Disruptive Transformation Fueling Gig Economies

In 2014, the Gig Economy in US was made up of about 14-20% of the total workforce. By 2021, this workforce has now grown to 35%, representing 57 Million workers with over 1 Trillion USD annual market size. Due to the economic challenges and unemployment brought on by the Covid-19 Pandemic, the concept of work is shifting at a much faster rate than was taking place beforehand. Additionally, Gen Z-ers and younger digital natives are finding themselves with fewer traditional vocational options (school to internship to career) and are getting into the Gig Economy from both a necessity perspective, as well as a lifestyle choice. The disruptive technology advances are fueling this growth. The technology platform needed to facilitate the full set of enterprise needs for a Gig Economy marketplace with component solutions is integrated with a mesh of technology components that cover the marketing, finance, logistics, and exchange features supporting this space. There are key business model advancements that can be fulfilled with a modern marketplace technology platform to enable a true disruption to the concept of work. These creative business models, along with appropriate government rules and regulations will dictate how the Gig Economy of the future will develop. Our paper leverages modern technology advancements to showcase a new disruptive entrepreneurial ecosystem which can change the concept of work in the home improvement sector. We focus on the home improvement sector as an example and aim to make a bigger statement on how Gig workers could be enabled as entrepreneurs by a modern marketplace to run their own gigs with new business models.

I. Introduction

People have been primarily confined to their homes during the Covid-19 pandemic. This has put unprecedented pressure on household resources. The regular professional and licensed handypersons can no longer work the traditional way in order to stay in business and remain competitive. They face competition from not only their peers, but also disruptive new entrants into the workforce. These new entrants may have just graduated from college or have been working in other jobs. The pandemic situation has forced them to look for alternative employment like available gigs, as compared to a regular 9 to 5 job. As youngsters many of us have helped folks at home when it came to repair that faucet or fix the air conditioning. These experiences are now prompting people without jobs to venture into home improvement gigs.