The Gig Economy Isn’t Really Growing
This looks great on Instagram but is probably not as common as you think
To me, it can be harder than ever today to separate perception and reality. There’s just too much information out there, so it’s often a forest/trees issue.
So yesterday I saw this from Bloomberg – despite what you think or what you’ve been told, the Gig Economy is shrinking.
Yep. All we hear these days is how “everyone’s working online” or “more and more people are ditching their job and driving for Uber and delivering for Amazon”
Well, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it’s actually less of a percentage of the labor force than 13 years ago.
Perception Vs Reality
Because everyone is carrying around a reporting device with picture and video capture and the ability to transmit said pictures and video to the world in under a second, we see and hear every single thing happening out there. Or so it seems.
So the sheer social media flood of digital nomads wandering the world while still making money, or living the vanlife while freelance writing, is deceiving. It’s a biased and curated view of what’s really happening in the labor force.
According to the report, it turns out the “gig economy” workers are actually more increasingly the older folks.
From the article:
“…the data showed that Americans age 55 and older constituted bigger shares of independent contractors in 2017 than in 2005. That suggests that the aging Baby Boomers are accepting such positions, whether it be to supplement incomes or because they may be easier to take than traditional jobs.”
I would not have thought that at all. The stereotypical image of the vanlife nomad is not a 60 year old guy or gal. And I’ve taken a few Ubers before and found that most of my drivers skewed toward the younger side of things, maybe in their 30’s or 40’s.
But again, perception is very often not reality. Uber is just one very small piece of the gig economy culture. However, it’s one that gets highlighted in the media very often as the poster-child of a new labor force.
This report shows that things are far more complex, and still more traditional than we might think.
The ones who are posting their vanlife on Instagram are doing it because they’ve taken the non-traditional path. They’re the outliers. So it’s a biased selection.
How many Instagram posts do you see of the millennial corporate accountant in a tiny cubicle, with a caption saying “Living the dream!!!”.
Yeah, that’s not a thing.
Make no mistake though, they’re out there, getting those numbers in.
But according to this report that’s still far more likely to be someone’s job situation (at least for white-collar workers). Not the bearded millennial in a coffee shop stalking Fiverr or Upwork for a quick payday.
60 Is The New Millennial
So the gig economy in reality is disproportionately made up of older folks. Something about this makes me happy. I like to see people adapt, and I like to see assumptions disproven.
Ageism is real, and it worries me a bit if I ever fully retire in the future. Could I go back to work if needed? Will I be discriminated against?
Well it seems increasing numbers of older folks are taking matters into their own hands and becoming independent contractors, freelancers, and part of the gig economy. I love adaptation.
And with my side hustles and this blog, I may already be well down that road myself. Perhaps it’s just so early in my journey I haven’t realized it yet.
What say you financial warriors – did this article surprise you? Do you see yourself going to the gig economy when you’re older, or would it have been a better fit for you as a younger person?
If you’re already retired do you fear you’d be discriminated against if you tried to go back to the workforce?
Ageism is real. Sad, but true. Part of it some fr the reluctance in taking experienced people for less responsible jobs. How can someone be overqualified if they are ready to take the job?
Good question. I hope it’s an issue I’ll never have to face, meaning I’ll never have to go looking for a job when I’m older 🙂
Yikes! That’s tough, i never would have expected that, just like you said. But with an increasing number of people not prepared for retirement as the approach 60, and not able to re-enter the workforce due to discrimination, the statistics actually make sense. Despite social security, these gigs represent guaranteed sources of income.
Great post!
Good point, it probably has lots to do with being underprepared for retirement. Thanks for the kudos!
This both surprises and gratifies me. One of the great things, as you get older, is you learn what works and develop expertise. I think older adults are leveraging their experience into these more palatable gig economy jobs because they are mature enough to use their skills in an optimized way. There is hope for those of us moving up in age.
Great point Doc. With wisdom come the knowledge of how to capitalize on trends and changes. We have hope indeed!
