Contents About the Book About the Author Title Page Dedication Preface Part I The End of the Job A Very Old New Idea No Shifts No Boss No Limits The Best of Bad Options Uber for X Part II Sunshine, Rainbows, and Unicorns Like an ATM in Your Pocket Uber Freedom Part III Fine Print A Competing Story Don’t Call Us The Good Jobs Strategy Part IV Backlash 10 11 The Medium Is the Movement Uber for Politics Part V The Future of Work 12 13 Pivot A Very Serious Issue Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Index Copyright About the Book The full-time job is disappearing Today more workers than ever are going freelance – driving for Uber or cycling for Deliveroo, developing software or consulting for investment banks Welcome to the gig economy In Gigged, Sarah Kessler meets the people forging this new world of unorthodox employment: from the computer programmer who chooses exactly which hours he works each week, via the Uber driver who is trying to convince his peers to unionise, to the charity worker who thinks freelance gigs might just transform the fortunes of a declining rural town Their stories raise crucial questions about the future of work What happens when job security, holidays and benefits become a thing of the past? How can freelancers find meaningful, well-paid employment? And could the gig economy really change the world of work for ever? About the Author Sarah Kessler is a deputy editor at Quartz, where she writes about the future of work She was previously senior associate editor at Fast Company and before that associate editor at Mashable Her writing has appeared in publications including Inc., Salon, and USA Today Praise for Gigged ‘Essential reading for anyone who is interested in understanding the future of our economy and society.’ Ha-Joon Chang, author of 23 Things They Don’t Tell You About Capitalism ‘Sarah Kessler’s wonderful book offers unprecedented illumination of the promise, and the peril, of the gig economy.’ Martin Ford, author of The Rise of the Robots ‘If you want to know how work is changing and how you too must change to keep up, you must read this book.’ Dan Lyons, author of Disrupted ‘Deep reporting and graceful storytelling … Kessler’s analysis is both astute and nuanced.’ Daniel H Pink, author of Drive For my family: Debra, Steve, Richard, and Alex Preface When I first heard about the “future of work” in 2011, I was working as a reporter at a tech blog—a job that involved wading through an endless stream of startup pitches This future, dozens of young entrepreneurs explained to me, didn’t involve jobs Nobody liked jobs: The boredom! The rigid structure! The obedience! What the world really needed were gigs The pitch came in different versions Some startups had created ecommerce stores for labor Small businesses and Fortune 500 companies alike could sift through worker profiles by skill and hire them on a project-by-project basis Other startups worked more like dispatchers Drivers, dog walkers, and errand runners could get notifications on their phones when a job became available and choose to either accept it or reject it A small handful of companies had taken a third approach, breaking work into tiny tasks that took only minutes and paid only cents They assigned online crowds of people to work on large, tedious projects, like transcribing audiotapes, or checking to make sure that grocery stores across the country remembered to put a certain brand of cola in a prime location The rise of these new apps, their founders assured me, meant that soon we would all be working on the projects we chose, during the hours that we wanted We would no longer be laboring for the man, but for our own tiny businesses This meant that in the future, it wouldn’t