Well-being and mental health in the gig economy
Item
Title
Well-being and mental health in the gig economy
Creator
Gross, Sally-Anne
Musgrave, George
Janciute, Laima
Date
2018
Publisher
University of Westminster Press
Description
A response is needed to the numerous issues spurred by the expansion of the gig economy, where flexible patterns of employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs. In this context of the exponential growth of the digital economy and underlying business models the largest nationwide study of its kind into the impact of the working conditions in the UK music industry ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ has been conducted by MusicTank/University of Westminster. This research suggests the need to consider the future of work not only from an economic or employment law perspective but from a mental health one too. What are the psychological implications of precarious work and how are factors such as financial instability, the feedback economy and personal relationships reflected in mental health outcomes or connected to the business relationships most musicians and other gig economy participants work under? Authors Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute consider which policy measures may help or harm gig economy workers including the taxation of self-employed workers, a universal basic income, education around mental health issues and access to mental health support
Subject
Medicine (General)
Media and communication
Psychology
Sociology
Arts in general
Language
English
isbn
9781911534907
9781911534891
content
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WELL-BEING AND
MENTAL HEALTH IN
THE GIG ECONOMY
Policy Perspectives on Precarity
SALLY-ANNE GROSS
GEORGE MUSGRAVE
and LAIMA JANCIUTE
CAMRI Policy Briefs 4
THE AUTHORS
SALLY-ANNE GROSS is Principal Lecturer in Music Business
Management, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of
Westminster and a music manager. With George Musgrave she
authored the two-part study nationwide study ‘Can Music Make
You Sick?’.
Dr GEORGE MUSGRAVE is Senior Lecturer in Music Business
Management, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of
Westminster and a musician. With Sally-Anne Gross he authored
the two-part study nationwide study ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’.
DR LAIMA JANCIUTE was Research Fellow of the Policy
Observatory at the Communication and Media Research Institute
(CAMRI), University of Westminster.
ABOUT CAMRI
CAMRI (the Communication and Media Research
Institute) at the University of Westminster is a
world-leading centre of media and communication
research. It is renowned for critical and
international research that investigates the role of
media, culture and communication(s) in society.
CAMRI’s research is based on a broader purpose and vision for
society: its work examines how the media and society interact and
aims to contribute to progressive social change, equality, freedom,
justice, and democracy. CAMRI takes a public interest and
humanistic approach that seeks to promote participation, facilitate
informed debate, and strengthen capabilities for critical thinking,
complex problem solving and creativity.
camri.ac.uk
SERIES DESCRIPTION
The CAMRI Policy Brief series provides rigorous and evidence-based policy
advice and policy analysis on a variety of media and communicationrelated topics. In an age where the accelerated development of media
and communications creates profound opportunities and challenges for
society, politics and the economy, this series cuts through the noise and
offers up-to-date knowledge and evidence grounded in original research in
order to respond to these changes in all their complexity.
By using Open Access and a concise, easy-to-read format, this peerreviewed series aims to make new research from the University of
Westminster available to the public, to policymakers, practitioners,
journalists, activists and scholars both nationally and internationally.
camri.ac.uk/policy-observatory
CAMRI Policy Briefs (2018)
Series Editors:
Professor Steve Barnett
Professor Christian Fuchs
Dr Anastasia Kavada
Nora Kroeger
Dr Maria Michalis
THE ONLINE ADVERTISING TAX: A Digital Policy Innovation
Christian Fuchs
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS
Mercedes Bunz and Laima Janciute
APPEARANCE, DISCRIMINATION AND THE MEDIA
Diana Garrisi, Laima Janciute, and Jacob Johanssen
WELL–BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY
Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute
CAMRI extended policy report (2018)
THE ONLINE ADVERTISING TAX AS THE FOUNDATION OF
A PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNET
Christian Fuchs
WELL-BEING AND
MENTAL HEALTH IN THE
GIG ECONOMY
POLICY PERSPECTIVES ON PRECARITY
Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and
Laima Janciute
A CAMRI POLICY BRIEF
Published by
University of Westminster Press
115 New Cavendish Street
London W1W 6UW
www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk
Text © Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute
First published 2018
Cover: ketchup-productions.co.uk
Digital versions typeset by Siliconchips Services Ltd.
