kayodelycaon 15 days ago

It’s vastly different.

Gig workers are literally disposable robots. You’re part of a computer program. There is no human relationship. At least a McDonald’s worker can talk to their manager.

  • brudgers 15 days ago

    Hence the original gig economy job was called “mechanical turk.”

  • Ekaros 15 days ago

    And maybe even become manager in some relatively small number of years. And then move to some other industry. Not that most of them do, but there is at least some career progression.

_aavaa_ 15 days ago

But there’s a difference between “don’t want” and “structurally locked out”.

paxys 15 days ago

Managers at McDonalds can make $50-70K/yr. There is job security, benefits and opportunities for career advancement. Plenty of people start at the very bottom of the ladder flipping burgers and make it all the way to corporate. It's a tired meme that "McDonalds jobs are meant for teenagers". These are all incredibly in-demand jobs. And plenty of fast food chains pay significantly more, sometimes including benefits like college tuition reimbursement.

brudgers 15 days ago

build a resume

And establish work relationships with other people who can help with future job hunting.

The Uber app doesn’t have an HR department.

  • prawn 15 days ago

    Not to mention casual employees at least get some sort of social aspect from their work life. (A slight variation on the networking you mentioned.) Most of my friends, I have through past work environments like shared offices, etc. That would be near-impossible as a gig worker.