An Uber Technologies Inc. logo sits on a smartphone display in this arranged photograph in London, U.K., on Friday, Dec. 22, 2017. Uber will be regulated in European Union countries as a transport company after the bloc's top court rejected its claim to be a digital service provider, a decision that could increase legal risks for other gig-economy companies including Airbnb. Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
The “gig economy” has become the cause celebre for people who think labour needs help from government in its struggle with capital. Politicians from the radical left and anti-establishment parties say the rise of casual work is a sign that work relationships are sliding back in time and that the state must step in to address this decline in standards.
John McDonnell, the UK Labour Party’s economics spokesman, says so-called “zero-hour contracts” and the gig economy have produced workplace “insecurity not seen since the 1930s”. Luigi Di Maio, leader of Italy’s ruling Five Star Movement, describes food delivery drivers as “the symbol of an abandoned generation”.
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