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Comment by choot | Hacker News Reader

Gig economy isn't bad if state ensures universal healthcare, food, housing etc...

Entire economy should be setup this way so that no one is tied to a specific career outside of the limited number of professions like doctors etc...

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If the state ensures healthcare, food, housing so few people will want these jobs that the business model will break.

No, plenty of people would do gig economy jobs if they knew they wouldn't have to worry about rent and food. The flexibility is way worth it. I'm pretty sure I even would and I get paid way above the median income.

The 'gig' economy is new in the west because a pool of desperate labor has reappeared (after a hiatus of many many decades). It never really went away in countries like India.

People, on the whole, would prefer to have more meaningful jobs rather than delivering burgers to office workers.

There is an interesting clip from Jordan Peterson on IQ and jobs. Sure intelligent people want something meaningful from their jobs, but at the lower ends people are probably happier with something less challenging.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjs2gPa5sD0

Personally I wouldn't mind cycling around all day and staying fit, but keeping software running pays a fair bit better.

I don't think full-time jobs are, in general, any more "meaningful" than gig-economy job, but they are almost universally more stable, predicable, and better-paying - which is what is of primary concern to most workers.

We should absolutely not be subsidizing multi-billion dollar companies like this when they have the ability to provide a living wage.

The money for it will have to come from “multi-billion” dollar companies or their owners anyway, via taxes.

Social contributions more specifically.

Make employers (self-employed or not, doesn't matter) pay mandatory retirement, health-care, incapacity and unemployment contributions / insurances.

This is already a solved problem in many countries.

They would just deduct the social contribution from the earnings. Name a country where it's solved.

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