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-911534-89-1 (not available for sale)
ISBN (PDF): 978-1-911534-90-7
ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-911534-91-4
ISBN (Kindle): 978-1-911534-92-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book32
Series: CAMRI Policy Briefs
ISSN 2516-5712 (Print)
ISSN 2516-5720 (Online)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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commercial purposes and that modified versions are not distributed.
The full text of this book has been peer-reviewed to ensure high academic standards. For full review policies, see: http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/publish/
Competing Interests
This research on which this Policy Brief is founded was commissioned by Help
Musicians UK (Registered charity number 228089). The commissioners had a
collaborative role in the design of the study, however, had no role in: the conduct of the study; the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the decision
of the submission of the manuscript; or in the preparation, review or approval of
the manuscript. The views expressed here are those of the authors and not those
of the commissioners
Suggested citation:
Gross, Sally-Anne, Musgrave, George and Janciute, Laima. 2018 Well-Being and
Mental Health in the Gig Economy: Policy Perspectives on Precarity. London:
University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book32.
License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
To read the free, open access version of this book
online, visit https://doi.org/10.16997/book32 or
scan this QR code with your mobile device:
CONTENTS
Key Messages
4
What’s the Issue?
7
Research Evidence
12
Financial Instability
15
The Feedback Economy
16
Relationships17
Review of Policy Options
20
Increasing Tax for the Self-Employed20
Policy Recommendations
A Universal Basic Income
Education is Key
Access to Mental Health Support
22
22
24
25
Notes26
Sources and Further Reading
31
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH
IN THE GIG ECONOMY
L Key Messages
This policy brief provides research evidence into the working conditions of the UK music industry that indicates
the necessity to consider the future of work not only from
an economic or employment law perspective, but also
in terms of wider societal implications that include the
health and well-being of workers.
In the last d
ecade or so, casual, short-term forms of employment have increased significantly. This development has
been linked to deindustrialisation and, more generally to the
expansion of neoliberal economics globally1. These changes
have had a significant impact on labour relations as employers have moved away from offering long-term employment
contracts favouring instead ‘flexible’ and freelance work,
often based on zero-hours/on-demand contracts.
This mode of employment is now commonly referred to
as the gig economy. These working conditions are often
described as being particular to the so-called digital economy
and its underlying business models. However, long before
the arrival of the internet there certainly have been many
industries that relied on this ‘work for hire’ model such as
the building trade, agricultural work and many of the skilled
trades including areas of cultural labour. However, the creative industries are indeed characterised by these working
conditions, where self-employment and short-term project
based work have been the norm for decades2.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 5
The research which informs this policy brief suggests that
given the expansion of this type of short-term employment,
it is important to understand how these working conditions
impact on self-employed workers, their families and wider
society. This research suggests that:
>> Working within these precarious conditions of employment may have psychologically harmful effects.
>> Key issues raised by musicians are: financial instability, the requirement to maintain an online presence and
network which exposes individuals to relentless opinion
and criticism, and the ambiguity of relationships in the
music economy with blurry boundaries between friendships and work relationships.
Based on the research evidence of the potential harmful
effects that precarious employment conditions may have on
the individuals working in it, this policy brief makes the following recommendations:
>> The sector of freelance and/or creative self-employment
needs to establish health and safety regulations like
those that exist in other institutionalised workplaces.
>> In order to counter the issues caused by the gig economy,
the government should act against the spread of precarious working conditions and promote fair business
models.
6 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
>> Instead of increasing financial and/or administrative
burdens placed on the self-employed, the government
should design policies that provide support to workers
in the gig economy.
>> A universal basic income scheme would enable selfemployed workers to meet their essential needs while
staying in their profession.
>> Fostering knowledge about mental health amongst
workers in the gig economy would enable them to take
appropriate action when faced with mental health issues.
>> Improving access to mental health support for selfemployed people – with a particular focus on stress and
anxiety management – is vital.
b WHAT’S THE ISSUE?