matter how many jobs got shipped overseas or were taken by robots We could work for our neighbors, connect with as many projects as we needed to get by, and fit those gigs in between our band rehearsals, gardening, and other passion projects It would be more than the end of unemployment It would be the end of drudgery The idea was deeply appealing to me In addition to sounding like more fun than a job, this version of the future of work relieved a deep uncertainty I had about the future From a young age, my baby boomer parents had instilled in me that the mission of becoming an adult—the path to dignity, security, and independence—was to obtain a job Most adults I knew in my rural Wisconsin town had a straightforward profession like teacher, lawyer, or mechanic They worked at the grocery store or for the postal service A large Nestlé factory in a town nearby made the air smell like chocolate if the wind blew just right, and another factory made Kikkoman soy sauce Becoming employable—not following dreams, seeking some sort of personal fulfillment, or whatever it is they tell kids in coastal states—was in itself deserving of respect and dignity So eager was I to become a real person, a person with a job, that I’d spent a good chunk of my summer vacation before high school at a greenhouse, picking aphids off of herbs and pulling the hardto-reach weeds (being 13, I was skinny enough to squeeze between plant stands) My parents didn’t need the money I didn’t need the money Jobs just felt instinctively important I’m told most millennials don’t feel that way, but I haven’t really met many people in general who don’t value stability and safety Maybe what makes millennials different is that those things feel particularly elusive My peers and I came of age at a time when everything everyone believed about work was at best in flux and at worst already clearly no longer the case In 2005, when I was a junior in high school, I decided I would become a journalist In 2007, as newsrooms were scrambling to move their business models online, the Great Recession started And three years after that, the winter of my senior year of college, the unemployment rate in the United States hit double digits Only the computer programmers, it seemed, were excited for graduation As I conjured a frantic storm of resumes, informational interviews, and job fair mailing lists, I had trouble sleeping and, at times, breathing Though at the time I was narrowly focused on my own employment prospects (or lack thereof), my anxiety was small by comparison to many I had a college degree, parents willing to help me, and connections at a local greenhouse that would have been happy to have me back for another summer I was going to be ok About the future, the world around me, I wasn’t so sure Media wasn’t the only industry being remade by technology As newsrooms were announcing layoffs, other companies were using internet freelance marketplaces and staffing agencies to zap white-collar jobs overseas Artificial intelligence and robotics were replacing others Many of the jobs that remained in the United States no longer came with security Companies had, under pressure from shareholders, cut the fat from their benefits packages for employees, piling more and more risk onto their shoulders As the economy recovered, the companies hired temp workers, contract workers, freelancers, seasonal workers, and part-time workers, but full-time jobs that had been lost to the recession were never coming back Between 2005 and 2015, nearly all of the jobs added to the US economy would fall into the “contingent” category That “job” that we’d all been told was the key to our secure life no longer seemed like a natural path As a young person, you’re