Impact of the Sharing Economy for the US Labor Market - Essay Example

Impact of the Sharing Economy for the US Labor Market The sharing economy is a socio-economic system founded on the sharing of physical and human resources. It is enabled by technology and peer communities including car sharing, peer-to-peer task assignments, and peer-to-peer travel experiences (Gold 12). The sharing economy organizations are disrupting the traditional firms across the world. For example, Airbnb, at $10 billion boasts of a higher valuation as compared to the Hyatt hotel chain.

On the other hand, Uber is valued at $18.2 billion. These companies bring considerable economic benefits such as an increase in employment. The digital labor as part of the much wider development comprises of union busting, globalization, casualization, deregulation, and the proletarianization of professions. In a sharing economy the labor of people is shared in a way that seems feudal. These new work arrangements shift the power in the labor market away from the workers. According to Roose, the sharing economy yields utopian outcomes with the empowerment of the ordinary people and increasing efficiency.

The on-demand economy reduces full-time employment in addition to reducing the working in a bid to control the carbon emissions. I would not work in firms like Uber because I want to work as a full-time employee. This makes these jobs less appealing than the standard jobs. Due to the rapid growth of human population, especially in the cities, this creates more opportunities for sharing resources and services (Gold 28). However, most of the firms in the sharing economy are having an uneasy time with the regulators.

Platforms such as Uber are experiencing explosive growth, which, in turn, has resulted in political and regulatory battles. Therefore, I would advise the sharing economy firms to be cooperative with regulators and also be responsive to the regulators’ legitimate concerns. It is also difficult to evaluate the effect of these new earning opportunities because they are introduced during a period of rapid labor market restructuring and high unemployment rates. Consider taxis, drivers in conventional cab operations are protesting due to Uber’s unfair competition which impacts negatively on their operations.

The cab drivers are charged extra such as lease space and insurance while Uber deals with uninsured passengers compromising the safety of the passengers. All workers have equal opportunities to participate in these markets. Therefore, Uber drivers need to be subjected to same licensing, inspection, and regulations that cab drivers are subjected. It operates like a conventional taxi company since computes its fares based distance and time. An online platform with a good rating system improves labor conditions.

This enables the low-paid employees to earn significantly more (Schor). Therefore, the economic inequality is reduced. The emergence of the app-driven economy has made it easier for the networks of people as well as organizations to transact directly including low-cost mobile phones and social media. These technologies minimize the friction of share-based business models. The investors are attracted to firms like Uber because it avoids huge employee wages by effectively functioning as labor brokers.

Works Cited Gold, Lorna. The sharing economy: Solidarity networks transforming globalisation. New York: Ashgate, 2004. Roose Kevin, “The Sharing Economy Isn’t About Trust, It’s About Desperation,” New York Magazine, Retrieved from http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/04/sharing-economy-is-about-desperation.html. Web 3 February 2015. Schor, Juliet. 2014. Debating the sharing economy. Retrieved from . Web 3 February 2015