The expansion of the so-called gig economy, where flexible
patterns of employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs,
is causing numerous issues. The UK Government’s inquiry into
Employment Practices in the Modern Economy is a much-needed
initiative in response to this trend: the number of self-employed
workers in Britain has increased by 1 million between 2008 and
20153, while so-called ‘zero-hours contracts’ have also reached a
record high4. The transformation in British labour relations and
the departure from traditional forms of employment is part of
a global trend that has emerged as a result of new technologyenabled business models. This trend is exemplified in the digital
economy and the decrease in full-time long-term job offers over
the last decade or so. Indeed, according to the Office for National
Statistics’ most recent report on self-employment: ‘the number
of self-employed reporting themselves as working on their own,
or with a partner but no employees, has increased between 2001
and 2016, while those who report themselves as having e mployees
has fallen over the same period’5. This mirrors the conditions
frequently found within the music sector. Apart from the increase
in earlier forms of flexible work, such as part-time employment or
8 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
fixed-term contracts, new patterns of atypical work contracts and
‘on demand’ work have also proliferated6.
Work is increasingly being carried out on online platforms connecting buyers and sellers, or by large project
teams across borders and time zones [. . .] Active labourmarket policies are needed to cater for the changing reality in the world of work. This concerns social security
systems, which must adapt to new, constantly changing,
requirements7.
These shifts have given rise to tensions around access to high
quality essential services by workers of the gig economy. These
include issues such as whether social protection is adequate and
sustainable, whether working conditions are fair, whether there is
a balance between flexibility and security elements, and what and
how high the risks are for both workers and employers8. While
self-employment is seen as key for economic recovery, i nnovation
and competitiveness, ‘the relationship between self-employment
and social security has long been problematic, contested and
complex’9. A recent BBC article reported on the struggle of a
successful blogger and a single parent to qualify for tax credits
for example10. This case demonstrates how the self-employed have
always been evaluated differently under benefit regulations which
makes their claims for support more d
ifficult. In the meantime,
the UK Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee stated in the
context of its inquiry into the gig economy that the expansion of
self-employment in many cases is bogus and should be interpreted
as the companies’ ‘free-riding on the welfare state’11.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 9
Some stakeholders and commentators, including online
platforms-based companies, defend the gig economy and flexible
employment as a reciprocally beneficial business model, and
say that it is only a ‘natural future of work’ – to be celebrated12.
They also make claims that offering greater employment benefits
would result in less work, overall13. Whilst one could argue that
self-employment is a matter of choice, it has to be noted that
within the creative sector this model of employment is the norm.
Although this may offer the self-employed workers a degree of
autonomy, it has always left them vulnerable to market changes14
as well as changes in income tax and anomalies in social security
benefits.
The Uber drivers’ case brought to the Employment Tribunal15
and other cases16 suggest that models of work with reduced social
security guarantees are often not desirable from the workers’
perspective. The recent UK Parliament Work and
Pensions
Committee’s inquiry, mentioned above, concluded that the
growth of the ‘gig economy’ might be used as a way to escape
the welfare state model and that self-employment is often abused.
The need to reinforce workers’ rights in response to drastic
changes in the labour market that have led ‘to more temporary
jobs and more people being treated as independent contractors’17
has also been seen internationally. The EU has just presented its
proposals addressing this issue18 (involving in many cases social
dumping and unfair competition)19.
‘models of work with reduced social security
guarantees are often not desirable from the
workers’ perspective’
10 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
Those in favour of the gig economy emphasise the flexibility of
this type of work. However, the reality for the workforce is more
complex. For low paid self-employed workers, accessing benefits designed to encourage work – such as working tax credits
and housing benefits – can be frustratingly time consuming and
often futile20. Concerns that such working conditions are bad
for workers in comparison to full-time workers in permanent
employment have been raised on various occasions. Even for
higher earning workers self-employment presents difficulties, for
example it can cause problems when obtaining financial references
and/or statements for renting or mortgages and for other forms of
credit which in turn has implications for their spending capacity
and national growth. The sustainability of the business and
work models of the gig economy can thus be questioned. These
trends can be seen clearly in the study outlined below, which
also highlights the potentially harmful effects of working
within precarious conditions of employment on workers’ mental
health.
‘there is a necessity to consider the future of
work not only from an economic or employment
law perspective, but also from a well-being
perspective too.’
