Part time employment is very different from 'unpredictable hours with no certainty and poor workers' rights' which is what much of the gig economy actually is.

Part time employment with flexible working hours is a good thing, but that's not a benefit that the gig economy delivers, in fact quite the opposite.

An unregulated wage economy suppresses wages to the point that workers must work ever increasing hours to make a living wage. If that stops being the case, there will be someone willing to work a little longer for a little less. This feeds into a cycle where wages are suppressed right down to the point where to make a living wage you actually have to be working all the time.

Far from gaining control to "set your own hours" you actually get pressured into more and more hours.

Contrast to regulated industries where you are either salaried, or supply is restricted so that workers can genuinely earn and set their own schedules without feeling like they'll lose out by taking any breaks.

Describing the gig economy as some kind of workers' nirvana is just deceptive and wrong.