<story><title>Gig-Economy Workers Are the Modern Proletariat</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-25/gig-economy-workers-are-last-of-marx-s-oppressed-proletarians</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>unknown_apostle</author><text>I know it pays little and is repetitive. But my question with this kind of analysis is always: why do they keep finding people to do it?&lt;p&gt;There is another problem which I find more worrisome: we are expecting gig workers (and most other workers) to subject to hardcore competition for their jobs, wages and terms. The argument (also my argument above) is that it leads to efficient and honest outcomes because it involves little to no coercion.&lt;p&gt;But at the same time, governments are colluding with and bailing out the financial elites with every market crash. We did it with LTCM, in 2001, in 2008 and who knows when again. The bailout involves mass coercion of savers and an implicit punishment of those who were careful.&lt;p&gt;It may have profoundly changed the mentality of the wealthy. For the last 10 years, &amp;quot;if it gets bad enough, there will be a bail out&amp;quot; has become standard investment wisdom.&lt;p&gt;Socialism for those who own, free markets for those who don&amp;#x27;t. This contradiction is what&amp;#x27;ll ultimately do us in.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>NeedMoreTea</author><text>Well in the case of the UK, in response to the model some of the well known new entrants use, just about &lt;i&gt;every&lt;/i&gt; delivery company now forces their drivers to be self employed, zero hours. There have been countless reports of extreme abuses by companies.&lt;p&gt;What used to be a quite rare mode of employment that just a few chose, has become endemic, and seems like it&amp;#x27;s become near the default for the lowest paid fifth of our economy. That growth has been entirely in the last 15 years.&lt;p&gt;They do it because the choice has become that or unemployment. Unemployment that will probably sanction them for not accepting a zero hour contract, or a self-employed driving or labouring job.</text></comment>
<story><title>Gig-Economy Workers Are the Modern Proletariat</title><url>https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-09-25/gig-economy-workers-are-last-of-marx-s-oppressed-proletarians</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>unknown_apostle</author><text>I know it pays little and is repetitive. But my question with this kind of analysis is always: why do they keep finding people to do it?&lt;p&gt;There is another problem which I find more worrisome: we are expecting gig workers (and most other workers) to subject to hardcore competition for their jobs, wages and terms. The argument (also my argument above) is that it leads to efficient and honest outcomes because it involves little to no coercion.&lt;p&gt;But at the same time, governments are colluding with and bailing out the financial elites with every market crash. We did it with LTCM, in 2001, in 2008 and who knows when again. The bailout involves mass coercion of savers and an implicit punishment of those who were careful.&lt;p&gt;It may have profoundly changed the mentality of the wealthy. For the last 10 years, &amp;quot;if it gets bad enough, there will be a bail out&amp;quot; has become standard investment wisdom.&lt;p&gt;Socialism for those who own, free markets for those who don&amp;#x27;t. This contradiction is what&amp;#x27;ll ultimately do us in.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Illniyar</author><text>In regards to mechanical turk, the linked study[0] has some answers for you:&lt;p&gt;For AMT US (roughly since they don&amp;#x27;t give out exact numbers):
 8%  - could not find other employment 
 10% -can only work from home 
 23% - prefer to work from home
 1%  - pay is better then other available jobs
 43% - to complement pay from other jobs
 4%  - to ear money while going to school
 3%  - as a form of leisure
 7%  - enjoy it&lt;p&gt;For AMT india (roughly since they don&amp;#x27;t give out exact numbers):
 4%  - could not find other employment 
 12% -can only work from home 
 24% - prefer to work from home
 8%  - pay is better then other available jobs
 25% - to complement pay from other jobs
 5%  - to ear money while going to school
 2%  - as a form of leisure
 14%  - enjoy it&lt;p&gt;[0] - &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ilo.org&amp;#x2F;wcmsp5&amp;#x2F;groups&amp;#x2F;public&amp;#x2F;---dgreports&amp;#x2F;---dcomm&amp;#x2F;---publ&amp;#x2F;documents&amp;#x2F;publication&amp;#x2F;wcms_645337.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ilo.org&amp;#x2F;wcmsp5&amp;#x2F;groups&amp;#x2F;public&amp;#x2F;---dgreports&amp;#x2F;---dcom...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>