Authors : Shiheon Lee

Volume/Issue : Volume 10 - 2025, Issue 8 - August

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/yzxxtxey

Scribd : https://tinyurl.com/ms57xc7w

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/25aug136

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Note : Google Scholar may take 30 to 40 days to display the article.

Abstract : This paper argues that the structure of the gig economy, despite its branding as flexible and empowering, is designed to offload risk and responsibility from companies onto workers and public systems. Platforms rely on legal ambiguity, strategic misclassification, and algorithmic control to avoid providing basic protections such as health insurance, paid leave, retirement contributions, and unemployment support. The result is a labor model that reduces costs for corporations while exposing workers to chronic income volatility, delayed healthcare, and long-term insecurity. These harms fall disproportionately on marginalized communities, including racial minorities, immigrants, and low-income individuals, many of whom turn to gig work due to exclusion from traditional employment. The paper traces these impacts across three core domains: economic instability, physical and psychological health risks, and systemic public costs. It draws on recent data, legal cases, and policy analysis to show how platform design choices deepen inequality and undermine the social safety net. Reform is not only possible but necessary. The paper concludes by proposing structural interventions, including clearer worker classification standards, the creation of portable benefits, and the decoupling of healthcare from employment status, that would preserve job flexibility while restoring fairness and dignity to contingent labor. Without these changes, the gig model threatens to normalize insecurity as a default condition of modern work.

References :

