skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Monday, March 18, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Gig Economy's Impacts Overestimated, Study Says

play audio
Play

Monday, May 21, 2018   

DENVER – The nation is making progress toward full employment, according to recent data, but don't rush to attribute that to the so-called gig economy.

A new report from the Economic Policy Institute shows the impact of tech companies such as Uber is overrated.

Lawrence Mishel, a distinguished fellow with the institute, says widely publicized hourly earnings for Uber drivers frequently leave out expenses the independent contractors have to cover, including more than 30 percent in fees the company takes off the top, health insurance premiums, and significant wear and tear on their vehicles.

"And they have to pay extra taxes for Social Security and Medicare that regular workers don't,” Mishel points out. “And it turns out they get paid around $9.21 an hour. And that's in spite of the fact that half the Uber drivers actually have a college degree."

Uber drivers generate nearly $25 an hour in passenger fares, but Mishel says the company takes more than $8 of that upfront in fees.

The standard mileage expense for gas and maintenance dings drivers for another $5 an hour, and after taxes and a bare bones benefits package, drivers walk away with just over $9 an hour.

Mishel notes that's significantly lower than the $32 an hour on average that private sector workers get, and it's also well below the $15 an hour earned by service occupation workers.

An Uber representative says the report ignores the flexibility drivers say they value and cannot find in traditional jobs.

The report also suggests that the gig economy may not be the future of employment, a boast Mishel says platform-based companies frequently make.

He says Uber, with more than 800,000 drivers in a given year, accounts for as much as two-thirds of the total gig economy. But drivers only work three months out of the year and 17 hours per week, on average.

Mishel says for most drivers, it's about earning supplementary income.

"So you can't have a future of work of things that supplement your main job,” he states. “The future of work has to be people having their main jobs."

Mishel acknowledges that Uber has had a big impact on the transportation sector, but he says it would be unwise to count on tech platforms to reverse the biggest challenges facing a majority of the nation's workers: wage stagnation over 40 years, and pay disparities for women and people of color.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

The Amesbury School Committee will hear from educators and parents tonight as they rally to prevent more than $2 million in proposed cuts to their sch…

Out-of-state money is pouring into Texas as the contentious issue of "school choice" looms large ahead of November's election. (Dzmitry/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

Social Issues

play sound

Women are treated much differently than men by the criminal justice system, according to a new report detailing how and why mass incarceration is …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021