The research suggests that there is a necessity to consider the
future of work not only from an economic or employment law
perspective, but also from a well-being perspective too. The
research findings suggest the potential impact of the gig economy
not only on workers’ earning potential, but also the potentially
negative implication for their health and well-being.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 11
This policy brief draws particular attention to the impact on
the population’s mental health caused by precarious forms of
work, such as those seen in the gig economy. The link between
the two has been observed in various sources21, and the evidence
in this brief should be understood in the context of this existing
scholarship.
M RESEARCH EVIDENCE
A detailed insight into the potential links between precarious
working conditions such as those seen in the gig economy,
and mental health is provided by the research findings from
the study ‘Can Music Make You Sick? Working Conditions in
the UK Music Industry’, commissioned in 2016 by the charity
Help Musicians UK* and carried out by Sally-Anne Gross and
Dr George Musgrave.
‘Can Music Make You Sick?’22 was the largest nationwide study of
its kind exploring the psychological impact on musicians of seeking to forge careers within the UK music industry. A survey of
over 2200 music industry stakeholders alongside thirty detailed
qualitative interviews with artists and industry professionals,
demonstrated that there are cripplingly high levels of self-reported
depression (68.5%) and anxiety (71%) amongst music makers.
Crucially, it also explores the source of their mental ill health. The
research suggests that the conditions of their self-employment
are often the cause of their psychological distress. This research
can help to shed light on the conditions of self-employment in
the digital age. The music industry’s metaphor of the ‘canary in a
coal mine’ was often used to describe the experience of the music
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 13
i ndustries as they faced the technological challenges of the digital
era before other parts of the creative industries and in foreshadowing the future of working conditions in the wider economy more
generally23. Therefore, the way these musicians psychologically
experience their self-employment has lessons for other and later
workers in the gig economy.
‘there are cripplingly high levels of self-reported
depression (68.5%) and anxiety (71%) amongst
music makers’.
The focus of the research was to hear directly from musicians
about their working conditions and how they felt these affected
their mental well-being. In this first phase, Music Tank, which is
part of the University of Westminster, launched an industry-wide
survey to ascertain the scale of the potential problem within this
14 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
workforce. Comprised primarily of musicians, 2,211 respondents
completed the initial survey. Next, the researchers interviewed
thirty musicians from across the United Kingdom with the
following characteristics:
>> An even gender split.
>> A wide variety of musical genres (including Pop, Soul,
Jazz, Urban, Reggae, Classical, Rock, Dance, Folk,
Opera, Dubstep and Musical Theatre).
>> Proportionate geographical spread: (London [50%],
Manchester [10%], Newcastle [8%], Bristol [8%],
Birmingham [8%], Edinburgh [4%], Glasgow [4%],
B elfast [4%], and Cardiff [4%]).
>> Broad age ranges, and stages in their careers (from a rtists
just starting out to long established professionals).
Alongside this, five supplementary interviews were carried out
with record label executives, music managers, and mental health
service providers.
Of the survey respondents, 68.5% reported suffering from
depression and 71% from anxiety. These statistics suggest that
these respondents were three times more likely than the general
public to suffer from these conditions24. Certainly, there is a popular conception of a musician as a ‘tortured artist’ and, anecdotally,
this leads many to perhaps suspect numbers like this because, ‘of
course all artists are mad’. However, a crucial finding from this
research suggests that many musicians and music professionals
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 15
locate the source of their mental ill health in the conditions of
their career. Whilst some of our findings related to the specific
struggles and strains of a musical career, a number are equally
applicable to other forms of insecure employment. Key points
suggested by respondents included:
Financial Instability
For many, the financial precariousness that characterises a career
in the music industry – based on varying levels of income,
inconsistent contracts, and frequently working for free, is profoundly psychologically destabilising. The inability to turn what
appeared to be reasonable levels of perceived success into any
financial peace of mind deeply worries these workers. These kinds
of concerns stem at least in part from the inability to plan one’s
future: as one explained ‘not quite being able to set goals that are
concrete means it’s hard to plan’ (Folk singer, Cardiff). For many,
this means prolonged periods of time living in unstable rental
accommodation or having to live at a parental home. It also means
worrying month to month about being paid on time as payment
for invoices was late, or even not finding any paid work at all.
