Thread by @ArmineYalnizyan

I am re-doing this thread cuz I flubbed it and it's super important to know.
Highlights:
The # of gig workers in Canada was up by 70% between 2005 and 2016 (~1 million to 1.7million), and the % of Canadians trying to earn via gigwork is up 49% (5.5% to 8.2%)
#FutureOfWorkers /2

https://twitter.com/ArmineYalnizyan/status/1206582654306533376

2) Of the 8.2% of CDN workers who were gig workers, more women (9.1%) than men (7.2%)
3) Half (48.6%) had no regular (T4) job
4) The bottom 40% poorest workers twice as likely to do gig work
5) Gig work more prevelant among immigrants
4) Median income: $4,300
#cdnecon #canlab /3

7) For many gig workers, total net gig income was negative. Almost half (48.6%) had no other wage-earning job. 36.3% had one wage job, 15.1% had multiple jobs. So for about half these workers, gigs were sidehustles and a way to boost earnings.
#cdnecon #canlab /4

8) Half of gig workers relied on gigs for 3/4 or more of their earnings. (median value) For > 1/4 of these workers, earnings from gigs provided 89%+ of their income.
9) No age skew (surprising!) but skewed towards less formal education, more non-Canadian born
#cdnecon #canlab /5

10) Higher concentration of gig workers in big cities (no surprise, but great chart)
11) More people doing the side hustle over time (have earnings, use gigs to supplement earnings/counteract wage stagnation or income loss...see next tweet)
#cdnecon #canlab /6

12) This chart takes some time to absorb but is important. Biggest reasons people went into gig work - unemployment or falling T4 earnings. But, importantly, earnings from gig work fell over time, for both men and women
#cdnecon #canlab /7

13) People move in and out of gig work. They register with agencies or platforms, find out the work/pay sucks, move on. About 1/2 of those who entered gig work had no gig income the next year. But about 1/4 of the sample in 2016 were in gig work for 3+ years. #cdnecon #canlab /8

Q: what % of workers in Showbiz?
A: By industry 7.6% (8.2% of men, 7.2% of women).
Bigger industry % in prof, science,tech (mostly IT); healthcare (support workers); construction; building/business supports ("Administrative and support, waste management and remediation services")

Those are the industries where you find the most gig workers. "However, the shares of gig workers among all workers were the highest among workers with main occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport (24.2% for men and 26.6% for women)." Showbiz biggest % of gig workers.

Three comments about the study:
1) things will have changed since 2016.* The methodology relies on tax data, which is at least 2 years late (we file months after year end, they scrub the data). StatCan started this work in 2018. It's a great baseline. It needs to be monitored.

2) Some people don't file T4s for $ from gig work. This method is blind to those trends.
U.S.'s JPMorgan Chase has a methodology that follows the money. Real time tracking (to 2018) here: institute.jpmorganchase.com/institute/rese…
Work w/ CanadianBankersAssoc to develop a similar approach?

3) This @StatCan_eng is a breakthrough methodology in how it links admin, census, and tax data to present a remarkable profile of who are Canada's gig workers. www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11f0019….
is a superb baseline to help us monitor change for the #FutureOfWorkers.
#cdnecon #canlab

@StatCan_eng * Re "Things have changed since 2016":
As per the JPMorgan Chase method, there are other methods that show how important the platform economy is becoming in Canada, and how Canada is playing an outsized role in this market for on-demand labour, globally. /2

@StatCan_eng Exhibit A: the OLI.
ilabour.oii.ox.ac.uk/online-labour-…
The global market for on-demand labour through platforms has grown 40% since mid 2016. Canada's share of that growing global market demand (from employers) has grown from 4.1% to 9.7%, fastest of all regions. /3

@StatCan_eng Exhibit B: RIWI
Canadian workers are early adopters of platforms to increase their earnings. riwi.com/research/insig…
Less than a year ago, tied in second place with Nigera and just behind China re 19% of those surveyed online reporting earning $ from platforms. /4

@StatCan_eng That's changing as workers in other countries start to click on apps to access new global labour markets, but Canada remains near the head of the pack in terms of % of workers picking up on-demand work through digital intermediation, both locally and globally. /5

@StatCan_eng Canada's workers = ~0.7% of the globally employed, yet we're near the top in terms of both demanding and supplying online labour.
That's why we need to better monitor trends, through official stats and other means.
That's why I'm paying close attention to the #FutureOfWorkers