The last few decades have witnessed prolonged levels of high unemployment across the world. As much as

Question:

The last few decades have witnessed prolonged levels of high unemployment across the world. As much as technological advancement has been blamed for many job losses, recent research suggests1 that it has actually helped transform the job market and create more jobs. Digitalization, in particular, has resulted in the birth of the sharing economy, a community based shared online market platform built around peer-topeer- based renting, borrowing, swapping, and collaborating of assets, capital, and labor. The sharing economy is a new socioeconomic system whose revenue is estimated to grow from $14 billion in 2014 to $335 billion by 2025. Such a platform allows low-income consumers access to items that were previously unaffordable. In the job market, entrepreneurs can access low-cost and high-outreach market platforms to sustain themselves and generate employment.

Individuals who are seasonally unemployed can have access to temporary jobs, and those who are structurally unemployed can generate income independently till they acquire the skills needed for permanent employment. Similarly, those in need of flexible working hours can make extra income.

In fact, profit can be generated even without employment, such as by sharing a car or renting assets! Apps such as Uber, TaskRabbit, Airbnb, and La Ruche qui dit Oui have given customers access to customized goods and services in this manner.

Economist Arun Sundararajan argues that since the supply of capital and labor comes from decentralized crowds of individuals, the future of exchange is in crowd-based marketplaces rather than by centralized third parties.

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