Work, Employment, and the "App" Economy: Job Creation or Increased Inequality
On February 7th, Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy and The Goodfriend Group convened a discussion among leading labor economists, application developers, organized labor, and employment advocates to address the nature of work and employment in the “app” economy.
Panelists explored changes in labor and the nature of work, as well as the distribution of economic benefits stemming from technological integration, particularly in the wake of California’s new legislation addressing the treatment of “gig” workers as employees (CA AB5) and related policy developments. Data on app-related job creation provide a very general picture of aggregate employment but policymakers would benefit from more targeted information regarding the labor impacts of the App economy, especially on underserved communities (rural, minority, low-income, and others). Economic researchers from a variety of backgrounds, and stakeholders from labor, employment, and app development will tackle some of the most pressing issues at the intersection of work and technology.
Panel One: Economic Research
Dr. Katharine Abraham, University of Maryland. Professor of Economics, Professor of Survey Methodology and Director of the Maryland Center for Economics and Policy. Former Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 1993 through 2001 and Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2011 through 2013.
Dr. Dmitri Koutsas, University of Chicago, Assistant Professor at Harris School of Public Policy focused on measuring and understanding the reasons why households participate in alternative work arrangements like the gig economy.
Dr. Chandra Childers, Study Director, Inst. for Women's Policy Research and an expert on social stratification, social and economic inequality by race and sex, especially related to women and girls of color.
Panel Two: Stakeholders
Sam Loesche, Legislative Representative, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, leads transportation public policy and government relations for the nation’s largest transportation union, focusing on the union’s core surface transportation portfolio.
Tanya Goldman, Senior Policy Analyst, Attorney, Job Quality, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), focusing on policy solutions that improve job quality for workers, strengthen worker protections, and increase economic security for low-income working families.
Graham Dufault, Senior Director for Public Policy, ACT/The App Association, which represents more than 5,000 app makers and connected device companies in the mobile economy, and former counsel to the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Deon Gordon, President and CEO, TechBirmingham, a non-profit working to strengthen and promote the technology ecosystem by promoting tech companies in the Birmingham, Alabama region, helping to recruit and retain tech talent and entrepreneurs, and providing opportunities for technical training and education.
Moderators:
Dr. Harry Holzer is the John LaFarge Jr. SJ Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University's McCourt School of Public Policy, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings, and an Institute Fellow at the American Institute for Research in Washington DC. He served as Chief Economist for the U.S. Department of Labor, was a founding faculty director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality, and is an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
David Goodfriend is President of The Goodfriend Group, a public policy advocacy firm specializing in technology, telecommunications, and media. He is an adjunct professor at The Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University School of Law, and served as Deputy Staff Secretary to President Clinton, Media Legal Advisor to an FCC Commissioner, and professional staff member to committees of the U.S. Senate and House.