‘Precarious’ gigwork grows as portion of London job offerings, alarming expert

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The number of so-called gig economy jobs in London is on the rise, accounting for almost one in five new job postings, figures compiled by an area workforce development agency show.

It’s a figure one labour market expert referred to as “high and concerning,” a reflection of the growth of “precarious working” conditions for workers in the Canadian economy.

According to the Elgin Middlesex Oxford Workforce Planning and Development Board’s gig jobs dashboard, there were a total of 7,071 new job postings for gig positions in the first six months of the year, representing 19 per cent of all job postings tracked by the agency.

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That compares to the 14 per cent recorded in all of 2023, the data shows.

Though its definition and scope can vary, Statistics Canada defines gig work as “a form of employment characterized by short-term jobs or tasks which do not guarantee steady work and where the worker must take specific actions to stay employed.” Food delivery drivers for companies such as Doordash or Uber Eats fall under this category.

Petrusia Hontar is executive director of the board. She said her agency began tracking the data to get a better understanding of the prevalence of this type of work in the London economy, pointing out the board also is including in their figures positions that are being offered as contract or project-based work.

“We used to be a country where people used to go and work at a place for many, many years and often retire from that place where they started, whereas today we’re seeing a lot more movement and transition,” she said.

“And this has to do with the way that the labour forces are working, with this being the way some employees want their career path to be and also the way that employers are making these positions available.”

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Overall, gig work is on the rise across Canada, not only in London.

According to a study by Statistics Canada released in April, for instance, about 871,000 Canadians said they used gig work as their primary job in the fourth quarter of 2022, while an additional 1.5 million said to have done this type of work on a part-time basis.

Stephanie Ross, a labour studies professor at McMaster University, said the rise can be in part attributed to the challenging economic conditions the Canadian economy is facing, amid higher interest rates and inflation that recently is coming under control.

But she also called London’s figure “very high,” especially if contract work for jobs which, in the past, led to full-time, permanent positions are factored in.

“It signals that there’s a lot of instability in the economy and that some (employers) do not want to make long-term commitments to workers,” Ross said, describing platform-based jobs as “the latest version of precarious employment.”

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“These forms of employment also are ways to save employers money in the short and the long run, because if you’re a contract worker, for example, you’re much less likely to be part of a pension plan, which is a long-term liability for an employer.”

Ross said overall, gig work is still a fairly small proportion of the overall economic activity in the labour market, but it is growing very fast.

“The absolute numbers may not be enormous, but the rate of increase of participation in this kind of work is very significant,” she said.

For some people, gig work represents a way to earn additional income, especially in cases where wages haven’t kept up with inflation. For others, such as newcomers to Canada, it can be their main way to earn money and a “very important survival strategy to cope with the cost-of-living crisis,” Ross said.

“It’s a concern, as we return to more normal levels of employment after the pandemic, that so many of the jobs that are now available to people are on these terms,” she said. “It raises an interesting question about whether or not people will continue to accept such a labour market.”

jjuha@postmedia.com

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