‘The inability to turn what appeared to be
reasonable levels of perceived success into any
financial peace of mind deeply worries these
workers.’
This creates what is, for many, seen as a kind of extended
adolescence where they struggle to achieve crucial markers of
adulthood, which in turn harms their self-esteem, leading to
profound feelings of both anxiety and depression. Musicians spoke
16 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
of seeing their peers achieving crucial ‘life goals’ such as buying
houses, getting married, and going on holidays, and their creeping
sense of self-doubt leading to feelings of depression. Interviewees
often described a ‘relentless’ pressure that they felt to stay afloat,
which manifests itself in exhaustion, but also simultaneously,
feelings of ‘guilt’ and anxiety about taking any time off.
‘What might be thought of as liberation, is
experienced as detachment; flexibility as fragility;
geographical mobility as placelessness or
rootlessness; and the freedom of freelancing
as anxiety.’
To suggest that musicians struggle financially is of course not
new or novel. However, what the research findings of ‘Can Music
Make You Sick’ point towards, is a greater acknowledgement
of the relationship between financial precarity and emotional
instability. Indeed, the author whose work inspires a great deal
of contemporary thinking surrounding the impact of precarity –
Guy Standing – spoke in his work of ‘the precariatised mind’25. It
is important to consider how a loss of financial certainty has widereaching psychological ramifications for workers. What might be
thought of as liberation is experienced as detachment; flexibility as
fragility; geographical mobility as placelessness or rootlessness;
and the freedom of freelancing as anxiety.
The Feedback Economy
For these types of workers, having a presence and a network
online is fundamental. The entrepreneurial creation of a brand,
seeking new work contracts, and staying connected with others
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 17
given the lack of any fixed place of work, is central. However, a
great number of our interviewees suggested that their anxiety
concerned the fact their working lives took place within a feedback economy of relentless opinion and criticism. These workers
criticise their own work, others criticise their work, they criticise
themselves when comparing themselves to the successes of others, and in doing so, compare themselves to a version of themselves which they imagined they might be. In a hyper-mediated
world of the internet, this feedback loop is infinite.
Musicians talked about the difficulties of managing the torrent of
feedback (both good and bad) – something which has received
attention for its harmful impact on young people and particularly
young girls26 and women. Related to this, social media was often
the vehicle through which they would observe the achievements
of others, and would come to compare their own fortunes to that
of their peers and competitors. This could drastically harm the
self-esteem of these workers who, as suggested, had often spent
years or even decades struggling in an environment of insecure
housing and negligible/non-existent wages, and who could, at
times, conceptualise these discrepancies as profound failures.
Relationships
The music industry is a highly networked industry and one’s social
and physical geographical location within this network plays a
significant part in workers’ ability to secure work or even to compete for work, and many of the musicians we interviewed talked
about the problem of the London-centric character of the music
industry despite the new digital practices. It was still very much
expressed that you needed to be embedded within a network to get
18 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
noticed and this was very frustrating for those who lived outside
of the capital. London was felt by many to be just too expensive
for them to exist in, yet without being there they felt their chances
diminished. On the other hand, the relaxed and informal working
culture in the creative industries, and freelance work more
generally, is what many find attractive about it. However, many
interviewees spoke of the blurring of relationship boundaries and
the difficulty in distinguishing ‘friends’ from ‘colleagues’. This
inability to tell when one was in a work environment or a social
environment leads them, at times, to question the authenticity of
their friendships and also made several feel that they were being
emotionally manipulated into working for free on
occasion
because it was a ‘friends thing’. These ambiguous relationships
seemed to add to the musicians’ frustrations and feelings of
inadequacy, and added to their anxiety.
This research suggests that freelance and/or creative selfemployment, typical of that found in the wider gig economy, has
a number of psychologically harmful components that should
be acknowledged. Where the ‘creative’ self-employed may find
comfort and also satisfaction in their creative capacity that
serves to offset some of the issues surrounding their precarious
conditions, increasingly the new members of the gig economy
who lack the potential cushion of creative capacity and fulfilment are faced only with the constraints and pressures of these
conditions.
