“What Is a Good Job Now?” In Gig Work

The gig economy has been celebrated for providing flexibility and extra income to a wide variety of workers at different stages of their lives while minimizing expenses for employers. But a lot of “side hustles” have awful working conditions: low take-home pay, dangerously long hours, skimpy benefits, constant surveillance, and few clear avenues for complaining about mistreatment. As the rules and regulations around gig work are battled out in courts, and labor actions bear down on workplaces across California and the country, what would it take to turn gig economy work into good jobs? And can employers and public policy make the lives of these workers better?

Gig worker and advocate Sergio Avedian, Gigs founder and CEO Allen Narcisse, and the Workers Lab chief research officer Shelly Steward visit Zócalo to help us understand how we might make gig work good work.

Zócalo invites our in-person audience to continue the conversation with our speakers and each other at