for talking me down off the ceiling.
The ceiling is not a bad place. Note: It should be choose. Where’s my editor when I need her.
On the ceiling with me.
I have never really thought about this before! The word ‘gig’ has always seemed to me to be a musician term. I need to get out more. When I was reading this robots came into my mind. Maybe they will take over all the permanent jobs and people will have to hustle for the short term or side ones. Idea for a book, maybe?
Yes! Let’s call it 1984!
I think there will always be jobs (and employers) who want/need full-time employees and the control this affords, and these will attract the folks who prefer this work environment. For those who are more entrepreneurial, who don’t want to be tethered to the 9-5, and for whom job security is not a priority, the gig economy is a better fit. In this day and age, I think the concept of job security is illusory anyway (and has been for a while–how many of us stayed in one job for our entire work life and retired with the proverbial gold watch?). Bottom line, I don’t think the gig economy is going too far. And my hunch is that the role of unions may expand/morph to accommodate it. My two cents. Interesting post (as always!), Lynn.
That’s reassuring, Roxanne, and I’d like to think you’re right. For example, I don’t know how normal governmental entities like city operations, courts, classrooms (at least, K-12), etc. could run without a regular staff, but I think we’re in the “oh look! new exciting fad!” stage of the Gig. If it goes so far one way, it’ll revert a little. Also, to your comment about unions, from that interview I cited, I learned that freelancers’ unions are starting to appear–a hopeful sign (nothing new under the sun, right?) Thanks for commenting.