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01/08/2019

How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong

The cobblying together of odd jobs hasn't replace traditional work arrangements

Two leading experts on the “gig economy” now say their estimates of its impact were too high, skewed by spotty data and the recession of a decade ago.

Alan Krueger of Princeton University and Lawrence Katz of Harvard sifted through new evidence to explain how, in a 2015 survey, they overestimated how people cobbling together a living from odd jobs, especially via apps like Uber, would upend traditional work arrangements.

Earlier this decade, many researchers and journalists fretted that the gig economy was taking over the way people work. When the Labor Department finally studied the question in detailed research released last summer, they concluded the gig economy had scarcely changed the U.S. labor market.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Wall Street Journal.

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