They don't have to be stupid to be exploitable. They just have to be in a desparate situation.
In England people who claim unemployment benefit (Universal Credit (UC)) will lose that benefit if they refuse to take gig economy jobs. They're forced into these jobs by the state.
And then, because of the way UC works they are forced to work as many hours as possible. The flexible bit doesn't work for them because UC doesn't work well for people doing variable hours part time.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwo...
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/mar/25/universal-cr...
https://www.ftadviser.com/protection/2018/03/29/meeting-the-...
https://www.litrg.org.uk/sites/default/files/Gig%20economy%2...
It's not having to drive lyft or die.
It's about being forced to drive for lyft, and still lose your income, and lose your home.
It's not being able to predict your income from one month to the next, which puts you at risk of losing your home because you can't pay rent and the state keeps paying you weird amounts because of the way that benefit works.
We've seen huge rises in street homeless numbers. In 2007 we had about 500 people in the UK sleeping on the street. Today that's over 4,000 people.
In 2017 over 30,000 single parent families (the kind who should benefit most from the flexibility of zero hours and gig economy) were made homeless.
Oh no!
While I'm not saying these gigs are exactly long term careers it's better for the state and for the person than not working.
This is a route back into employment for people who've spent years out of work. The intent is to provide a ramp from "no work, full benefits", though "some work, some benefits", to "full time paid employment, no benefits". (in fact, with tax credits, many people in full time (over 16 hours per week) work are also getting state benefits).
This ramp is broken by the gig economy because zero-hours contracts make it impossible for the state to know how much top-up benefit to pay month to month. This plunges people into debt and poverty.
The gig economy employers benefit because they don't have to pay a lving wage, they don't need to compete for workers by offering sensible wages.
This is an unintented distortion of the free-market. If you believe in free markets you should wish to see the end of this distortion.
Instead of blaming Uber for having work available for people who want to only do a few hours per week (or who can’t do more for whatever reason), why not blame the government for not updating their rules to better fit the actual reality on the ground?
> Four working single mothers have won a High Court challenge over the government's universal credit scheme.
> They argued a "fundamental problem" with the system meant their monthly payments varied "enormously", leaving them out of pocket and struggling financially
Note that these are working mothers.
US companies really need to understand the English concept of "taking the piss".
No-one expects companies to pay all their tax and obey the law all the time. What they do expect is that companies do not take the piss. Uber is taking the piss, and they're going to be regulated if they don't make changes.
> blame the government for not updating their rules
I'm doing that too.