So-called ‘ridesharing’
Drivers
Fig. 1. Yeah, this is me. The sign says, “If you’re whining about a labor shortage, STOP ignoring my job applications!” And the QR-code leads here. Photograph by author, January 16, 2023.
It seems that “gig work” has become a dirty word—I’ve been calling it a neoliberal wet dream because, by neoliberal standards, it’s hard to beat the power relationship between so-called ‘ridesharing’ companies and drivers—thanks to how Uber and Lyft treat their drivers:[1]
[David Simon] said people on the [screenwriters’ strike] picket lines had been discussing how the type of gig work associated with Uber had arrived at their industry. “The formula is always the same — labor is only a cost, and to the extent that they can cut costs, they will.”[2]
The reporting treats what should be a non-question of whether driver income has fallen as a question[3] (figure 2).
Fig. 2. Chart of average daily net earnings by month since January 2022 by author, as of May 26, 2023.
Kellen Browning, “Minnesota Governor Vetoes Gig Worker Pay Bill,” New York Times, May 25, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/technology/minnesota-veto-gig-workers.html
Kellen Browning, “Has ‘Gig Work’ Become a Dirty Word?” New York Times, May 27, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/business/gig-work-uber-lyft-writers-strike.html
- [1]Kellen Browning, “Has ‘Gig Work’ Become a Dirty Word?” New York Times, May 27, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/business/gig-work-uber-lyft-writers-strike.html↩
- [2]Kellen Browning, “Has ‘Gig Work’ Become a Dirty Word?” New York Times, May 27, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/business/gig-work-uber-lyft-writers-strike.html↩
- [3]Kellen Browning, “Minnesota Governor Vetoes Gig Worker Pay Bill,” New York Times, May 25, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/technology/minnesota-veto-gig-workers.html; Kellen Browning, “Has ‘Gig Work’ Become a Dirty Word?” New York Times, May 27, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/27/business/gig-work-uber-lyft-writers-strike.html↩