Life as a 'precarian' – it’s not as bad a gig as you might think

'Precarians' – workers on precarious contracts – have none of the protections that traditional employees have. But evidence suggests they are doing better than the average worker, says Matthew Lynn.

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The gig economy has been turned up to 11

The "gig economy", the phrase used to describe the rapid growth of self-employment and micro-businesses, has been by far the fastest-growing sector of the economy in the past five years, and a huge new source of growth.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.