The Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently conducted a first-of-its-kind government survey of the number of workers in the “gig” economy. The results were expected to present the first clear picture of the extent to which “electronically mediated” work has become a part of today’s national work culture.
In the process of collecting the data, however, BLS reports that it discovered significant irregularities. As a result, BLS went through a process to recode the data to remove some of the more obvious inaccuracies. The net result is the release of a report containing some high level data on the number and characteristics of those who perform electronically mediated work, but even there BLS cautions that remaining errors likely limit the report’s utility.
The report, released in the form of an article entitled Electronically Mediated Work: New Questions In The Contingent Worker Supplement, was published in the Monthly Labor Review (September 2018).
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.