“We Are So Tired:” A Community-Based Participatory Study on the Future of Work

• In Event: 30659 - Public Sociology and Engaged Scholarship Part II

Abstract

Across the U.S., millions of gig and nonstandard workers–those working outside full-time, direct-hire, long-term employment–are excluded by labor laws and by the narrow measures used to gather data on work. They are also disproportionately Black, Brown, queer, disabled, and young. This project, conducted by a labor organization dedicated to improving working conditions across the country, centers young gig workers and lifts up their voices as experts on their own lives and leaders in creating an inclusive economy.

At the heart of this project is a participatory approach, which seeks to equip and empower people to be researchers of their own conditions and voices for change. It engages more than 100 gig workers, aged 16 to 24 and residing in multiple cities, who are disconnected from traditional employment arrangements into an examination of the key challenges they face and their ideas for solutions. Participant-researchers were engaged in open listening conversations, followed by collaborative analysis sessions in which they reviewed each others’ comments and experiences and synthesized them into key findings. These findings include the realities of insecurity and low-wage work, the absence of career pathways for young workers, and the disregard for mental health experienced in workplaces. They also include a roadmap for improvement, centered on structural solutions that provide liveable wages and reliable career paths.

The value in this work is both the understanding of emerging labor market challenges and solutions from the perspective of the people living through them, and in the methodological approach of shifting the power of research over to the people at its center, facilitated by a community-led organization.

Author

• Shelly Steward, The Workers Lab