Social media paints a more positive picture of the gig economy than worker realities, analysis suggests
Media coverage of America's independent workers leans more positively than the conversation that actual workers have on social media, a new media analysis by Cision has found. The analysis found that while the media discusses growth in the independent workforce and its benefits for employers, workers discuss the difficulty in finding work, fears about their retirement and even loneliness.
On behalf of The Rockefeller Foundation, Cision conducted a one-year news media and social media analysis of conversation relating to independent workers, including those working in the growing gig economy. Analysts conducted the media review between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016, studying more than 540,000 news media and blog articles as well as 132,000 social media posts. The goal of the analysis was to better understand media perception around the topic.
The study was prompted by the rapid growth in freelance workers, which according to a study conducted by the Freelance Union, as much as 35% or 55,000,000 workers of the United States’ are freelance, generating an estimated $1 trillion in income per year. Some of these workers take on freelance work on the side of traditional full-time jobs, while others are small business owners conducting freelance work as their full-time employment.
"Workers are trying to find ways to make ends meet and they are going online to find advice from each other on how to do just that," said Caitlin Jamali, Cision's senior insights analyst.
With so many engaged in side-jobs or working as independent contractors, the question how are independent workers and their industries portrayed in the media prompted the study. Secondly, Cision wanted to learn whether the media’s perception of the gig economy or independent work aligned with what these professionals thought and said about their own experiences.
The analysis found four distinct groups of independent workers: parents, retirees, recent graduates and small business owners.
Retirees most often discussed needing to supplement their income in 28% of the discussions, followed by 21% of discussions for looking for work and 21% with questions about filing taxes.
To do that, the team reviewed one year’s worth of news and blog mentions, or more than 500,000 posts. They then reviewed more than 132,000 social media comments about independent workers. These messages were collected between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016, tracking the peak conversations from the media and blogs as well as the most viral topics on social channels.
Small business owners were twice as likely to discuss hourly rates, as well as not earning enough money, 12% of their conversations related to general worry. Meanwhile, parents were twice as likely to discuss the benefits of having a flexible schedule with their gig work, but were also more likely to miss the day-to-day interactions they'd have with colleagues in more traditional work environments. Some of the ongoing concerns for gig workers is the concern about taxes and insurance, with 37% of those surveyed having struggles with these issues, while 25% simply worry in general about being an independent worker. Additionally, 35% of those surveyed are recent college graduates looking for work, or using gig labor to supplement income from a primary job.
Further reports consider some drawbacks to the gig economy, with Mark Muro of the Brookings Institute telling the Wall Street Journal in a recent article that traditionally companies are there to provide secure jobs with good benefits for people while the gig economy is quite obviously based on consumer demand, which often requires using less, not more, labor to do something.
"How can the technological and business-model innovation of the gig economy be managed and enhanced to ensure it helps deliver a measure of economic security for the millions of Americans who are beginning to depend on it? Whether it is about benefits contributions by gig-economy companies, portable benefits accounts, or new kinds of safety nets, the conversation needs to widen as fast as the gig economy is growing," Muro said.