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I mean, if the benefits are becoming less, etc, people might be able to get by if they are healthy enough. But if they are older or if they have high prescription med costs or other things, it seems they won't get by unless somehow they can get onto Medicaid (I did, but it's the ninth circle of hell working with them).
Also, considering that all of these jobs seem to have Good Communication Skills so prominently, it's almost like it's saying "Aspergers Need Not Apply" on it.
So are those like us screwed in the gig economy barring Divine Intervention or something like that?
Gigs like building websites don’t require excellent verbal communication skills. I think those types of jobs, which are great for entrepreneurs, are well-suited for people with Aspergers and similar conditions. Ideally, health coverage should not be tied to employment at all. I know we are still functioning like a barely developed nation in that respect, unfortunately.
Employers subscribing into the gig economy want young healthy workers who can work hard, putting in many overtime hours, and who can be easily replaced by short term contracts. These employers don't care about a worker's health, sick days, vacations, and other perks because unlike salaried positions these perks are absent in gig contracts. Plus, even if a worker does their gig in an Outstanding manner, he or she can be easily replaced at the end of their contract by another worker who can underbid the new contract by agreeing to work for less money.
That said, I think that the emerging gig economy actually gives people with health problems and older people a better shot at getting gig contracts rather than salaried or other permanent positions. Since in a gig economy employers don't provide for health insurance and time off, and since gig contracts are short, sick and weak workers can still get gigs if they suck it up and work hard ignoring their weak health and the potential to further harm their health. If they can work at a frenetic pace, do good work, and keep lowering their rate of pay with the completion of their contracts to ward off the competition, then they have a shot. Older workers are also benefited since the gigs are short and the employer is not expecting them to work for years for them but just for months or less.
Employers subscribing into the gig economy want young healthy workers who can work hard, putting in many overtime hours, and who can be easily replaced by short term contracts. These employers don't care about a worker's health, sick days, vacations, and other perks because unlike salaried positions these perks are absent in gig contracts. Plus, even if a worker does their gig in an Outstanding manner, he or she can be easily replaced at the end of their contract by another worker who can underbid the new contract by agreeing to work for less money.
That said, I think that the emerging gig economy actually gives people with health problems and older people a better shot at getting gig contracts rather than salaried or other permanent positions. Since in a gig economy employers don't provide for health insurance and time off, and since gig contracts are short, sick and weak workers can still get gigs if they suck it up and work hard ignoring their weak health and the potential to further harm their health. If they can work at a frenetic pace, do good work, and keep lowering their rate of pay with the completion of their contracts to ward off the competition, then they have a shot. Older workers are also benefited since the gigs are short and the employer is not expecting them to work for years for them but just for months or less.
Were you being sarcastic with that last paragraph?
Compared to when? 50 years ago, they were kept out of sight...
Hitler killed them along with Jews for comparison... the economy is working in favor of people on the scale more than in the past
I do believe we've gone up in fortune since the ADA was passed but fear that, within the last few years, things have slowly started to turn the other way. Sure IT might help us, but it's being outsourced or taken over by H1Bs and the other industries tend to be more extroverted.
We did well after the ADA was passed and with the IT heyday, but now things seem to be slowly going south.
Were you being sarcastic with that last paragraph?
No, not really. The information in that paragraph is true. However, it would take great efforts by sick workers to work like that. But it is possible.
For older workers who are in great health though it is a more serious advantage. Since older workers typically have more experience and developed skills than youngsters, they would be more valued by employers in a gig economy since the negatives of employing older workers would be suppressed or eliminated.
First, health insurance costs more for older workers. But gig employers do not provide health benefits so that factor does not matter.
Second, whether older or younger workers take more sick days does not matter. You don't get sick days in a gig economy.
Third, older workers won't be able to work for a company as long as younger workers. But gig contracts are short so that does not matter. The gig worker will be dropped after awhile anyway.
What only matters is the work that you produce, so the playing field has been leveled.
Were you being sarcastic with that last paragraph?
No, I don’t think so. I had a coworker whose wife had a chronic health issue. I am not sure what it was, but she was a freelance worker and could pick up work when she felt well enough to do so and not work when her health issues would have prevented her from being able to work. If she had a regular job, she would probably end up losing it because she would miss too much work.
With the affordable care act, people with these conditions could also actually buy insurance for the first time instead of being excluded due to preexisting conditions, so they could actually do freelance work and get insurance. In the past, they had more problems since insurance was simply not available. There are plenty of people who have chronic health conditions who get better for a while and then get worse again. I know people who have conditions like Crohns, MS, etc. FMLA helps people with these conditions to some extent, but not all companies are large enough to fall under FMLA and you actually have to work at a place a year before you qualify.
Of course it is. I don’t see how anybody can honestly deny it.
Any barrier to getting or performing a job is amplified for people with disabilities. Lack of consistent, affordable, reliable health care only exacerbates the problem.
At a minimum, we should have single payer, socialized medicine. That will help to level the field. It will be impossible to completely compensate for aspergers, etc, and I don’t think that it is necessary or desirable to do so.
Most employment is tilted against people who are not "normal," and that is among the narrow constraints corporate America defines it as.
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