ABSTRACT
In its most common usage, the term loosely encompasses paid work classified as contingent, part-time, temporary, intermittent, or having alternative work arrangements, such as on-call scheduling, unsocial hours, irregular work schedules, and other work that is precarious and insecure. As other forms of nonstandard work grew during the 1980s, the term “contingent” work was first introduced by labor economist Audrey Freedman in 1985 at a conference on employment security to describe a working relationship that was to exist only when needed by an employer for particular projects. The growth of contingent work accentuated the polarization between “good” jobs and “bad” jobs, while increasing workers’ exposure to precariousness. Living in the gig economy underscores the limitations of the labor law and work regulations system built in the mid-20th century. New regulations and practices should be creative and heterogeneous to match the employment practices that underlie the varied nature of work in the gig economy.
