Proceedings of The International Academic Conference on Management and Economics
Year: 2019
DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.33422/conferenceme.2019.11.654
Did Gig Economy Change Ways of Work? Evidence from American Time Use Survey
Rao Rao
ABSTRACT:
The rise of the “gig economy” has become an important trend in the labour market, and economists have recently started examining its macroeconomic impacts. Based on the aggregate time-series data from American Time Use Survey from 2007 to 2017, this paper explores whether the gig economy has led to more flexible work arrangement and work-time allocation in three dimensions: (1) part-time/full-time; (2) work at home/in the workplace; (3) wage-salary work/self-employed. It makes three hypotheses about the impacts of the rise of the gig economy on people’s working styles and places, with the development of the gig economy, Americans are more willing and have more opportunities to have a part-time job rather than a full-time job, the citizens prefer to work from home compared to at fixed workplaces, and people tend to be more self-employed. This paper suggests that there is a shift toward work-flexibility in terms of location in the United States over the past decade, i.e. people tend to work more at home versus at workplace, a trend mostly obvious among women, a full-time job and wage-salary workers. In contrast, the evidence for a shift toward part-time job and self-employment are less conclusive.
Keywords: Change in American workers working; Flexible working styles; Gig Economy; Time use; Work from home.