Mason  🏃‍♂️ ✂️

I am not following you. The lack of a third category caused the political dysfunction? Poor enforcement of overtime rules gave workers more control over their hours?

No: the market was created explicitly because it allowed for a kind of regulatory arbitrage. The legal categories *made* the market as it is.

I don't think that's right. Classifying drivers as employees would make it very difficult for Uber to offer the level of autonomy they currently enjoy. They'd have to limit when and where drivers drive in order to ensure they got enough fares to be worth minimum wage.

And I think that would be genuinely worse for a fair number of Uber drivers, especially those who are doing it part time in the down time between other commitments.

I think Uber/Lyft would (mostly) look the same with a 3rd category. There's demand for flexible work + a market maker that can match supply/demand quickly. Those are the fundamentals.

If Uber/Lyft drivers aren't independent contractors, who is? If you're arguing we've overbuilt a rigid healthcare/retirement/etc. infrastructure that's insufficient for this class of worker, I'm with you, but "these people don't belong in the screwed-over class" feels a bit dodgy

They can’t set their own prices, which is a fairly big difference from typical contractors. You can argue that they can set them by only driving when the going rate is high enough and that the monopsony (bipsony??) is the issue, but it’s still not a central case.