The problem is that people want the easy access of Uber (taking the term generically) jobs but when they get it, they also want the security and paternalistic perks of standard employment jobs. Of course, this can not exist together - the whole point of Uber jobs is that they are not standard employment, that's why they are so easily accessible and so easy to respond to demand.
It is a fundamental contradiction - the perks of standard employment is exactly what makes it more expensive and less dynamic. You can not solve this fundamental tradeoff by introducing some new classification - whatever classification you choose, you'd have to place it somewhere on the spectrum between complete isolation (like ads board having nothing to do with advertised businesses) and complete integration (like full-time union employee).
Whenever you place it, it would be a tradeoff between the interest of the employer, the employee and the consumer. In ideal unicorn-rainbow world, the optimal points would be decided by a free market. In real world the fixed points would probably be negotiated by courts, lawmakers, unions and brazen new companies like Uber finding new optimum spots on the spectrum not explicitly prohibited by the regulators. Of course, the regulators can prohibit those spots then, and that's what is smart for Uber to fight - without it, they're back to existing spots and then what's the point in them being there?
Perhaps the government could pay for unemployment insurance or benefits when there is reduced work for gig employees. The government can fill in the gaps to make sure business have access to a stable pool of gig workers with the ability to retool for different gigs.
There's a stable pool of gig workers right now, which success of Uber and alike demonstrates very vividly. So the availability of the workers is not a problem which needs to be solved.
Sorry for being unclear by my use of stable pool. I meant to say that the pool was stable in the sense that it was healthy and sustainable for people despite market fluctuations.
It is a fundamental contradiction - the perks of standard employment is exactly what makes it more expensive and less dynamic. You can not solve this fundamental tradeoff by introducing some new classification - whatever classification you choose, you'd have to place it somewhere on the spectrum between complete isolation (like ads board having nothing to do with advertised businesses) and complete integration (like full-time union employee).
Whenever you place it, it would be a tradeoff between the interest of the employer, the employee and the consumer. In ideal unicorn-rainbow world, the optimal points would be decided by a free market. In real world the fixed points would probably be negotiated by courts, lawmakers, unions and brazen new companies like Uber finding new optimum spots on the spectrum not explicitly prohibited by the regulators. Of course, the regulators can prohibit those spots then, and that's what is smart for Uber to fight - without it, they're back to existing spots and then what's the point in them being there?