Gig economy

The UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) defines 'gig economy' workers to include individuals who use an online platform to:

• Provide transport using their own vehicle (e.g. Uber)
• Deliver food or goods (e.g. Deliveroo)
• Perform short-term jobs (e.g. TaskRabbit)
• Undertake other similar services.

Policy-makers struggling with gig economy

"Some see it as part of a general shift of work towards less secure and more exploitative employment; others see it as creating a new form of flexible working that gives individuals new choices about how, when and where they work.

"... policy-makers and others are struggling to come to terms with the phenomenon and what it might mean for employment practice, employment regulation and the quality of work.

"The gig economy has not, as yet, fundamentally changed the nature of work in the UK...

"The conventional employment statistics, however, do not provide a complete picture because some forms of atypical work cut across the distinctions between permanent and temporary. For example, many people on zero hours contracts - and many agency workers - have permanent contracts.

"Moreover, employment law recognises a category of ‘worker’ between employee and self-employed which is not reflected in the employment numbers."

To Gig or Not to Gig, March 2017, p2 - Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development.

See also

• Agency
• IR35
• Unicorn
• Zero hours contract