On Thursday, October 29th at 9:30 a.m. Eastern, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the New America Foundation (NAF), and the American Prospect will host a discussion of labor market trends and the so-called sharing or gig economy, with EPI President Lawrence Mishel and NAF Senior Fellow Steven Hill. Wall Street Journal economics reporter Anna Louie Sussman will moderate the discussion.

Hill is the author of Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers, in which he argues that, thanks to gig economy companies like Uber, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit, increasing numbers of workers are being turned into independent contractors, freelancers, temps, and “just-in-time part-timers.” Hill argues that, coupled with increased automation, this new model of employment enriches businesses at the expense of workers, and proposes  policy solutions to transform the U.S. economy and the social safety net and restore power to U.S. workers.  He is also the author of “The Unsavory Side of Airbnb.”

Mishel argues that the hype surrounding the gig economy is not borne out by the data, and that neither automation nor the gig economy are major threats to good quality jobs and robust wage growth. The challenges created by the gig economy are the same ones that have emerged over the last three decades to suppress wage growth: weak labor standards, excessive unemployment, globalization, and weakened collective bargaining.

What: Discussion of labor market trends and the gig economy

Who: New America Foundation Senior Fellow Steven Hill, author of Raw Deal: How the “Uber Economy” and Runaway Capitalism Are Screwing American Workers
EPI President Lawrence Mishel
Moderated by Wall Street Journal economics reporter Anna Louie Sussman

When: Thursday, October 29th
9:30–11:00 a.m. Eastern

Where: The Economic Policy Institute
1333 H St. NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20005