Peer-to-peer platforms have changed the labor market by enabling millions of workers to earn money on their own schedules, whether driving for Uber or Lyft or caring for others' pets through Rover. Unfortunately, this freedom and flexibility often come at a cost, quite literally. A new paper by DMEP member Amos Schurr and Ilana Ritov in Psychological Science finds that “contract trading"—in which contract pricing replaces traditional wage setting—lowers freelance contractors' perceived value and actual earnings alike, even when their actual work product is identical to that of a traditional employee. The findings support concerns that the changed labor market will increase economic inequality among workers.
To the full article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797620916521