That IS surprising! Could be a holdover from the great recession, where millennials were left little choice but to get scrappy. Things have certainly turned around in the last five years or so.
That’s a good point. I think our perceptions are a result of being in a bubble of social media feeds etc. Not everyone is Instagramming and we’re only seeing the ones highlighted that are doing the out of the ordinary stuff.
In the Bloomberg report: “The labor-force participation rate among people 65 and older stood at 19.8 percent last month, compared with 15.2 percent in May 2005.” Does it actually mean that it’s getting harder for people to retire? As more people get to that age without pensions, and have little in 401K/IRA savings, maybe they find they need more than the Social Security they are getting.
As we use our trailer more in RV Parks, we’ve found a lot of people are trading part-time work at the desk for free monthly stays. We’ve met a lot of older people getting creative out there. Some people are doing the camp hosting for fun, but others because they need help with the cost of living.
I think they might be undersaved for retirement, so they realize they need to keep some money coming in. I could be wrong though. I will not be making that mistake for sure!
I entered the gig economy when I turned 60. For fun rather than for the money though the pay is far better than I expected. It is a good experience so far for the first 3 years! I try to limit the work to a couple of days a week.
When you can do it for fun that’s awesome – kudos man!
It’s not too surprising. Many older people haven’t saved enough for retirement so they’re working a bit on the side. I think that’s a good thing. Younger folks are better equip to deal with working a full time job. It seems most corporations prefer young workers anyway.
The outliers are a lot more visible these days. I think that’s okay too, but we might be touting an unrealistic dream.
Yes, others commented the same. Unpreparedness for retirement is probably creating much of this older gig economy class.
And sadly companies do want younger workers. Perhaps it’s because they’re better looking… sigh… 🙂
The interesting thing is that this study only counts people who are working in the gig economy as their primary job. Not those who have side hustles – even if they earn a substantial secondary income doing so. I think the data isn’t that surprising from that bent, but I would love to see the trend line of people who are making use of the gig economy.
Very good point mamafish. It doesn’t explicitly say that it’s only counting those who freelance as their primary job, but the wording makes it sound that way. I would also love to see data of gig-workers who have it as a second job or hustle. I love data 🙂
Very interesting how perception and reality are usually on completely different planes. Before reading this I was under the presumption that the younger generations were the ones utilizing the gig economy. It actually is nice to see that the elderly can adapt enough to take advantage of this. They deserve a lot more credit than we give them.
Old folks for the win!
I have a friend who can’t get a job due to ageism – although it’s more close-to-retirement-ageism. Even though his field is software development / programming, people want the perception that you’ll be with them long-term.
That’s too bad. Companies want folks to stay longer, and they also do value younger people in general.
That is surprising! As a young person thriving in the gig economy, granted in the UK rather than the states, it seems mad that with the abundance of “alternative work” it’s shrinking. But I wonder if it’s playing with statistics? For instance in the UK I know a few freelancers who are set up as limited companies, so in a survey would they come up as gig workers or employees of there own companies?
Great point. Not sure the data is capturing that or it that’s playing tricks. Data can always be tricky to understand. Since Bloomberg reported it I trust their analysis a bit more than other outfits, but ya never know.
“perception is very often not reality” – so true in so many ways. I’ve read quite a bit about the older “nomads,” so this doesn’t really surprise me. The unfortunate thing as that it seems like a lot of these older workers are doing it by necessity, not by choice.
Yep, Joe said the same thing. When I wrote the post that angle never came to mind honestly but it’s a great point!
Yeah it’s difficult to trust the facts now. I keep on continuing with my own thoughts and trying whether it’s true or not. Hahaha and one more thing, I didn’t expect to see another blog with the same theme… :]
Thanks for stopping by!
I was surprised to hear this considering that the physician gig economy has never been stronger. Technology has opened up all sorts of work-from-home opportunities for physicians looking for side hustles.
If other people want to leave money on the table, I will gladly clean up after them.
Capitalize! I do see Docs doing lots of side work. And the new pass-through tax breaks are probably going to encourage it even more from a tax situation.