A closer look
Gig economy platforms loudly claim to offer workers unprecedented flexibility and entrepreneurial freedom, but the actual business model heavily relies on legally classifying full-time laborers as independent contractors to completely avoid paying minimum wage, health insurance, and overtime. These massive silicon valley tech firms use slick smartphone apps to successfully rebrand the miserable, unstable reality of Victorian-era day labor as an exciting futuristic side hustle. It is a stunningly cynical corporate evolution where venture capitalists burn through billions of dollars in funding just to create an automated software middleman that systematically exploits desperate drivers and delivery workers while consistently failing to actually turn a legitimate profit
