Debates about the gig economy are cropping up everywhere: from Uber’s latest scandal and the convenience of Deliveroo to the global reach of Amazon’s MTurk. Is this the future of work? What are the benefits and challenges of crowd work for consumers, taxpayers, and regulators? And is the gig economy really fundamentally different from existing work arrangements and should it therefore fall outside the scope of employment law and other existing regulation, as many providers claim? The aim of this book is to answer these questions, providing a detailed account of the growth and operation of gig economy platforms. Competing narratives of innovation, entrepreneurship, and exploitation are dissected to explore their impact on regulatory strategy and to develop the blueprint for a solution to the problems facing on-demand workers, platforms, and all of us.
