Welcome to the Tech Policy Podcast, your source for policy rants and raves and recycling the same guests over and over.

From Tech Freedom, your Washington, D.C. advocate for the freedom to tinker and innovate.

I'm Evan Schwarzen Sorschacharber, your host. On today's show, skilled professionals in the gig economy,

the sharing economy, whatever you want to call it. While most of the focus is on companies like Uber

or Airbnb, skilled professionals like handymen, mechanics, and personal trainers are also taking

advantage of online platforms like Thumbtack to find customers. Does skilled labor truly represent a separate aspect of the

sharing economy? Should regulators treat it differently than load skilled labor? Joining me to discuss

this is Jared Meyer, a research fellow at the Manhattan Institute and author of Uber Positive,

why Americans love the sharing economy. Jared, thank you so much for joining me yet again.

Hey, thanks for having me, Evan.

Well, today, Thumbtack, an online marketplace for professional services,

like handymen and personal trainers,

released a study titled,

Beyond the Gig Economy,

how new technologies are reshaping the future of work.

The report draws on thumb tax proprietary data

from tens of thousands of small businesses, as well as the latest economic data, labor statistics,

and forecasts. So, Jared, one of the findings here is that the low-skilled gig economy job is

unsustainable. Thumb tax report seems to suggest that jobs like driving for Uber are going to be taken

out by things like automated cars and other forms of automation.

What do you think about this and other findings in the report?

Well, first we should point out what Thumbtack is.

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