How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong

Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by genidoi on Tuesday January 08, 2019 @11:29PM (#18862274)

The estimates here were wrong because there was nothing to estimate at all - gig economy is a marketing buzzword for an unusually isolated yet reasonably substantial unemployment bracket. The upper bound of the bracket being the sub-minimum wage compensation that Uber pays their drivers[0] and the lower bound being the amortized cost of the cheapest vehicle that Uber lets drivers utilise for their 'gig'.

That's a really small demographic who would fit both criteria. Recently unemployed people and students come to mind.

Importantly - Uber knows this fact very well and are doing everything they can to survive until fully autonomous self driving cars reach mass production.

[0] https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-uber-driver-w...

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by toufiqbarhamov on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @12:26AM (#18862500)

Uber betting everything on self driving cars may be their only hope, but it should be clear by now that their runway is shorter than the time required to bring lvl5 to market. We’re not even into the real edge cases yet, and automation is still really hard to get right. Maybe the tools being applied are simply not up to the task, or if they are, decades away from the maturity required.

All of which is to say that Uber is in trouble, and having been such a notoriously bad actor, will be kicked down the hill at every step.

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by polskibus on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @02:21AM (#18862936)

There are others burning investor cash the same way: Lyft, Taxify, etc. I wonder when will the investors' mentality change?

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by TeMPOraL on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @04:19AM (#18863439)

Uber's competitors aren't trying to get into self-driving car business.

If you're talking about investing in antisocial companies, then I guess investors' mentality might change if we somehow puncture the abstraction layer that separates the investors from the people their investees affect. For instance, if the investee breaks the law and gets fined, if there was a chance for that to flow back to the investors and take some extra money out of their pockets, I expect they'd put extra pressure on investees to behave.

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by sschueller on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @12:44AM (#18862587)

They already killed one person. How many before execs at Uber are held accountable for all their crimes?

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by kakarot on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @05:48AM (#18863791)

The entire point of a corporation is arbitrating responsibility away from a company if one employee isn't doing the job they were paid for.

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by liquidmetal on Wednesday January 09, 2019 @02:24AM (#18862948)

Chicago Tribune doesn't show the website in India?

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Re:How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong by brandnewlow on Thursday January 10, 2019 @02:51AM (#18872247)

Assuming that's true its unsurprising. Their advertisers don't care about reaching people in India.

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