#TIL: The many names of “GIG”
by Sreelakshmi R.
This author originally set out with a simple enough task: trace the origin of the gig economy. Today I learnt that the economy around short-term, task-jobs, has always existed and that it has garnered visibility simply because of the presence of digital aggregators. Therefore, let us take a look at the various terms thrown around commonly in conversations attributable to the “gig economy”, as the norm seems to be that anything goes.
Considering the origins of such work lay in the internet boom of the 90s and the subsequent outsourcing strategies adopted by IT companies, it is useful to look at the two predominant types of gig-work, as defined by the ILO. The first is crowd work which connects people, places, clients and companies across the world through a platform hosted online. The participants here are geographically disparate and dispersed. The second kind is work on-demand via apps, which is also platform-facilitated, and connects customers with providers instantaneously. The work here is place-bound and local.
More academically put crowd work is understood as untethered while app-based work is identified as tethered, due to its linked nature.
Another common alias is the platform economy or platform-work. This signifies all those jobs that are routed through an intermediary. It also uses the principles of a “sharing economy”, by which pretty much anything- cars, homes, electric bikes, even power banks, can be shared. The biggest yet subset of the “gig economy”, the platform economy is according to a Deloitte report, a digital match-making forum for those seeking work online and platforms which list outsourced jobs.
The Gig Economy is now a ubiquitous sobriquet to denote the entire spectrum of these jobs. Mostly, the usage derives from the fact that such work is seen to be intermediate by those who perform it. It is often a short-term utilisation of skills such as consulting or freelancing, or a source of supplementary income. Whatever be the case, there is an ever-growing demand for services, driven by market forces, and a tribe of people ready to provide them.
Today I learnt (TIL) is a weekly series by OMI that brings you interesting nuggets of information that you didn’t know you needed.
