Blue-collar gig-economy workers, as a survey commissioned by The Sunday Times reveals, occupy a convenient but rather precarious place in the overall economy. Convenience derives from their freedom to earn, even without entry-level qualifications, sometimes as much as white-collar workers do. Gig workers can put in flexible hours that reflect their need to balance work and other commitments. Also, gig work can supplement a primary source of income, thus monetising time that might have otherwise been wasted. At a time of technological disruption spreading not just across jobs but industries, the gig economy became a safe bet, relatively, because it was embedded in immediate networks of consumption.

Food-delivery riders and private-hire drivers, for example, benefit consumers who need food to be delivered to their doorstep quickly, or commuters who need to book a ride here and now. When demand benefits, so does supply. After all, no worker would have participated in the gig economy had it not given him or her something commensurate with the monetary expectations from formal work. In the process, gigs kept people away from welfare, which could entrench unemployment among certain groups by making the rest of society pay to support them. In Singapore, where the national work ethic underpins a fundamental linking of effort and reward, the gig economy is an adjunct of the conventional economy.