From The Business Journals, Kent Hoover reports on Congressional hearings conducted by the House Small Business Committee on the sharing economy. Kent writes: The focus of the committee’s hearing was on how the tax code doesn’t work well for people who drive for Uber or work for other on-demand “sharing economy” businesses. As independent contractors, these…
From Entrepreneur, Alex Chriss makes a strong case that the debate about the on-demand economy may be missing the underlying changes in the economy. Alex reports that the number of self-employed workers was rising even before the on-demand economy; he observes that the on-demand labor force is small and primarily part-time; and connecting supply…
Staffing Industry Analysts discusses a Juniper Research report that shows the revenue from sharing economy platform providers increasing significantly. SIA reports: While a number of industries have already been affected by the sharing economy, other core markets will see significant disruption over the next few years, according to Juniper. For example, providers of shared personal…
From Bloomberg, David Kocieniewski discusses a study that indicates that many people who earn money in the sharing economy do not report the income or pay taxes on it. David writes: The IRS has been so slow to adapt to the rapidly emerging peer-to-peer economy that billions of dollars in taxable income a year…
From Forbes, Liz Ryan shares five myths about self employment. Liz discusses each of the “lies” after she lists them: Self-Employment Lies 1. Only people with very specific and in-demand technical or professional skills can make a living working for themselves. 2. Consultants and other self-employed people have a tough way to go because their work is…
From The Wall Street Journal, Gary Beach discusses a panel at the MIT CIO Symposium. Gary writes: The panel discussed who benefits most from an economy where independent workers contracted for short-term engagements play a larger role. Does the gig economy favor the firm or the worker? David Autor, professor of economics at MIT, said that while…
From Workforce, Gene Zaino discusses MBO Partners’ proposal for a Certified Self-Employed (CSE) designation. Gene writes: It is time to streamline the system with a federally recognized “Certified Self-Employed,” or CSE, designation that would allow solo entrepreneurs to declare their independence from traditional employment. By doing so, they would voluntarily waive traditional employment protections in exchange…
From the Globalist, Ellis Mnyandu discusses the transition from being employed to self-employed in the new economy. Ellis writes: New Economy In current parlance, self-employed is synonymous with freelancer or free-agent. The new economy has made freelancing the obvious choice for those that have the requisite skills to go it alone, or are brave enough…
Staffing Industry Analysts reports that MBO Partners has proposed a system of certifying independent contractors to enable companies to safely engage with them. SIA states: MBO formally proposed the idea today in an effort to get the word out. The next step would be to speak with relevant government agencies to gauge interest. “As the…
From CNBC, Erin Barry shares a conversation with Steve Case, co-founder of AOL. “We’ve seen this for more than a decade in sort of the white collar jobs. People who are teachers might tutor, [and] lawyers who become moms maybe can do legal work on the side,” AOL co-founder Steve Case told CNBC’s “On the…