Unit 5 1 Read the text quickly and decide which of these statements summarises it best. 1 The text mostly talks about the good side of the online 3 The text talks about the good side of the online gig gig economy. economy and then the bad side. 2 The text mostly talks about the bad side of the online gig 4 The text talks about the bad side of the online gig economy. economy and then the good side.
2 Read the text again and decide if these statements are true (T) or false (F). 1 The ‘gig economy’ is really just ‘the freelance economy’ 4 When an offer of service sector work is posted online, the managed through apps. T number of people who bid for the work is very large. T 2 Service sector work is too complicated to be broken up 5 In an Oxford University study, online gig workers into tasks that can be offered as short-term, temporary reported that they work shorter hours than employees jobs. F with regular jobs, which gives them time to look after 3 The ‘human cloud’ is where freelancers all over the world children or elderly relatives. F can connect with each other and compare rates of pay 6 Politicians are actively promoting the online gig and leave feedback on good and bad employers. F economy as it is an easy way to get money from taxation. F 3 Choose the best meaning (a or b) for the phrases in bold according to the text. 1 Everyone can see how the gig economy has transformed the traditional employment relationship. a the way that employers find and pay staff b the way that a boss talks to an employee 2 The gig economy is moving more and more into the service sector. a a department in a company that deals with customers b an area of business activity 3 The work done is done remotely. a by robots and artificial intelligence b in a different location to where the employer is based 4 Global mobility is changing. a the way that employees work for companies all over b the way that companies relocate to countries with the world cheap labour 5 Workers place bids to do the work. a make an offer to do a job in exchange for a particular b fill out an online application form to do a job fee 6 This unlocks human potential that may otherwise be wasted. a allows companies to use employees more efficiently b allows people to develop their abilities 7 There was an oversupply of labour due to growing access to freelance employees. a too many workers in relation to the amount of work b too much work in relation to the amount of workers available available 8 You will see fifty proposals have been submitted. a requests for more information about the work b offers to do work at a certain price
4 Match the words (1–8) with their definitions (a–h).
1 succession f a a large piece of something 2 tariff d b interesting and making you think 3 assignment h c money coming into a company 4 chunk a d a tax that a government charges on goods that enter or leave the country 5 revenue c e feeling unsafe because something might be taken away 6 commute g f a number of things of the same kind, happening one after another 7 stimulating b g a daily journey to and from work 8 insecurity e h a piece of work that is given to someone as part of their job or studies
1 Unit 5 - Extra Reading
Want an international job? Easy, just stay at home.
‘I’ve got a gig tomorrow’. You could have heard that phrase amongst jazz musicians in the 1920s. A ‘gig’ was a slang word for a live musical performance, and it continues in use in that context to this day. But now it has a new use, the gig economy, where workers do a succession of short-term, temporary jobs instead of having a full-time, permanent contract. Of course, in 5 reality, this phenomenon is not so new, as any freelance writer, photographer or consultant will tell you, but gig economy companies like Uber, Deliveroo and Airbnb are in the news a lot these days. They work via apps that connect customers to nearby workers to do tasks like driving, delivery, or offering accommodation. Everyone can see how they have transformed the traditional employment relationship. 10 Now the gig economy is moving on. First, it is going global. And second, it is moving more and more into the service sector. So, this new kind of globalisation is not related to manufactured goods in container ships or political arguments about tariffs, it is about developing a global marketplace for online labour in the service sector where the work done is done remotely. Global mobility is changing – instead of relocating to another country, service sector workers are 15 increasingly doing international jobs from the comfort of their own homes. How does it work? In the new global jobs market, the employer (an individual or company) breaks up a job into a series of tasks or assignments. This could be anything from data entry or translation to coding or copywriting. They offer these tasks on platforms including Upwork™, Freelancer® and Fiverr.® Workers, who can be anywhere in the world, place ‘bids’ to do the work 20 on offer. Think of eBay® – but for human labour. This side of the gig economy, sometimes called the ‘human cloud’, is growing very fast. California-based Upwork, the biggest of the platforms, is listed on Nasdaq and has a market value of about $1.9bn. Plenty of people in developed countries find work on these sites, but it should not surprise anyone to learn that a sizeable chunk is going to the developing world where the cost of living is 25 lower. Data from Upwork shows that about 20 percent of revenue from freelancer fees comes from the USA, almost 30 percent comes from India and the Philippines and the remainder is from the ‘rest of the world’. You can make a good case for the human cloud. It gives talented people in developing countries the opportunity to access global demand for their skills, when local markets are limited. The 30 same might be true for people living in economically depressed regions of rich countries. This unlocks human potential that may otherwise be wasted. It also allows people to work from home in countries where poor infrastructure can mean difficult and tiring commutes. Academics at Oxford university surveyed 679 online gig workers in south-east Asia and sub- Saharan Africa. Many said the work was stimulating and varied, and they enjoyed the freedom it 35 offered. But there are dangers too. The first is present in any form of globalisation: workers in richer countries can find themselves losing jobs because competitors in poorer places will do the same work for less money. When manufacturers began moving production from the developed world to Asia in the 1970s and 1980s, insecurity was a constant presence on factory floors as people 40 wondered if their jobs would be next. In the human cloud, the sense of competition is stronger. Online gig workers told the Oxford academics there was an oversupply of labour due to growing access to freelance employees across the world. ‘Immediately you see an offer being posted … you will see fifty proposals have been submitted,’ said one Nigerian worker. Another said: ‘I’m sure there are 100,000 people out 45 there across the world who could do exactly what I do … for cheaper as well.’ Online gig workers also reported long working hours, often overnight because of time zone differences. As freelancers, they have no employment protection. The final issue is that governments will struggle to gather tax revenue from all this economic activity happening in people’s bedrooms. 50 Politicians and other policymakers have a chance to intervene to shape the future of this new world of work while it is in its infancy. The danger is that they are so busy dealing with the consequences of the last wave of globalisation that they fail to see the next one coming.