Central to these findings is the impact of precarious work on
the well-being of workers. This type of work therefore suffers not
only from a precarity of finances, but also a precarity of status, a
precarity of certainty, and a precarity of sociality. As suggested, a
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 19
number of the findings in ‘Can Music Make You Sick’ are relatively
unique to the vicissitudes and challenges of a musical career. However, a number of these features of freelance, independent, and
entrepreneurial musical work, are experienced by other freelance
workers both in the digital economy and in the gig economy too.
‘This type of work therefore suffers not only from
a precarity of finances, but also a precarity of
status, a precarity of certainty, and a precarity of
sociality.’
It is vital to acknowledge the emotional dimension of p recarity.
Just as other institutionalised workplaces have health and safety
regulations, so too must this form of employment. Workers
engaged in self-employment of this kind can be economically precarious, emotionally vulnerable, and suffer interpersonally. Genuine consideration must be given to the psychological dimensions of this style of work, as highlighted by this research.
Y REVIEW OF POLICY OPTIONS
Increasing Tax for Self-Employed
Recently, the UK Government considered a tax increase for the
self-employed that, after a remarkable public outcry, was later
abandoned. As aforementioned, the precarious conditions of
employment and the underlying uncertainty of the likely levels of
income and social security benefits generate a series of tensions
with which a ‘flexible worker’ is left to cope. Tax rates are part
of the ecosystem of self-employment that should be designed in
the way that supports the well-being of the self-employed rather
than creating new challenges. The above research indicates that
the conditions of self-employment are often the cause of psychological distress. Based on that, heavier tax duties, as a source of
additional challenges, would not work towards improving the
mental health issues frequently inherent to flexible patterns of
work, which in turn might have various societal implications due
to their impact on productivity and the stability of family lives,
and in other respects. It is also worth mentioning that the creative
industries – the category under which the sample of the study ‘Can
Music Make You Sick?’ falls – where freelancing or other patterns
of flexible work are widespread, have been so far disadvantaged
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 21
as compared with other sectors in terms of the overall support
and attention assigned in public policy, as articulated in the current
debates around the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper
(2017)27. Indeed, the modal earnings of the self-employed more
generally vis-à-vis employees are typically far lower; around £240
per week as opposed to £400 per week28. Furthermore whilst
some in what the Office for National Statistics calls ‘full-time self
employment’ do indeed earn high salaries, it is important to note
that they do so without the benefits of formalised employment and
the associated protections afforded by it. Therefore, we propose
that the Government should avoid actions that will place more
financial and/or administrative burdens on the self-employed.
The Government should direct its efforts in designing policies
that support this category of the workforce, which operates
in continuous uncertainty with regards to income and work
employment.
O POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
A Universal Basic Income
These findings suggest, more generally, that the Government
should consider policies that disincentivise the spread of working
arrangements that result in precarious working conditions.
Such initiatives should be supplemented with revisions to work
contracts which seek to avoid the granting of basic e mployment
rights. These might be developed alongside new expanded
contractual conditions that could, for example, include time
spent working (hours), output of work and/or reflect a product or
service’s value and income ultimately earned as a result – all along
more equitable lines. This paper will explore the viability of a
bolder policy suggestion – that of a Universal Basic Income. The
concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) refers to an income
paid to all individuals within a prescribed area such as a nation
state, which is entirely non-means tested and received without
stipulations or requirements of any kind. Conceptually, there are
two distinct versions of the UBI. The neoliberal version suggests
that everyone receives a small amount per month but that this
should coincide with the dismantling of the welfare state. The progressive version suggests funding UBI out of capital taxation, i.e.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 23
to tax capital and redistribute capital (which is conceptualised as
surplus-value generated by workers) to all citizens. In the United
Kingdom, the Green Party introduced a commitment to the
concept in their 2017 manifesto29. The argument proposed herein,
is to consider the idea that a progressive Universal Basic Income
might be of immense psychological and emotional benefit for
workers in the gig economy, the UK music industry, and indeed
in the wider economy. In this sense, we simply seek to reframe
the debate around UBI, suggesting that it has a psychological
component which should be considered.
