Gig economy: empowerment or exploitation? - a podcast by Institute of Economic Affairs

The IEA's Mark Littlewood, having watched Ken Loach's latest film, would recommend it "if you want to see the gloomiest, bleakest, worst possible run of luck that a family in Newcastle could have, working in flexible gig jobs, this film shows it."
But Mark says he was left scratching his head thinking about the counterfactual: would these people have been better off in the pre-gig economy world? Mark concludes that he doesn't really think they would have been, but for their horrific run of bad luck. Mark asks whether Loach’s film might have been a little stronger if the characters involved hadn’t had all of the very worst things imaginable thrown at them.So the IEA's Digital Manager, Darren Grimes, spoke to him about the film, the legitimate concerns raised in it, and questions Mark on if the gig economy offers genuine empowerment or very real exploitation.

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