New York University
Arun Sundararajan is Professor of Information, Operations and Management Sciences at New York University, where his research studies how digital technologies transform business and society. He is the author of The Sharing Economy; The End of Employment and the Rise of Crowd-based Capitalism.
The gig economy grows up We are fast becoming a nation of freelancers, temps and on-call hired help. In 2015 nearly 16% of workers had freelance jobs, a 10% jump from a decade ago. In fact, all of the net employment growth between 2005 and 2015 came from what's now referred to as the sharing or gig economy. Nearly a third of American workers have some kind of non-traditional gig, and by 2025 freelancers could make up half the workforce. This seismic shift away from 9-to-5 employment offers freedom and flexibility, but it comes with a steep price: few benefits, low wages, and little protection for the older workers who are increasingly drawn to the hustle. As the gig economy grows, will labor policy and protections keep up? We talk about the winners and losers in a world where more people are their own boss.
Uber, "Big Taxi" and the Sharing Economy As commercial ridesharing becomes more popular, it's eating into the business of traditional cab companies. Licensed cabbies are being replaced by part-time, unlicensed drivers using their own cars to make extra money. Hundreds of taxi drivers protested last week at Los Angeles City Hall against Uber , Lyft and Sidecar , what they all “bandit cabs” that use apps to find passengers and don't have special licenses or insurance coverage. Yesterday, London cab drivers brought gridlock to the center of that city. Is mobile technology spawning a mobile black market or is ridesharing the wave of the future?
Implicit bias training discriminates against white people, anonymous parents say Author Pico Iyer returns to Santa Barbara to preview his upcoming speaker series. Columnist Starshine Roshell brings us inside the surprisingly large world of local trivia nights. And more controversy at the Santa Barbara Unified School District, as a group of anonymous parents threatens to sue school leaders over an implicit bias training program it claims discriminates against white people.
Questions for Coal Country People in California want to know: "Do West Virginians really believe that coal is coming back?"