'Gig' jobs have not altered long-term employment trends

Washington

THE "gig economy", RIP. Well, maybe. As you will recall, the gig economy refers to a radical transformation of the nature of work and labour markets. Digital platforms better match workers with jobs (aka, gigs). Uber was, and is, the prototype of this upheaval.

Its existence seemed confirmed. One survey by well-regarded labour economists Lawrence Katz of Harvard and Alan Krueger of Princeton estimated that the share of US workers in various "alternative work arrangements" rose from 10.7 per cent of total employment in 2005 to 15.8 per cent in 2015. That is a big deal.