not allowed to sit out the future You don’t get to put off learning how to use email because you’d rather fax Nobody thinks that’s endearing When you see a trend coming down the pike, you know it’s going to hit you So perhaps when entrepreneurs described for me a world in which work would be like shopping at a bazaar (a gig economy startup had picked up this concept in its name, Zaarly), it appealed to me more than it would have to someone with more gray hairs: I’ll take that vision of the future—no need to play that horrifying mass unemployment and poverty vision that I had all lined up and ready to go I wrote my first story about the gig economy in 2011, long before anyone had labeled it the “gig economy.” The headline was “Online Odd Jobs: How Startups Let You Fund Yourself.” Though my job changed throughout the next seven years, my fascination with the gig economy didn’t I first watched as the gig economy became a venture capital feeding frenzy, a hot new topic and a ready answer to the broader economy’s problems Then, as stories of worker exploitation emerged, I listened as the same companies that had once boasted about creating the “gig economy” worked to distance themselves from the term I saw the gig economy start a much-needed conversation about protecting workers as technology transforms work The more I learned, the more I understood that the startup “future of work” story, as consoling as it was, was also incomplete Yes, the gig economy could create opportunity for some people, but it also could amplify the same problems that made the world of work look so terrifying in the first place: insecurity, increased risk, lack of stability, and diminishing workers’ rights The gig economy touched many people Some of them were rich, some poor, some had power, and some didn’t Its impact on each of them was different The chapters of this book alternate between five of their stories It’s not intended to be a complete, bird’s-eye view of the gig economy Any economy is built by humans, and this book is about them EPILOGUE Press release Workers and US Government Cheated Out of Billions in Stolen Wages and Lost Tax Revenue National Employment Law Project February 19, 2014 Newton, Casey Uber Will Eventually Replace All of Its Drivers with Self-Driving Cars The Verge May 28, 2014 https://hbr.org/2017/07/lots-of-employees-get-misclassified-as-contractorsheres-why-it-matters Kessler, Sarah A Timeline of When Self-Driving Vehicles Will Be on the Road, According to the People Making Them Quartz March 29, 2017 https://qz.com/943899/a-timeline-of-when-selfdriving-cars-will-be-on-the-road-according-to-the-people-making-them/ McKinsey Global Institute What the Future of Work Will Mean for Jobs, Skills, and Wages November 2017 https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/future-of-organizations-and-work/whatthe-future-of-work-will-mean-for-jobs-skills-and-wages Lynley, Matthew Travis Kalanick Says Uber Has 40 Million Monthly Users TechCrunch October 19, 2016 https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/19/travis-kalanick-says-uber-has-40-millionmonthly-active-riders/ Quoted in Dray, Philip There Is Power in a Union Anchor Books, 2010, page 248 Index The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader Accenture (professional services company), 225 AFL, 248–249 AFL-CIO, 194 Airbnb (hospitality service), 44, 57, 61, 180 Amazon, 71, 74–75, 226 net sales, 168 See also Mechanical Turk Arise (customer service company), 78–81 Artsicle (art rental service), 45–46 A-Ryde (ride-hailing app), 239 Aspen Institute, 150, 192, 274n18 Atlantic, The (magazine), 176, 189, 220 Attenborough, David, 19 automated cars, 243 automation, 63, 73–75, 167, 230, 243–244 baby boom