I think part of the thesis of the article is that the concept of a "day job" is also unachievable, meaning a full time job that pays you enough to live on, that is stable and has some benefits.
If all the jobs that you have available are part-time and no benefits, where you have to have a minimum of two to make ends meet, that does not leave you much time to do anything else but hustle for your next gig; not to mention the vulnerability inherent in their no-benefits nature, no healthcare, likely very little sick time or time off etc.
Not having a social life for people in the "gig economy" also seems like a very bad decision, because if your network is not large it will be very difficult for you to find your next part-time gig when one of your current ones ends. As much as a $8 something is a lot of money, if that $8 enables you to meet somebody that knows somebody that can get you a gig it might be a necessary investment unfortunately.
The margin for error nowadays is extremely thin: some years back let's say you made a bad decision and went for an "unmarketable" degree, if you finished it you were still very likely to get a better-than-minimum-wage job, and it would be extremely unlikely that you'd be in any significant debt. This job would also likely have been full-time, and paid enough for you to have a modest lifestyle without having to depend on handouts, couch surfing, subletting etc. etc.
Until not that long ago a lot of people were able to put themselves through college by working summer jobs, that does not seem as realistic nowadays with the costs involved.
Also nowadays once you get out of college what next? entry-level jobs that lead to a full time career are few and far between, factory jobs are a shadow of what they once were, there are a plethora of "gig jobs" but they don't really allow one to consider things like settling down and having kids due to their temporary nature.
As much as the author of the article might have made some mistakes (who doesn't) it still doesn't disprove their thesis of the "gig economy" not fostering a stable and predictable life path, or at least not as stable and as predictable as it used to be one or two generations back.
If all the jobs that you have available are part-time and no benefits, where you have to have a minimum of two to make ends meet, that does not leave you much time to do anything else but hustle for your next gig; not to mention the vulnerability inherent in their no-benefits nature, no healthcare, likely very little sick time or time off etc.
Not having a social life for people in the "gig economy" also seems like a very bad decision, because if your network is not large it will be very difficult for you to find your next part-time gig when one of your current ones ends. As much as a $8 something is a lot of money, if that $8 enables you to meet somebody that knows somebody that can get you a gig it might be a necessary investment unfortunately.
The margin for error nowadays is extremely thin: some years back let's say you made a bad decision and went for an "unmarketable" degree, if you finished it you were still very likely to get a better-than-minimum-wage job, and it would be extremely unlikely that you'd be in any significant debt. This job would also likely have been full-time, and paid enough for you to have a modest lifestyle without having to depend on handouts, couch surfing, subletting etc. etc.
Until not that long ago a lot of people were able to put themselves through college by working summer jobs, that does not seem as realistic nowadays with the costs involved.
Also nowadays once you get out of college what next? entry-level jobs that lead to a full time career are few and far between, factory jobs are a shadow of what they once were, there are a plethora of "gig jobs" but they don't really allow one to consider things like settling down and having kids due to their temporary nature.
As much as the author of the article might have made some mistakes (who doesn't) it still doesn't disprove their thesis of the "gig economy" not fostering a stable and predictable life path, or at least not as stable and as predictable as it used to be one or two generations back.