New England Study Group Seminar at Boston FED

On Tuesday, December 18th, I have attended the New England Study Group seminar hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's Research Department. Andrew Garin from the National Bureau of Economic Research presented his research with the title "Growth in Supply and Demand for Contingent Work: Evidence from Tax Returns".

The “gig economy” has soared into mainstream business consciousness in recent years, but what does it mean? In many ways, it is the antithesis of “jobs for life,” which tended to define the 20th century. The gig economy is supported and accelerated by the rise of technology and customers who expect goods and services to arrive faster and more flexibly than ever before. In an effort to meet these demands, businesses and governments need access to highly skilled professionals for short-term projects to drive innovation and rapid change. At the same time, workers are looking for work opportunities that offer greater flexibility and variety. Technology is the key enabler to facilitate the nature of supply and demand where available talent meets organizational need.

Contingent work has grown rapidly in the U.S. in recent years, but the sources of this growth remain largely unknown. Garin uses longitudinally linked tax data combining individual returns (1040s) and firm-issued information returns on both non-employment labor earnings (1099s) and employment earnings (W-2s) to study how individuals and households transition into and out of alternative work. He documents pathways leading both individuals and firms into alternative work arrangements and examine whether tax policy may have contributed to these changes.