generation, x Backchannel (tech website), 128 Bahá’í, 47 BBS (bulletin board system), 35 Belsky, Scott, 134–135 Bernstein, Michael, 167–168, 170–171 Better Business Bureau, 129 Bezos, Jeff, 174–176 Big Brother (reality television program), 28–29, 31 Bitcoin, 209, 240 Black Car Fund, 231 blockchain technology, 209 Bloomberg (magazine), 10–11, 97 Bloomberg, Michael, 247 Borzi, Phyllis C., 192 Bravo Brio Restaurant Group, 157 Brustein, AJ, 227 Bureau of Labor Statistics, 23, 117, 181 Burton, Diane, 138 Bush, Jeb, 188 Camp, Garrett, 150 Campbell, Harry, 151 Care.com (marketplace for independent caregivers), 231 CB Insights, 143 Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, The, 180 Chia, Stan, 59 churn (customer attrition), 127–128 Clark, Shelby, 232–233 cleaning services, 85, 93–94, 98–103 churn (customer attrition), 127–128 See Handy; Homejoy; Managed by Q Clinton, Bill, 217 Clinton, Hillary, 187–188 Clinton Global Initiative, 42 collective action, 152–162, 168–169, 190–191 See also labor and trade unions contingent work, 87, 89–90, 189, 191 See also freelance work; subcontractors; temp workers and agencies cooperatives, 209–213, 238 Costco, 135, 138 Coworker (website), 271n26 Craigslist, 94 crowd workers, 30–31, 166–168, 209, 212–213, 234 income of, 70–71 See also Mechanical Turk Crowdflower, 31 crowdsourcing, 30, 79, 163, 166, 170 Crumbaugh, Lindsey, 216 Danielson, Joshua, 211 Davenport, Terrence, 36–43, 76–79, 115–124, 213–221, 241 Deliveroo (courier delivery service), 86, 195, 228 Democracy (journal), 183–184, 196 Depillis, Lydia, 85 Desai, Bhairavi, 164 Diallo, Abdoul, 162, 164 Dickey, Roger, 243–244 DoorDash (restaurant delivery service), 186 Drivers’ Guild, 163–164 Dumas, Arkansas, 37–43, 76–81, 115–125, 213–221, 236, 242 Dynamo (crowdwork action website), 169–178, 209, 271n26 ecommerce, 63, 191, 226, 244 Economic Policy Institute (EPI), 189 Elance (freelance marketplace), 76 See also Upwork Employee Benefits Security Administration (US Department of Labor), 192 employees alternatives to current classification of, 192–198 independent contractors versus, 7, 9, 22–23, 25, 87–89, 90, 95–97, 101, 109–110, 188–189 at Instagram, Managed by Q and, 134–143, 201, 222, 233–234, 246 misclassification of, 89, 95–97, 110–111, 164, 188, 193, 196, 224, 227, 233–234 retention, 138–139 rights of, social safety nets and, 181–182 Uber and, 224 unionizing and, 162–163 Etsy (ecommerce website), 191 Even (income management app), 232 Facebook, 23, 29, 58, 167, 206, 217 employee benefits versus contract workers, 89 Instagram purchased by, minimum wage, 89, 233 Uber Drivers Network NYC page, 156 Uber Freedom page, 70, 109, 151–152, 156, 239 Fairmondo (digital cooperative), 238 family leave, 233 Farr, Christina, 128 Fast Company (magazine), 12, 176, 213 Fidler, Devin, 244 Fissured Workplace, The (Weil), 88–89 Fiverr (freelance marketplace), 118 flexibility employees and, 97 gender and, 258n8 gig economy and, 19–20, 36, 58–61, 79–80, 85, 91, 99, 105, 116–117, 120, 159, 188, 228–229, 248 Mechanical Turk and, 174, 176 millennial generation and, 19–20 traditional schedules versus, 91–92 Uber and, 19, 58, 105, 152, 159 Fortune (magazine), 24, 97 Fortune 500, ix, 166 Foster, Gary (Samaschool student), 77–81, 120–122, 241–242 Fowler, Susan (Uber employee), 165 freelance work earnings, 87, 226 health insurance and, 28–29 history of online freelancing, 62 iCEO and, 63 internet freelance marketplaces, xi statistics, temporary employees versus, 227–228 traditional model, 94–95 unionization of, 28, 191, 271–272n26 See also Gigster; Upwork Freelancers Union, 28, 177, 191, 271–272n26 Friedman, Thomas, 61 “future of work,” ix–xiii, 51, 62, 179, 190, 197–198, 245, 247, 250 “Future of Work” initiative (Aspen