Just listening to Jim Chanos on his views on gig economy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StybwIP8O8k). One point he makes is that companies pay a lot more on top of salaries towards unemployment pool etc that gig economy companies don't. He basically said that this entire gig economy is fraud based on transferring all these burden to tax payers unlike normal companies who have normal employees.
FWIW generally exploiting the government is a source of value for a lot of companies. I wouldn’t limit this to just gig economy start-ups (although it’s a fascinating case).
Take Wal-mart, whose employees are paid so low and have so few benefits they may require government assistance from housing, food, to healthcare. [1]
Additionally season businesses like construction and landscaping business dynamics are essentially built on government subsidies. Every summer they hire hourly workers during peak building season and then in the winter lay them off so they can cut costs during the less busy season. Since the employees get laid off, they collect unemployment. [2]
The contractors that drive for Uber, etc, don't qualify for unemployment benefits so the reduced burden on UI should even out with the reduced contributions, no?
