These trends are volatile during a good year, and 2020 was anything but a good year.
Last year, Iwrote a similar articleabout what to watch in the gig economy in 2020.
And Ill be the first to tell you I got some stuff laughably wrong.
No one could have predicted a pandemic that steamrolled our economy.
Heres what Ill be watching.
An Overall Boom in Gig Work
The gig economy ballooned like never before in 2020.
On its face, that might sound like a great thing, but its more complicated.
Instead of breaking our 9-to-5 chains, gig work has instead become a vital safety net.
Gigs were there for millions of Americans when traditional jobs were not.
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Those gains werent distributed evenly, either.
Similar to the traditional economy, events and entertainment-related sectors shrunk considerably, while delivery and e-commerce shined.
The overall job market, however, will take much longer to recover.
Some economists predict things wont be business as usual until 2024.
In the meanwhile, gig work will remain a makeshift safety net and continue growing in 2021 and beyond.
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2.
(This is really the best side-gig scenario.
We highly recommendcreating a similar exit plan for your side gigbefore taking on more work.)
Then theres the pandemic economy.
Cue the sad trombone.
It has become increasingly common for people to cobble together their entire income off a smattering of different gigs.
Theres no main gig or job.
So none of them are technically side gigs.
Until the traditional job market recovers, more people will be forced into a similar situation.
The program was created through the $2.2 trillion CARES Act back in March 2020.
The December stimulus package extended PUA into March 2021.
All good news so far.
But the December stimulus package also included some stipulations that might affect your benefits if youre a gig worker.
Fail to supply the proper information, and PUA recipients may be asked to pay back the unemployment money.
Additionally, the December stimulus package was much smaller in scope than the CARES Act.
It provides only 11 more weeks of unemployment benefits.
Im not talking about the pandemic.
Why would they spend so much money lobbying in support of this rule?
Prop 22 is essentially a compromise.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi refers to it as a third way.
Why this matters is because the gig worker classification issue isnt contained to California.
Its sprouted up in Illinois and New York already.
Adam Hardy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder.
He covers the gig economy, remote work and other unique ways to make money.
Read his latest articles here, or say hi on Twitter@hardyjournalism.
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