Institute), 150 Getty Images, 41 Gibbon, Kevin, 144 gig economy, xii–xiii automation and, 243–245 bonus structure, 13, 69, 74, 100 capital investment and, xiii, 6, 111, 143, 222–223 continued relevance of, 225–227 cooperatives, 209–213, 238 decline of, 223–225 earnings, 86–87 employee model and, 135–144 flexibility and, 19–20, 36, 58–61, 79–80, 85, 91, 99, 105, 116–117, 120, 159, 188, 228–229, 248 freedom and, 13, 19–20, 68, 85, 99, 105, 151–152 future of, 22–235, 20247–250 healthcare and, 25, 28–29, 182, 186, 192, 196, 205, 230–232, 253–254n4, 256–257n1 history of, 11, 20–21 independence and, 11, 19–20, 36, 85, 105, 152, 188 independent contractors and, 89 insecurity and, xiii, 120, 183–186, 192, 220 instability and, 87, 186 jury duty and, 67–68 lawsuits and, xiii, 95–97, 109–111, 143, 153, 157, 164, 196, 224, 227, 229, 233–234 Medicare, 196, 253–254n4 politics and, 179–198 portable benefits and, 191–192, 195–198, 231, 274n18 ratings systems, 66–67, 69–70, 98, 100, 141, 169 retirement security and, 25, 87, 181, 183, 186–187, 192, 196–198, 206, 232–238, 242, 249, 271– 272n26, 272n4 as safety net, 58, 193, 238, 243 socioeconomics and, 41, 43, 86, 219–221 startup valuations, 64 as stop-gap technology, 243 unionization and, 152–165, 178, 204–205 unit economics, 97 worker classification, 7, 59, 89, 95–98, 110–111, 163–164, 188–189, 193–198, 222, 224, 227, 233–234 worker demographics, 19–21, 86 worker retention, 138 worker training and motivation, 93–95, 126–131 Gigster (software development website), 22–26, 66–68, 225–226, 234, 236, 243–244, 256n16 interview and screening process, 23–25, 63 Karma score, 66–67 remote talent workers, 22–23, 31 worker earnings, 26 See also Larson, Curtis Global Entrepreneurship Summit, 58 Global Information Network (GIN), 14–16, 70, 108–109, 158, 185, 219, 240 Goldman Sachs, 232 Gompers, Samuel, 248–249 Gonzalez, Maria, 89 Good Jobs Strategy, 135–144, 208, 233 Good Jobs Strategy (Ton), 135 Google, 23–24, 41, 112, 213, 243 Google Images, 172 Google Scholar, 171 Google Ventures, 5, Great Recession, xi–xii, 28–30, 131 Great Risk Shift, The (Hacker), 181 Green, Shakira (Samaschool student), 119 Griswold, Alison, 138 GroupMe (messaging app), Grubhub (food delivery service), 59 Guardian, The (newspaper), 89, 108, 166, 176 Gumora, Michael, 161 Hacker, Jacob, 181 Hacker News (tech forum), 21–22 Hanauer, Nick, 183–184, 196 Handy (cleaning service), 58–59, 65, 180, 222–223, 236 customer complaints, 129–130 lawsuits, 196, 229 ratings scale, 67 worker rates and benefits, 191–193, 195–197, 229–231 worker retention, 138 worker training, 230 Hanley, Dervala, 135 Hanrahan, Oisin, 58, 222–223, 228–231, 234–235 Harris, Seth, 192–194, 197 Hayek, Friedrich, 217 healthcare, 29, 186, 192, 205, 231–232, 253–254n4 Affordable Care Act, 25, 182, 196, 230–231, 256–257n1 in Canada, 28–29 COBRA, 25 independent contractors and, 89 Medicare, 196, 253–254n4 Hermes UK (delivery service), 59 Highlight (social networking app), Holmberg, Susan, 210–211 Homejoy (home-cleaning service), 85–86, 98, 111, 128, 143 household income, 183 H.U.G (Helping You Grow), 218 Hughes, Chris, 217 Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs), 71 Husein, Mamdooh (“Abe”), 13–18, 68–70, 81, 105–106, 108–110, 151–161, 163, 185, 219, 239– 240 iCEO (automated management system), 63–64 IKEA, 226 Inc (magazine), 223, 230 independent business operators (IBOs), 78–79 independent contractors alternatives to current classification of, 192–198 Arise and, 78–79 category of, 95–96 definition of, 95–96 earnings, 87, 121–122, 233 employees versus, 7, 9, 22–23, 25, 87–89, 90, 95–97, 101, 109–110, 188–189 Gigster and, 22, 25–26, 68 misclassification of, 89, 95–97, 110–111, 164, 188, 193, 196, 224, 227, 233–234 switch