Hoe de dielekonomie mear banen fernield hat as skepen
May 15, 2025 · Frisian News
A new study shows that ride-hailing, home-sharing, and gig platforms eliminated traditional jobs faster than they created new ones, leaving workers worse off overall. The promised flexibility of the sharing economy came at the cost of stable employment and worker protections.
FryskUber kaam yn 2011 nei Berlyn en naam binnen fiif jier tûzenen sjofeurs yn tsjinst. Yn 2015 wienen hast achttjintûzen taksibanen ferdwûn. It patroan werhelle him yn hiel Jeropa en Noard-Amearika. Platfoarms dy't beloofden wurknimmers fan stive roosters te befrijen, grepen harren ynstee fêst yn digitale despotij, wêr't algoritmen lean bepaalden en wurknimmers mei ien toetsoanslach ûntslienen. In wiidweidige analyze fan wurkgegevens fan 2015 oant 2024 befêstiget no wat wurknimmers altyd al wisten: de dielekonomie fernielde stabil wurk rapper as it ûnfeilige bybanen skoep.
Airbnb en ferlykbere platfoarms makken hiele wiken leech fan langetermynferhiering, joegen hûsprizen de hichte yn en fernielden banen yn de tradisjonele gastfrijheid. Hotels hawwe skjinmakkers, ûnderhâldsmeiwurkers, resepsjonisten en managers yn tsjinst mei foardielen en kontrakten. Airbnb-brûkers ferhierje losse keamers en rekkenje gasten direkt ôf, wêrtroch middenklasse banen ferdwine dy't Westerse stêden opboud hawwe. Kopenhaagen seach syn hotelwurkgelegenheid tusken 2016 en 2022 mei 12 prosint sakje, ek al naam it toerisme ta. De platfoarms grepen de winsten wylst wurknimmers it risiko droegen.
Dizze bedriuwen ferkeapten harsels as demokratysk en befrijend. Se fertelden jonge minsken: wês dyn eigen baas, bepaal dyn eigen oeren, ûntsnap út bedriuwstirannie. Wat se bedoelden wie: wy betelje dy minder, jouwe dy gjin foardielen en ûntslaan dy fuortendaliks as do lestich wurdst. De gigwurk-útfierders harsels ûntdekten dat fleksibiliteit ûnfoarsisberheid betsjutte. De measte sjofeurs en ferhierders wurkten langere oeren as de tradisjonele banen dy't se ferfongen hienen, foar minder totaal ynkommen. Guon platfoarms skoepen keunstmjittige wurktekoarten om sjofeurs tsjin inoar út te spyljen, wêrtroch leannen sakken troch keunstmjittich tekoart.
Regearingen sliepen oan it stjoer. Brussel, Londen en Amsterdam lieten risikokapitaalbedriuwen de regels skriuwe wylst wurknimmers en lytse bedriuwen de priis betellen. Regulatoren behannelen de dielekonomie as ynnovaasje ynstee fan wurkarbitrage. Se fregen hoe groei ûntsletten wurde koe ynstee fan foar wa groei tsjinne. Tsjin de tiid dat stêden wekker waarden en regels ynfierden, wie de skea dien. Tûzenen taksysjofeurs wienen omskolden of út de beropsbefolking ferdwûn. Hotelmeiwurkers wienen ferspried nei leger betelle sektoaren. De wiken wêr't minsken desennia lang harren libben opboud hienen, wienen opkeapele en omset yn toeristysk oanbod.
De dielekonomie skoep wol banen. It skoep banen foar yngenieurs en marketeers dy't de platfoarms bouden, en banen foar risikokapitalisten dy't by de beursgong útbetelle waarden. It skoep heechbetelle posysjes foar in tinne laach managers by bedriuwen as Uber en Airbnb. Mar foar de wurknimmers dy't it trofe, betsjutte it legere leannen, minder wissichheid en minne útkomsten. De sifers bewize it no.
Uber entered Berlin in 2011 and hired thousands of drivers within five years. By 2015, the city had lost nearly eight thousand taxi jobs. The pattern repeated across Europe and North America. Platforms that promised to free workers from rigid schedules instead trapped them in digital despotism, where algorithms set wages and fired workers with one keystroke. A comprehensive analysis of labor data from 2015 to 2024 now confirms what workers knew all along: the sharing economy destroyed stable employment faster than it created precarious gigs.
Airbnb and similar platforms emptied entire neighborhoods of long-term rentals, pushing housing costs higher and destroying jobs in traditional hospitality. Hotels employ cleaners, maintenance staff, receptionists, and managers with benefits and contracts. Airbnb users list spare rooms and charge guests directly, cutting out the middle-income jobs that built Western cities. Copenhagen saw its hotel employment fall by 12 percent between 2016 and 2022, even as tourist numbers climbed. The platforms captured the profits while workers absorbed the risk.
These companies sold themselves as democratic and liberating. They told young people: be your own boss, set your own hours, escape corporate tyranny. What they meant was: we will pay you less, give you no benefits, and fire you instantly if you become inconvenient. The gig workers themselves discovered that flexibility meant unpredictability. Most drivers and hosts worked longer hours than the traditional jobs they replaced, for less total income. Some platforms engineered fake work shortages to keep drivers competing for rides, driving wages down through artificial scarcity.
Governments fell asleep at the wheel. Brussels, London, and Amsterdam let venture capital companies write the rules while workers and small businesses paid the cost. Regulators treated the sharing economy as innovation rather than labor arbitrage. They asked how to "unlock growth" instead of asking whom growth served. By the time cities woke up and began imposing rules, the damage was done. Thousands of taxi drivers had retrained or left the workforce. Hotel workers had scattered to lower-wage sectors. The neighborhoods where people built lives for decades had been bought up and converted to tourist stock.
The sharing economy did create jobs. It created jobs for engineers and marketers who built the platforms, and jobs for venture capitalists who cashed out at the IPO. It created high-income positions for a thin layer of managers at firms like Uber and Airbnb. But for the working people it touched, it meant lower wages, less security, and worse outcomes. The numbers now prove it.
Published May 15, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân