Changing Winds In The Gig Economy
Meera BluePrint 10.29.2020
U.S. freelancers contributed $1.28 trillion to the American economy in 2018 and now about 36% of U.S. workers are now involved in the gig economy.
The gig economy has been growing very fast and is showing tremendous potential. Will the pandemic take it to the next level?
Like many things, gig work seems to have been pulled forward by the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating both supply and demand. In 2009 former New Yorker editor Tina Brown coined the term "gig economy" and at that time it was largely believed gig work would be centered around white-collar jobs including professions like accounts and graphic designers. However, it is a lot easier to build software to support low skill jobs that are simple, repeatable, standardized, easily measurable, and controllable. As a result, companies like; Uber, Lyft, and Instacart have been the most successful gig platforms over the last decade
Knowledge work on the other hand is not uniform
All knowledge-based work can be broken out into different tasks, which is also how you should determine if a task can be gigafied. This isn't the easiest thing to do, but you can use the framework below and ask yourself;
Is this task...
1. Codifiable?
2. Is there a delay between value creation & value consumption?
3. Can this task be done remotely?
Technology has come a long way since 2009 and now you can use this framework for more and more tasks. Companies like Fiverr have created a global marketplace connecting freelancers and businesses for their digital service needs. Knowledge-based freelance platforms like Fiverr have done exceptionally well during the pandemic as many of the stigmas around remote work have disappeared and managers are looking for cost savings. We don't see this trend slowing down anytime soon and we are bullish on the Gigification of white-collar jobs.
Here are our 3 trends to watch in the gig economy;
1. Executives will get involved - Ever heard of a 1/4 time CFO? You should...
2. Laws will change - could be for better or worse
3. All remote Companies - natural synergies with gig work
Learn Something
Harvard Business Review: Will the Pandemic Push Knowledge Work into the Gig Economy?
Forbes: 6 Trends That Will Shape the Gig Economy In The 2020s
GitLab: The Remote Manifesto