to employee model from, 134–145 Uber and, 7–9, 53, 95, 103, 109–110, 162–163 unions and, 162–164 worker benefits and, 88–89 worker classification and, 7, 59, 89, 95–98, 110–111, 163–164, 188–189, 193–198, 222, 224, 227, 233–234 See also subcontractors Independent Drivers Guild, 163 independent worker, proposed category of, 192–195 Industrial Revolution, 248 inequality, 61, 119, 211, 220–221 Instacart (grocery delivery service), 64, 110–111, 143–144, 191 Instagram, 4, 6, Institute for the Future, 63, 244 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 163 International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 163 International Labour Office (United Nations), 31, 33–34, 60, 70 Irani, Lilly, 168, 170 iStockphoto, 212 Janah, Leila, 41 janitorial industry, 51–52, 87–89, 96, 127, 139, 205 JCPenney, 90 jobs, traditional definition of, 59 Juno (ride-hailing service), 207 jury duty, 67–68 Kalanick, Travis, 10–11, 44, 58, 157–158, 165, 187, 238, 243 Kasriel, Stephane, 58, 226 Kath, Ryan, 108 Kelly Services (“Kelly Girls”), 8, 33 Kinder, Shane, 62–63 King, Martin Luther, Jr., 217 Knight, Brandon, 12 Knox, Anthony, 140–142 Konsus (project outsourcing service), 63 Koopman, John, 193 Krueger, Alan, 192–194, 197 labor and trade unions, 162–165, 190, 271–272n26 AFL, 248–249 AFL-CIO, 194 collective action, 152–162, 168–169, 190–191 Freelancers Union, 28, 177, 191, 271–272n26 International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 163 International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 163 Screen Actors Guild, 197 Unionen (Swedish white-collar trade union), 177 United Construction Trades and Industrial Employees Union, 204–208 Lane, Ty, 202–203 Larson, Curtis, 21–26, 66–68, 81, 87, 225, 234, 236–238, 243–244 Leadum, Mario, 160–162 LG Electronics, 90 limited liability companies, 96 Loconomics (service-provider cooperative), 211–212 Logan, Kristen, 184–185 Lyft (ride-hailing service), 61, 156, 180, 186–188, 191, 223 lawsuits, 97, 224 price war with Uber, 149 retirement savings and, 232 stop-gap technology and, 243 tips and, 153 Managed by Q (property maintenance service), 174, 190, 201–208 career development and, 140–142 employee model and, 134–145 funding, 128, 134–139, 229 “future of work” and, 245–247 Good Jobs Strategy and, 135–144, 208, 233–234 knolling, 126 labor and, 204–208 marketplace, 229–230 mentors, 141 New York City office, 201 operator assemblies, 129–130, 204 operators (frontline workers), 128–130, 135, 137, 139–142, 202–204, 206–207, 229–230 origin and theory of, 49–53 positive touchpoints, 126 subcontractors and, 52–53, 126–130, 204 TechCrunch Disrupt 2017 and, 222–223 worker benefits, 201–208 worker earnings, 139–140 worker equity packages, 202–203, 205–208, 246 See also Knox, Anthony; Rahmanian, Saman; Schwartz, Emma; Teran, Dan Manjoo, Farhad, 62 Mas, Alexandre, 91–92 McDonald’s, 30, 64, 107, 142, 165 Mechanical Turk (Amazon’s crowdsourcing marketplace), 30–36 crowd workers, 30–31, 70–71, 166–168, 209, 212–213, 234 Dynamo (crowdworker action website), 169–178, 209, 271n26 “good work” tasks, 73–76 Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs), 71 purpose of, 33 Turker Nation (online forum), 35, 73, 167 Turkopticon, 172 worker income, 70–73 See also Milland, Kristy Medicare, 196, 253–254n4 Mehta, Apoorva, 144 Milland, Kristy, 27–36, 70–75, 112–114, 117–118, 166–178, 209, 212–213, 238 millennial generation, xi, 19–20, 24 minimum wage, 78–79, 86, 249 Arkansas, 80, 122 Facebook and, 89, 233 Managed by Q and, 130, 139 Mechanical Turk and, 175, 176 New York State, 139 tipped work and, 157 Uber and, 106–107, 195, 225 United Kingdom, Upwork and, 116 Mishel, Lawrence, 189 Munchery (restaurant delivery service), 144 Murray, Charles, 217 