Mark Chiusano on the World of App-based Work

Mark, your forthcoming book, Gigging Alone, dives deep into the world of app-based work. What truths do you hope it will uncover that the corporations behind gig work would likely want to keep covered?

You see and learn a lot when you physically do these jobs—about the app algorithms, the way the companies mess with your expected pay, and the difficulty to actually log enough work to get close to a living wage. I think the companies would rather the public see these jobs as quirky little side hustles, which is not true for so many. But I also think people may be surprised by the mediocrity of the service provided by these apps, and how much the consumer is actually losing as the gig economy expands. Convenience is not the only good.

As the platform economy expands at lightning speed, what hidden costs of app-based labor does the public still fail to see?

I think the public sometimes forgets how subpar these services can be—Amazon allowing your packages to get stolen by the hundreds off carts, DoorDash not caring that someone’s pad thai is melting someone else’s mochi in my bag, both of them congealing for 40 minutes while I bike across the city. And I think there’s a long-term downside to labor getting so segmented in this way, with delivery guys totally unaffiliated with restaurants, and Amazon package slingers left with no upward mobility at this enormous company. The lack of even a chance for advancement, networking, or adjacent career hops can be both demoralizing and claustrophobic.

What kind of future do you see the gig economy shaping for workers—and for the places they move through?

The gig economy is shaping so much of our literal streetscape—think of those Amazon vans and trucks double-parked and snarling traffic. One of New York’s recycling facilities literally had to purchase a high-tech new machine to be able to sort the mounds of takeout containers people now generate. But the future for gig workers is even more open-ended. Will the political class start regulating this field carefully and smartly? Will unions figure out how to update themselves for the 21st century and amass gig worker power? Will consumers demand something more than expensive, soggy fried chicken?

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