The scope of this brief does not allow for a meaningful discussion of
the pros and cons of implementing a policy of UBI more generally
– see Downes (2018) for a comprehensive overview. Instead, the
insights offered are intended only to provide another dimension
to the debate surrounding the potential benefits of such a scheme.
These are multiple, and include the idea that UBI has:
>> ethical and moral benefits, in terms of compensating
for the job losses caused by automation, or facilitating
self-development and the establishment of universal
self-respect;
>> economic benefits, in terms of efficiency savings as
hugely complex and bureaucratic systems of welfare
payments are effectively dismantled, or via the boost in
aggregate demand in the economy;
>> political and democratic benefits, in terms of improving
levels of political and civic engagement - see Fuchs (2008)
for more details.
24 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
Our suggestion is that a progressive UBI also may have psychological benefits, because it alleviates the emotional burden of
precarity, which increasingly shapes the nature of contemporary
work. It is important of course to be pragmatic and consider
short-term practicalities and the realities of trying to implement a
system based on UBI30.
In the absence of Universal Basic Income being meaningfully
considered by the UK Government at this stage, this Policy Brief
makes two further policy recommendations.
Education is Key
Ensuring a greater awareness of the mental health challenges
facing those working within the gig economy is vital. These
educational processes need to take place on a variety of levels.
Within higher education and elsewhere, there needs to be a
concerted effort to embed mental health within the curriculum
of the courses on offer, to ensure awareness of the challenges that
individuals might face, and enable those likely to be employed as
flexible workers to take appropriate steps to prepare themselves
for this work
environment. Courses which feature an entrepreneurial component, or which have a graduate employment
composition featuring the types of work discussed in this p
olicy
brief – for example fashion, journalism, the wider creative
industries – should seek to engage students in debates s urrounding
the links between the challenges of the working conditions they
might face in their working lives and the potential psychological
ramifications of this work.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 25
Access to Mental Health Support
Access to (and funding of) mental health support for selfemployed people should be improved, paying particular attention
to stress and anxiety management. It was hugely encouraging
that following the publication of ‘Can Music Make You Sick’,
a dedicated 24/7 telephone support service was launched for
the music industry on the basis of our recommendations. This
service – Music Minds Matter – launched by Help Musicians UK,
might act as a benchmark against which other industries might
draw inspiration, particularly those with relatively weak trade
union membership which typifies a great deal of work within
the gig economy. Further research is of course required to gauge
the impact of this and other mental health support services.
D NOTES
Disclaimer: this document should be regarded as an individual
submission by the authors, not representing an official position
of the MusicTank/University of Westminster nor the opinions
of the research commissioners Help Musicians UK.
*
Fuchs, C. 2014. Digital Labour and Karl Marx; Abingdon:
Routledge.
1
Banks, M. 2017 Creative Justice: Cultural Industries, Work and
Inequality. Rowman and Littlefield International; Cloonan, M &
Williamson, J. 2016. Players’ Work Time: A History of the
British Musicians’ Union, 1893–2013. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Hesmondhalgh, D. 2012. The Cultural Industries,
London: Sage; McRobbie, A. 1999. In the Culture Society: Art,
Fashion and Popular Music, London: Psychology Press.
2
ONS. Trends in self-employment in the UK: 2001 to 2015.
2016: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/
peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsi
nselfemploymentintheuk/2001to2015 (accessed May 2017).
3
ONS. Contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of
hours: May 2017. 2017: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employment
andlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/
articles/contractsthatdonotguaranteeaminimumnumberof
hours/may2017 (accessed May 2017).
4
ONS. 2018. Trends in self-employment in the UK: Analysing
the characteristics, income and wealth of the self-employed:
5
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 27
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/people
inwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsin
selfemploymentintheuk/2018-02-07 (accessed June 2018).
EP Briefing: The future of work in the EU. 2017: http://www.
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/
EPRS_BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
6
EP Briefing: The future of work in the EU. 2017: http://www.
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/
EPRS_BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
7
Ibid.
8
SSAC Occasional Paper 13: Social security and the selfemployed. 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358334/Social_security_
provision_and_the_self-employed__FINAL_24_SEPT__.pdf
(accessed April 2017).
