Everyone is talking about the "concert economy," and an increasing number of people are working on it. The term may seem like a new thing, but in reality it is not. Before apps brought the idea of ​​on-demand services and live work to everyone's phone, the live work economy was sometimes called the autonomous economy, agile workforce, or even temporary work.
It can also seem like everyone has a side hustle these days. Or that people have given up their high-powered day jobs for gig economy jobs that pay just as well but with less stress. And while some folks have successfully gone from 9 to 5 to gigger, the truth is that the gig economy isn't just work-on-demand.
What is the Gig Economy? And what are concert works?
Musicians often refer to performing in a venue as if they were at a "concert." The concert economy works the same way (without the need to carry a tune). Instead of a traditional, full-time, office job with a single company, contract workers work as short-term, temporary, or freelance contractors for one or more employers (although they are not employers in the traditional sense).
Although the term "contract economics" is relatively new, these non-traditional work arrangements have been around for a long time. A study by the American Staff Association found that the majority of Americans (78%) see the concert economy as a new way to describe the participation of this long-time independent workforce.
How the gig economy works
Regardless of the industry a freelancer is in, the temp economy consists of small tasks that the worker completes. These tasks can be anything from shopping to writing code. A freelancer can choose to work for a specified number of hours (such as choosing a shift) or to work by project. Once the task or shift is completed, the worker moves on to the next job. That could be another assignment with the same company or something completely different with another company.
In most cases, shifts or projects are flexible. A gig worker might have a day job where he works a traditional 9 to 5 job, and then a second "gig job" from 5 to 9 at night. Or, a freelancer could work multiple "jobs" to create a full-time job, but on a flexible or alternate schedule. Outsourced workers can also choose to work 9-5.
While many people think of the "company" as an employer, in the gig economy, that's not the case. Many companies that use concert workers (Uber, Instacart, TaskRabbit, MechanicalTurk) do not employ the concert worker. The company is simply the "connector" that links contractors and customers.