Gig Economy = Gig Security = Gig Consumption?

In 2009, 6.4 per cent more new businesses were founded than in 2008 – in Munich. “(M)ore peope are ready to take their professional future into their own hands in times of crisis,“ Peter Driessen of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce commented. The phenomenon is not restricted to Munich, of course. The growth in self-employed workers and freelancers is seen as a taste of the future of work, something to celebrate or at least to get used to. I agree to that: More self-dependence fits to the Knowledge Economy and the desire for self-realization. Of course I agree, I am a freelancer myself!

Yet, not everyone is choosing to be an entrepreneur in order to make their life’s dream come true. In times of crisis, trying freelancing is simply better than having no job at all.

But, whatever the reason to join the Gig Economy, the sorry truth is that the everyday infrastructures are not prepared for the “future of work” just yet. Your landlord would prefer you to have a fixed employment (even if that doesn’t guarantee secure income either), your bank will see you as a risky investment when you need a credit and also other long-term-projects like raising a child may seem too venturous to consider.

So, if we accept that working from project to project is the rule for a majority of people in the future, how can life circumstances be made more acceptable and less stressful for job nomads?

There are probably two main visions for a new safety net. One is connected to basic income  that proponents expect from the state. Guaranteed basic income is heavily discussed in Germany and all political parties propose their own versions - which are more or less related to the original idea. Anyway, the reality of a citizen income is no longer unthinkable. 

The other vision is that of self-help within communities. For instance, coworking spaces can be seen as a community solution to handling office rent and ideally to finding new projects and inspiration. Other forms of community self-help can be co-housing, peer to peer lending, alternative currencies, car sharing…you get the idea. Community based solutions don’t need to wait for political decisions. But they still feel like patchwork. (And of course, community self-help would nicely fit to basic income. Indeed, basic income can be seen as one form of community self-help, too.)

But apart from communities or the state also companies play a role. After all, they not only like to work with flexible workers, they also want to sell their products and services. Only in this case, selling may not be the right word as lending and renting, pay-per-use and other flexible models will often replace regular transactions. The side effect would be that less products need to be produced - and again, less people need to work in production. More of them could join the Gig Economy. Hooray!

Is this a healthy development or a vicious circle?

I think the answer largely depends on how fast the infrastructure can adapt to new job and income realities. And at some level, the infrastructure is us :-)

Related articles:
Ressession adds to appeal of part-time jobs – nytimes.com 19.4.2010
Studie- Existenzgründung aus der Not heraus – FTD.de 10.4.2010