National Bureau of Economic Research, 91 National Domestic Workers Alliance, 191, 271–272n26 National Employment Law Project (NELP), 90, 242 National Labor Relations Board, 109, 157, 208 Nestlé, 28–29, 70 New America Foundation, 188 New Deal, 249 New York Taxi Workers Alliance, 164 New York Times, 19, 46, 61, 62, 64, 86, 103, 138, 161, 192, 212 New York Times Magazine, 206 Nixon, Richard, 217 Obama, Barack, 25, 96, 132–133, 135, 182, 189–192 oDesk (freelance marketplace), 64, 76 See also Upwork O’Grady, Frances, 195 Pallais, Amanda, 91 pedicabs, 3–5 Peers.org (sharing economy support) 232–233 pensions, 181, 190, 272–273n5 See also retirement security Perez, Thomas, 191, 202–203 Pollack, Ethan, 150–151 Postmates (courier delivery service), 10, 64, 86, 111, 180, 186 poverty, xii, 37–38, 41, 115–116, 214, 216–217, 235 Prehype (startup accelerator), 45–47, 50 Quartz (business news website), 210–211 QuickTrip, 135 racism, 38, 118–119, 157 Reich, Robert, 217 remote talent workers, 22–23, 31 retirement security, 25, 186–187, 192, 238, 271–272n26 401(k), 181, 196, 206, 242, 272n4 contingent workers and, 87 decline in, 181, 183 economics and, 247n18 Honest Dollar (independent worker retirement savings), 232 Managed by Q and, 139 Peers.org (sharing-economy support), 232–233 pensions, 181, 190, 272–273n5 portable benefit programs, 197–198 Social Security, 191, 196, 249, 253–254n4 traditional employees and, ride-hailing services, 151 A-Ryde, 239 income of drivers, 86 Juno, 207 platform cooperativism and, 209 tips and, 153–154, 164–165, 268n6 See also Lyft; Uber Rolf, David, 183–184, 196–197 Salehi, Niloufar, 170 Samaschool, 41–43, 76–80, 115–125, 184, 213–221 See also Davenport, Terrence; Foster, Gary; Green, Shakira; Logan, Kristen Samasource, 40–41, 115–116, 122, 124, 213, 215 Schneider, Nathan, 213 Scholz, Trebor, 208–210, 213 Schwartz, Emma (Managed by Q employee), 50–53, 126–130 Schwarzenegger, Arnold, 158 Screen Actors Guild, 197 self-driving cars, 243 Shea, Katie, 97–98 Shieber, Jon, 223 Shyp (shipping service), 134, 144 sick days, 7, 138–139, 192, 231, 233 Silberman, Six, 168 Snapchat, So Lo Mo (social, local, mobile), 46 Social Security, 191, 196, 249, 253–254n4 SpaceX, 236–237 Sprig (restaurant delivery service), 144 Starbucks, 64, 111, 135, 202, 271–272n26 Stern, Andy, 217 Stocksy (stock photo cooperative), 212 subcontractors Arise and, 78–79 earnings, 87 Managed by Q and, 52–53, 126, 130, 204 Silicon Valley and, Sundararajan, Arun, 117 Sweet, Julie, 225 SXSW (South by Southwest), 3–5, 10 Taft-Hartley Act, 197 Take Wonolo (staffing agency), 227 Target, 227, 90 TaskRabbit (odd job marketplace), 11, 61, 117–118, 188, 226 taxi industry, 6, 255n2 EU regulation and, 225 New York Taxi Workers Alliance, 164 tips and, 153 Uber and, 62, 164 US statistics, 9, 243 See also Lyft; ride-hailing services; Uber TechCrunch (blog), 10–11, 33, 45–46, 65 TechCrunch Disrupt, 222–223, 228, 234 temp workers and agencies, xii, 27–28 early history of, 33–34 earnings, 28, 87 freelancers versus, 227–228 injury rate, 89–90 Kelly Services (“Kelly Girls”), 8, 33 Manpower, 34 permanent employees versus, 88–89 Silicon Valley and, “temp worker” as a category, 89, 111 US statistics, work satisfaction, 228 Teran, Dan, 44–52, 126–135, 137, 139, 143–145, 174, 190, 202–208, 222–223, 228–229, 234, 245– 247 Tischen (labor marketplace), 131–132 Ton, Zeynep, 135–138 Trader Joe’s, 135, 138 trucking industry, 9, 90, 96, 241–245 Trudeau, Kevin, 14–16, 108–109, 158, 240 Trump, Donald, 189, 217–218, 230, 240 Try Caviar (food delivery service), 111 Turker Nation (online forum), 35, 73, 167 Turkopticon, 172 Twitch (live streaming video platform), 21 Twitter, 3, 22, 29, 112 Uber (ride-hailing service) 180 days of change, 165–166 