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Social Affairs, Science and Technology

Motion to Authorize Committee to Study the Future of Workers--Debate Continued

March 30, 2021


Honourable senators, I rise today to speak in support of Senator Lankin’s motion for the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology to study the gig economy.

Her motion calls on the committee to examine the future of workers in order to evaluate a number of topics: How data and information on the gig economy in Canada are collected and the potential gaps in knowledge; the effectiveness of current labour protections for those who work through digital platforms and temporary foreign workers programs; the impacts of precarious work and the gig economy on benefits, pensions and other government services relating to employment; and the accessibility of retraining and skills development programs for workers.

The motion asks that the committee pay particular attention to the negative effects of precarious employment being disproportionately felt by workers of colour, new immigrants and Indigenous workers.

As a member of the Social Affairs Committee, I welcome this study and I am pleased to share my views about why I think the Senate should use some of our time and resources to better understand this sector of the economy.

As we heard from other honourable senators who have spoken before me, Statistics Canada defines the gig economy as:

. . . unincorporated self-employed workers who enter into various contracts with firms or individuals to complete a specific task or to work for a specific period of time.

When we speak of the gig economy and gig workers, we are referring to freelance work, temporary work and day labour. We are talking about people who many of us rely on every day, like on-demand online workers, Uber drivers and delivery people. We are also talking about personal care providers, musicians, people in the arts and so many others across many professions.

Gig work is nothing new. Recently, Senator Simons informed us that the word “gig” once referred to a fun activity, in fact, something that is done on the side. I would guess that many of us in this chamber have done such work at some point in our lives, whether or not that work was fun. For example, doing freelance writing, delivering newspapers, delivering groceries. My most memorable gig was a summer job I had so many years ago when my cousin Verna and I decided we would go out to work on a potato farm in East Selkirk, Manitoba. We reminisced about this gig for many years after that.

But what is new about gig work is the sheer number of Canadians who are turning to these precarious positions in an attempt to make ends meet.

We know that Canada’s gig economy is growing faster now than ever before. Experts attribute this growth to an increase in easily accessible work delivered via online apps and on-demand services that allow anyone with access to a smartphone and the internet to take up precarious employment.

Between 2005 and 2016, employment in the gig economy grew by 70%, that’s 700,000 more Canadians who participated in precarious labour over the period, for a total of 1.7 million Canadians.

What we do know about gig work suggests that the jobs coming online are not what we might call “good jobs.” The research to date suggests that these jobs are characterized by insecurity, low wages, a lack of opportunity for job growth and limited social benefits. For example, the median net income from gig work in 2016 was about $4,300. About half of gig workers relied solely on gig work while the other half supplemented other income with gig work. However, even with that additional income, nearly 50% of male gig workers and 45% of female gig workers found themselves in the lowest two quintiles of income distribution.

In terms of what gig work actually is, it is a feature of many industries and professions. Take the fields of arts, culture, recreation and sport where 25% of men and 26.6% of women working in these fields are gig workers. These professions represent the highest proportion of gig workers of any occupational field in Canada according to Statistics Canada, but precarious work shows up in some surprising places as well.

A study conducted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives provided a fascinating picture of professional occupations — those characterized by work requiring specialized degrees or credentials, a high level of skill and judgment, or work that is more intellectual in nature. And they found that 22% of all professionals have what they define as precarious employment. Of these workers, 60% were women, and their incomes were lower — no surprise — than those with stable jobs. Another important feature of these particular professional jobs was that the highest proportion of people were in the 55-to-64 age group, suggesting that precarious work is not just a feature of younger workers.

These and many other studies I have looked at give us a picture of some pieces of the gig economy, but I have to say that reading these studies has left me rather unsatisfied, not because of the quality of the data, which appears quite good, but because of the many questions left unanswered by these studies. Some of the dots do not entirely connect.

Take, for example, all of the terminology that is used to describe these jobs: gig work, precarious work, contract work, temporary work, part-time work, freelance work and so on. When I hear these terms, I envision endless Venn diagrams with overlapping circles and gig work somewhere in the middle of this diagram. How do these jobs, these characteristics, fit together? That’s one question.

And then there is the bigger picture: Where do these jobs fit into the larger economy? Is our economy actually moving full speed into this type of job structure, or are we still creating large numbers of traditional full-time, full-year jobs? Are gig jobs a parallel development, or are they a substitute development?

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources took steps to understand these emerging concerns in their 2019 study into precarious employment. However, their study led to more questions than answers. They ended up, in their final report, calling for greater clarity and better data to understand and address precarious employment, including compensation, job security, working conditions and opportunities for career development.

Our committee can examine several developments. We can unpack the concepts and job characteristics in the gig world and understand how they are connected to each other. We can look at the demographics of gig workers more closely to see how women and men, different age groups and racialized groups are represented and intersect. We must examine the working conditions, job opportunities or lack thereof, job security, job benefits and pay of gig workers. We can explore how larger supports and public policies, such as employment insurance, transfer payments, guaranteed income, minimum wage and job retraining might play a role. And we can look at the macro picture of the economy and how gig work fits in. What proportion of all new jobs are gig jobs?

Last but not least, we must look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted gig work. Statistics Canada has recently noted that income losses from COVID are likely to be more severe for young gig workers who more often rely on this income as their sole source.

The Senate can add to this discussion. We have the tools to do a deep dive into this topic, to look at micro-developments and macro-developments, to hear from individuals and to learn more about the big picture.

I will propose that, as part of this work, we at the committee undertake a focus-group study so that we can learn first-hand about the challenges of gig work and, yes, even the opportunities of such work. Such a focus-group study would include workers in different occupations and industry sectors, such as artists, professional people, those who access their work through digital platforms, day labourers and others. This exercise will be, I think, a vital learning opportunity for the committee and for the Senate.

Senators, in conclusion, although many of us have held a gig job at one point or another, gig work is not our life’s work. But, increasingly, if trends continue, it may be the life’s work for many Canadians.

I’m excited by the prospects of this study, and I encourage all senators to support this motion. I think we can accomplish a lot. Let’s move forward with this study now. Thank you, Senator Lankin, and thank you, colleagues.

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