Where Does Safety Fit into the Gig Economy?

Brian Callahan, President & COO, ISN & Vice Chair, Campbell Institute writes for the NSC Medium Blog.

The gig economy’s new form of on-demand employment is growing rapidly.

It was estimated recently that more than 86.5 million Americans have used an on-demand service. According to BIA/Kelsey, the total U.S. transaction value (annual fees paid by consumers) of the on-demand economy grew from $22 billion in 2015 to $57 billion by the end of 2018.

According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are currently more gig workers than people employed in the entire information sectorand IT services combined. And estimates project that the number of on-demand jobs will surpass the current number of jobs in finance (8.4 million) and construction (6.8 million) in 2021.

The investment community is bullish on this space as evidenced by HEB’s acquisition of Favor, Square’s acquisition of Caviar and recent IPOs for Lyft ($20B) and Uber ($75B). These have vaulted on-demand companies to the forefront of the investment community.

Clearly, the gig economy is changing the look of our nation’s workforce, and the safety implications are likely to grow as well.

Read the rest of this guest blog learn more about what this shift means for safety here.