Gig Economy

DH explained self employed, other poster (another thread) said he was wrong.

I hire people to help out. I believe they are self employed as was DH, but I no longer know for sure and I prefer to do the correct thing if possible. I think the garden man is self employed, the house cleaner as well. Hair in home, I don't know. I pay very well and tip generously.

I think gig-employed = self employed but applied mainly to those at the bottom of the wage scale doing delivery work or similar, like food delivery services, couriers etc. They are usually paid a set amount per delivery/trip/work task.

Zero-hours are employed by a company, often retailers like supermarkets or courier companies but the employees contractual working hours per week are set at zero and they can be asked to work as many or as few hours as their employers require - and only get paid for the hours they work.

With both the above weekly wages and working hours can vary widely from week to week.

Generally, self employed means you work for yourself and choose how much or little you work, what you do and your charges, bearing in mind the industry you are in and what is considered the going rate for the job. The Inland Revenue rule used to be that you were not entirely dependent on one employer for all your work (must have changed, see gig economy above.)

Dh is a retired Chartered Engineer and is self employed. He only works for one employer, a friend, and only takes on the work he wants to do, he is entirely free to turn work down - and does.

This is a first run at a definition and I am sure others can improve on it

Differences to gig employed, self employed, zero contract employed are not clear to me.

Which is it when I pay to have the garden mowed, the house cleaned, hair done in home, or fetch delivery setup accomplished not by a shop but an unemployed person?

I tip and pay very well, that is not my difficulty to this issue.

I think the living wage rate for self-employed people, where the employer is not paying NI, holiday pay, pension contributions etc should be higher than for those on the minimum wage but getting employee benefits. It would remove the incentive for companies to use self-employed people in this way. The living wage could be increased by the value of the benefits that the employer is not paying.

That would help people in the UK. I am only too aware of the sweat shop overseas problem but, like others, feel torn both ways.

Yes, it's very difficult cheese.

I don't shop at Primark because their prices are so low that one wonders what they pay the producers, but I do buy Kenyan green beans! The latter because there is a price premium so one can hope some of it reaches the producers and their workers.

Back to our Gig Economy as it's nearer home ....

Same with cheap clothes. If we can afford to pay more, should we buy clothes made by children in sweatshops? Or if we don't buy them, will people lose their jobs?

I like your idea of tipping the drivers.
Another quandary is: Do we buy green beans from Kenya to help the Kenyan farmers? Or do we worry about the air miles and the environment?