the.com/gig economy
capitalism discovered it could rent your labor by the hour and call you your own boss.
means an economic system where companies hire independent contractors for short-term or on-demand work instead of full-time employees with benefits.
from gig comes from jazz slang for a single paid performance by a musician; the phrase gig economy caught on after the 2008 recession when apps like Uber and TaskRabbit turned that one-night-stand work model into permanent infrastructure.
term coinedpopularized around 2009, post-financial-crisis
tradeoffflexibility traded for benefits and job security
scaletens of millions worldwide now freelance full-time
legal fightcourts still argue over contractor vs employee status