1. Ahn, Jinhee, et al. “Meteorological Factors and Air Pollutants Contributing to Seasonal Variation of Acute Exacerbation of Atrial Fibrillation: A Population-Based Study.” Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol. 60, no. 12, Dec. 2018, pp. e617–e623. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, https://journals.lww.com/joem/abstract/2018/12000/meteorological_factors_and_air_pollutants.5.aspx.
2. American Public Health Association. “Decent Work for All.” Policy Database, 18 Jan. 2023, American Public Health Association, www.apha.org/policy-and-advocacy/public-health-policy-briefs/policy-database/2023/01/18/decent-work-for-all.
3. Anderson, Monica, et al. The State of Gig Work in 2021. Pew Research Center, 8 Dec. 2021, www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/12/08/the-state-of-gig-work-in-2021.
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Social Determinants of Health and Chronic Disease. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 13 May 2024, www.cdc.gov/health-equity-chronic-disease/social-determinants-of-health-and-chronic-disease/index.html.
5. Conger, Kate, and Noam Scheiber. “California Bill Makes App-Based Companies Treat Workers as Employees.” The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/technology/california-gig-economy-bill.html.
6. Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County, 4 Cal. 5th 903. Supreme Court of California, 30 Apr. 2018. Justia, https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2018/s222732.html.
7. Fight for a Union. fightforaunion.org, https://fightforaunion.org/.
8. Habans, Robert. Exploring the Costs of Classifying Workers as Independent Contractors: Four Illustrative Sectors. UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Dec. 2015, https://irle.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/IndependentContractorCost_20151209-1-2.pdf.
9. Harris, Seth D., and Alan B. Krueger. A Proposal for Modernizing Labor Laws for Twenty-First-Century Work: The “Independent Worker.” The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution, Dec. 2015, www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/modernizing_labor_laws_for_twenty_first_century_work_krueger_harris.pdf.
10. Illuzzi, Kristy, and Portia Tang. Gig Economy Trends and Impact on Small and Medium Practices. International Federation of Accountants, 4 Oct. 2021, https://www.ifac.org/knowledge-gateway/discussion/gig-economy-trends-and-impact-small-and-medium-practices.
11. Kaiser Family Foundation. 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey. KFF, 2024, www.kff.org/report-section/ehbs-2024-summary-of-findings.
12. Lee, Haena, et al. "Meteorological Factors and Air Pollutants Associated with Rideshare Driver Health in San Francisco, California." (Saputra 3  Occupational and Environmental Medicine, vol. 60, no. 12, Dec. 2018, pp. e617–e623. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, https://journals.lww.com/joem/abstract/2018/12000/meteorological_factors_and_air_pollutants.5.aspx.
13. Lee, Siew Woon, et al. “Psychological Well-being of Gig Workers: A Preliminary Study.” Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal, vol. 15, no. 3s, 2023, pp. 130–138. www.gbmrjournal.com/pdf/v15n3s/V15N3s-10.pdf.
14. Miller, Mark. “Why Gig Workers Face Retirement Challenges.” Morningstar, Inc., 5 Apr. 2018, www.morningstar.com/retirement/why-gig-workers-face-retirement-challenges.
15. Mishel, Lawrence. “Uber Drivers Are Not Entrepreneurs.” Economic Policy Institute, 17 Jan. 2018, www.epi.org/publication/uber-drivers-are-not-entrepreneurs.
16. Peetz, Johanna, and Jennifer Robson. Living Gig to Gig and Paycheque to Paycheque: How Income Volatility Affects Financial Decisions. Centre for Economic Policy Research, Aug. 2022, https://cepr.org/system/files/2022-08/Living%20Gig%20to%20Gig%20and%20Paycheque%20to%20Paycheque%20How%20Income%20Volatility%20Affects%20Financial%20Decisions%20-%20Johanna%20Peetz%20and%20Jennifer%20Robson.pdf.
17. Poydock, Margaret. The Passage of California’s Proposition 22 Would Give Digital Platform Companies a Free Pass to Misclassify Their Workers. Economic Policy Institute, 22 Oct. 2020, https://www.epi.org/blog/the-passage-of-californias-proposition-22-would-give-digital-platform-companies-a-free-pass-to-misclassify-their-workers.
18. ‌Rodriguez, Fatima et al. “The Gig Economy Worker-A New Social Determinant of Health?.” JAMA cardiology vol. 7,2 (2022): 125-126. doi:10.1001/jamacardio.2021.5435
19. Saputra, Adi. “The Impact of the Gig Economy on Gig Worker Health Insurance: Literature Review.” Advances in Public Health, Community and Tropical Medicine, vol. 2023, article no. APCTM-190, Kosmos Publishers, 22 Sept. 2023, https://kosmospublishers.com/the-impact-of-the-gig-economy-on-gig-worker-health-insurance-literature-review-2/.
20. Schanz, Kai-Uwe. The Social and Economic Impacts of the Gig Economy. The Geneva Association, 29 Mar. 2022, www.genevaassociation.org/sites/default/files/ga_gig_economy_report_29_03_2022.pdf.
21. Schmitt, John, Heidi Shierholz, Margaret Poydock, and Samantha Sanders. The Economic Costs of Worker Misclassification. Economic Policy Institute, 25 Jan. 2023, https://www.epi.org/publication/cost-of-misclassification.
22. Soper, Spencer, and Jackie Gu. “Amazon Delivery Partners Claim ‘Treated Like Robots’ by Algorithms.” Bloomberg, 7 Oct. 2021, www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-10-07/amazon-delivery-partners-claim-treated-like-robots-by-algorithms.
23. Stewart, Andrew, and Jim Stanford. “Regulating Work in the Gig Economy: What Are the Options?” The Economic and Labour Relations Review, vol. 28, no. 3, 2017, pp. 420–437. Cambridge University Press, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-economic-and-labour-relations-review/article/regulating-work-in-the-gig-economy-what-are-the-options/247BA28AFB1E727EC28EFCC283757742.
24. United States Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #13: Employment Relationship Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), revised Mar. 2024, https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/13-flsa-employment-relationship.
25. United States, Government Accountability Office. Contingent Workforce: Size, Characteristics, Earnings, and Benefits. GAO-22-105113, 2022, www.gao.gov/products/gao-22-105113.
26. United States, Internal Revenue Service. Independent Contractor (Self-Employed) or Employee? IRS, www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/independent-contractor-self-employed-or-employee.
27. Walter, Karla, and Kate Bahn. “Raising Pay and Providing Benefits for Workers in a Disruptive Economy.” Center for American Progress, 19 Apr. 2017, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/raising-pay-providing-benefits-workers-disruptive-economy/.
28. Wang, Senhu, et al. “National Survey of Mental Health and Life Satisfaction of Gig Workers: The Role of Loneliness and Financial Precarity.” BMJ Open, vol. 12, no. 12, Dec. 2022, p. e066389, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2022-066389.
29. White, Jeremy B. Gig Companies Sidestep New California Labor Law after $200M Initiative Passes. Politico, 4 Nov. 2020, https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2020/11/04/gig-companies-sidestep-new-california-labor-law-after-200m-initiative-passes-1333749.
30. Ortolani, Alex. “Gig Workers Uncertain If They Will Retire, Likely to Self-Fund If They Do | PLANADVISER.” PLANADVISER, 6 Apr. 2023, https://www.planadviser.com/gig-workers-uncertain-will-retire-likely-self-fund/