In Brazil, working for Uber is a bigger deal than working formally for a company. Hence, the so-called Uberization of this South American country’s working class. Is it a good thing, or a bad thing? Ridesharingforum.com weighs-in as it looks into what people say about this.
What is Uberization?
Uberization is a term-play for “Uber,” and when connected to the working class, or the Uberization of the working class, it means a paradigm shift to relying on driving or working for Uber paying more than actually working formally for corporations, or maybe even starting a business. Running a business is difficult nowadays, you know!
The Uberization of the working class is the shift from traditional, salaried jobs, to on-demand, app-based gig work. Companies classify workers as independent contractors rather than employees, cutting labor costs and shifting financial risks, maintenance expenses, and benefits onto the workers themselves. How people learn about this is either through word-of-mouth, or through communities and neighborhoods.
These are characterized by:
- Misclassification
- Algorithmic control
- Shifted costs
- Precarity and isolation
What the Brazilian government says
Financial Times wrote a full story on this, citing Rafael Antunes as an example, a truck driver for 20 years, from which he was able to buy a tiny house in the northern suburbs of Rio de Janeiro and put a daughter, get this, through a private university.
He lost this job two years ago, but found opportunity driving for Uber.
“His experience explains much about what is happening beneath the surface in Brazil’s economy – and why President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s re-election bid is struggling badly,” the newspaper wrote. “While the world’s wealthiest countries dread the impact of AI on their labor markets, Brazil is still trying to adapt to the last technological wave, as the gig economy spreads like wildfire.”
Spreading like wildfire, it is. But, the people are not convinced. This is not something they want to see the government should do, which is why Lula is struggling for re-election.
What the people say
No, not the lyrics to a Macklemore song. People are sharing their insights, too.
Over on Reddit, a Redditor stated, “If the economy looks worse, it’s because entire industries are in a state of flux with AI. And things are changing. And most companies send money to American companies as tokens. So how can new jobs grow? The only way is to create infrastructure to do research and manufacturing, that’s how a trickle-down economy can work, by incentivizing newer technology to evolve under sovereign ground. When the right wing is aiming to satisfy the needs of another country by exporting all its natural resources, Brazil isn’t creating any economy, it’s just trading its future, and for cheap.”
Meanwhile, Alex Da Silva on Facebook, from Brazil, but now lives in Portugal argued about that story being completely PR stunt, record-low unemployment, the real inflation, and government debt, saying that Uber and McDonald’s in Brazil are the only companies giving opportunities. What are your thoughts?