Gig economy
Etymology
“Gig” was 1920s jazz slang for a single booked performance, of uncertain origin. Paired with “economy” (Greek “oikonomia,” household management), the phrase spread after the 2009 recession to describe app-brokered work like ride-hailing and delivery.
noun phrase · /gig ih-KON-uh-mee/
A labor market built on short-term, on-demand tasks and freelance contracts rather than permanent employment.
What it names
The shift from salaried jobs with benefits to piecework mediated by apps, where workers are paid per task and bear their own risk.
Example
Driving for a rideshare app between freelance design jobs, she was living entirely inside the gig economy.
Related idea
The gig economy names the whole system of on-demand contract work; a side hustle is one person’s supplementary earner, which may or may not be gig work, while precarity names the insecurity such arrangements produce.