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383 points imartin2k | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.205s | source
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FrozenVoid ◴[] No.14331408[source]
"Gig/Contract economy" is the analogue of outsourcing, except for the cheap workers being drawn from local population. Its a logical consequence from corporations wanting to reduce wages and legal trickery to avoid work liabilities and benefits for the workers. Its exploitative and ruthless example of what "capitalism" becomes when law doesn't hold the punch, companies just figured out the necessary mix of legal and tech means to avoid the system being labeled as "work" and pay fair wages/expenses per worker. Expect this type of "work" to increase and subsume new sectors of economy as they figure out how to transform them into uber model.
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joshu ◴[] No.14331634[source]
Outsourcing just means using another entity to do the work. Did you mean offshoring?
replies(2): >>14331720 #>>14331816 #
Sebguer ◴[] No.14331720[source]
If you're going to be pedantic, at least be correct. The commonly understood meaning of 'outsourcing' is to use foreign labor. So commonly understood that even Webster includes it as part of their definitions:

: to procure (something, such as some goods or services needed by a business or organization) from outside sources and especially from foreign or nonunion suppliers : to contract for work, jobs, etc., to be done by outside or foreign workers (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/outsource)

replies(2): >>14331751 #>>14332897 #
1. joshu ◴[] No.14331751[source]
That does not jibe with common usage I hear in the field, despite what Webster says.

For example, young startups frequently outsource CFO functions to someone up the street.

To be truly pedantic, your definition doesn't say remote workers, just foreign, without specifying their region. OP talked about local workers in contrast.

Not only does the definition not say I am wrong (it includes the thing I said) but I was speaking in context of OP's comment (about location)

So you complained about my lack of precision and to do so you lost even more and didn't actually understand the context.