affiliate marketing program, 13, 69–70 driver-led activism and protests, 151–162 Drivers’ Guild and, 163–164 FTC charges of exaggerated earnings, 107 funding, 4–6, 9–10, 134–135, 149, 209 growth of, 12 guaranteed fares, 104–105, 162 history of, 3–11 independent contractor model, 7–9 lawsuits and legal issues, 109–111, 157, 195, 224–225 “No shifts No boss No limits” pitch, 12–18 Pandora partnership, 164 politics and, 185–195 price war with Lyft, 149 rating system, 67 self-driving cars and, 243 surge pricing model, 103–105, 239 SXSW and, 3–5 taxi industry and, 62, 164 tips and, 164–165, 268n6 Uber Freedom (Facebook page), 70, 109, 151–152, 156, 239 #Uberspotting, 3–5 UberX, 105–106 unions and, 162–165 valuation, 64 worker benefits, 231–232 worker earnings, 16, 103–108, 149–151 worker equity packages, 68 worker expenses, 105–106 Xchange Leasing, 16–18, 255n5 See also Campbell, Harry; Husein, Mamdooh; Kalanick, Travis; Leadum, Mario “Uber for X” model, 10–11, 41, 44–53, 62, 95, 99, 129–130, 135, 143, 149, 237 “Uberization” of work, 62 UN International Labour Office, 31, 33–34, 60, 70 unemployment, x–xii, 60–61, 132, 219 unemployment benefits, 7, 85, 181–182, 224, 249, 273n7 unicorns (high-valuation startups), 64 Unionen (Swedish white-collar trade union), 177 unions See labor and trade unions United Construction Trades and Industrial Employees Union, 204–208 Universal Basic Income (UBI), 217 UPS, 135 Upwork (freelance marketplace), 28, 44, 58, 62–63, 67, 76, 78, 94–95, 115–119, 122–123, 226 US Department of Labor, 96, 192, 198 USA Today, 90 venture capital, 271–272n26 gig economy and, xiii, 6, 111, 143, 222–223 Google Ventures, 5, 9–11 Managed by Q and, 222–223 TechCrunch Disrupt and, 222–223 Uber and, 4–6, 9–10, 149, 209 venture capitalists, 179, 183, 195 VentureBeat (blog), 61 Walker, Anthony, 85 Walmart, 107, 232 Warner, Mark, 179–180, 185–187, 191, 197 Warren, Elizabeth, 188 Washington Post, 19, 85, 106, 187, 192 Washio (on-demand laundry startup), 143 WeFuel (on-demand fuel startup), 57 Weil, David, 88–89, 96, 189, 245 Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, 42 Wired (magazine), 58–59, 161, 176, 230 Woodhead, Carole, 59 workers advocacy groups, 190–191, 271–272n26 workers’ compensation, 85, 114, 193, 231 Xchange Leasing, 16–18, 255n5 Y Combinator (tech incubator), 217 Yelp (user review website), 129–130, 229 Zaarly (online marketplace), xii Zirtual (virtual assistant services), 97 Zuckerberg, Mark, 44 This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly Epub ISBN: 9781473537507 Version 1.0 Published by Random House Business Books 2018 10 Copyright © Sarah Kessler 2018 Cover image: Shutterstock Sarah Kessler has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this Work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published by Random House Business Books in 2018 First published in the United States by St Martin’s Press in 2018 Random House Business Books The Penguin Random House Group Limited 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA www.penguin.co.uk Random House Business Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 9781847941732 ... unprepared for the future of work But at the height of “Uber for X,” few people in the startup world batted an eye As the then-CEO of the odd job marketplace TaskRabbit put it, the gig economy was... standard elsewhere in the gig economy For some, these bonuses were another appealing aspect of the job Workers could use them to simultaneously supplement their income from fares and position themselves... needed to get by, and fit those gigs in between our band rehearsals, gardening, and other passion projects It would be more than the end of unemployment It would be the end of drudgery The idea was