Gig economy workers at Uber and Lyft aren't happy, survey finds

Some call it the sharing economy. Others simply call it a disappointment.

Services like Uber, TaskRabbit and Airbnb rocketed to fame (and gained imitators) more than five years ago, fueled by the rise of a more informal "gig economy" and a workforce weakened by the recession of 2008. Bolstering their growth was greater adoption of smartphones and, eventually, greater access to venture capital

The promise for users was convenience. The promise for employees, however, was something more powerful: freedom.

For many workers in this new industry, that turned out to be a false promise.

Three quarters of those working in the gig economy say they chose their positions for the flexibility to work when and how they choose, according to a survey of more than 1,000 of these workers released Wednesday from a group of entrepreneurs affiliated with Stanford University. Yet, two of the most common "pain points" listed by employees were finding enough work and "optimizing" their schedules to make more money Read more...

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