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For a while there, it seemed like “Uber for X” was the only pitch that mattered.
To many, the rapid rise of Uber wasn’t just a major tech success story — it signaled a wholesale change that was coming to how people thought of work. Traditional jobs, the thinking went, would soon become less and less common, with predictable, inefficient employment getting replaced by the flexibility of independent contract work. The “gig economy” was underway, and it was unstoppable.
Except that it stopped. In her new book, Gigged, reporter Sarah Kessler chronicles the ascent and decline of the gig economy, starting in the early 2010s, when it seemed every service — from grocery shopping to cleaning offices — could be “app-ified” to be done by easily scalable contract work, to the death of many of those services a few years later, when their models proved unsustainable. Read more…
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View More Why the gig economy was doomed from the start
The lead academic behind an MIT CEEPR research paper which casts doubt on the sustainability of driving for Uber or Lyft has accepted Uber’s criticism of how driver income data was gathered and said he will revise the research using more generous income calculations. 
Ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft are delivering pitiful levels of take-home pay to the hundreds of thousands of US independent contractors providing their own vehicles and driving skills to deliver the core service, according to an MIT CEEPR study examining the economics of the two app platforms. The report catalyses the debate about conditions for workers on gig economy platforms, and… 
A backhanded compliment for Uber snuck into UK prime minister Theresa May’s speech to the World Economy Forum in Davos this afternoon — when she said the company’s behavior had made the case for laws being strengthened to stop gig economy workers from being exploited by overly powerful tech platforms. 
Uber has announced it’s launching a free insurance package for independent couriers delivering food for its Uber Eats business in nine European markets.
Traveling with a baby for the holidays? First you’ve got your own gear to worry about, then a stroller, something for the baby to sleep in, a baby carrier, toys, snacks, a diaper bag, possibly a car seat and whatever else the plane might allow you to shove into the overhead compartment or check at the gate. Then you’ve got to soothe and entertain the little one so everyone on the… 
Another blow for Uber’s UK business: The company has lost its appeal against an employment tribunal ruling which last year judged that the Uber drivers who brought the case should be classified as workers, rather than self-employed contractors.