9
10
Kleinman, Z. Blogger fury over tax credit rejection. 2016:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37275604 (accessed
April 2017).
11
WPC. ‘Gig economy’ companies free-riding on the welfare
state. 2017: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/
news-parliament-2015/gig-economy-report-published-16-17/
(accessed May 2017).
12
BBC Gig economy chiefs defend business model. 2017: http://
www.test.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39051721 (accessed
May 2017); Dizik, A., The next generation of jobs won’t be
made up of professions (2017): http://www.bbc.com/capital/
story/20170424-the-next-generation-of-jobs-wont-be-madeup-of-professions (accessed May 2017); RSA The evidence
proves self-employment is great. Celebrate it! Press release. 2014:
https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/
rsa-blogs/2014/04/the-evidence-proves-self-employment-isgreat.-celebrate-it (accessed May 2017), etc.
28 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
13
BBC Gig economy chiefs defend business model. 2017: http://
www.test.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39051721 (accessed May
2017).
14
SSAC Occasional Paper 13: Social security and the selfemployed. 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358334/Social_
security_provision_and_the_self-employed__FINAL_24_
SEPT__.pdf (accessed April 2017); EP Briefing: The future
of work in the EU (2017): http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/EPRS_
BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
15
ET Case 2202550/2015 & Others. 2016: https://www.
judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/aslam-andfarrar-v-uber-reasons-20161028.pdf (accessed April 2017).
16
BBC Bike courier wins ‘gig’ economy employment rights
case. 2017: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38534524
(accessed April 2017); RCJ Case No: A2/2015/0196 Pimlico
Plumbers (2017): https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2017/02/pimlico-plumbers-v-smith.pdf (accessed
April 2017). The Supreme Court (UK) (2018) Pimlico Plumbers
Ltd and another (Appellants) v Smith (Respondent), Case ID
UKSC 2017/0053: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc2017-0053.html (accessed June 2018)
17
EP Employment: MEPs to discuss plans to reinforce workers’
rights. 2017: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/newsroom/20170407STO70803/employment-meps-to-discussplans-to-reinforce-workers’-rights (accessed 2017).
18
EC The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles.
2017: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeperand-fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillarsocial-rights/european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en
(accessed May 2017).
19
EP Employment: MEPs to discuss plans to reinforce workers’
rights. 2017: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 29
room/20170407STO70803/employment-meps-to-discussplans-to-reinforce-workers’-rights (accessed 2017).
20
WPC ‘Gig economy’ companies free-riding on the welfare
state. 2017: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensionscommittee/news-parliament-2015/gig-economy-reportpublished-16-17/ (accessed May 2017); Hutton, W., The gig
economy is here to stay. So making it fairer must be a priority.
2016: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/
03/gig-economy-zero-hours-contracts-ethics (accessed April 2017).
21
Among which EP Briefing: The future of work in the EU.
2017: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/
BRIE/2017/599426/EPRS_BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed
May 2017); Hutton, W., The gig economy is here to stay. So
making it fairer must be a priority, The Guardian 2016: https://
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/03/gigeconomy-zero-hours-contracts-ethics
(accessed April 2017);
Tolento, J., The gig economy celebrates working yourself to
death, The New Yorker 2017: http://www.newyorker.com/
culture/jia-tolentino/the-gig-economy-celebrates-workingyourself-to-death (accessed May 2017); De Gallier, T. Freelancing made my depression worse, The Guardian 2017: https://www.
theguardian.com/careers/2017/may/09/freelancing-made-mydepression-worse-heres-how-i-learnt-to-cope (accessed May
2017); Moscone, F., Tosetti, E., Vittadini, G. 2016. The Impact
of Precarious Employment on Mental Health: The Case of Italy,
Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 158, pp. 86–95, etc.
22
Gross, S & Musgrave, G. 2016. Can Music Make You Sick? Music
and Depression. A Study into the Incidence of Musicians’ Mental
Health. Part 1 – Pilot Survey Report, Harrow: MusicTank; Gross,
S & Musgrave, G. 2017. Can Music Make You Sick? A Study into
the Incidence of Musicians’ Mental Health Part 2: Qualitative
Study and Recommendations. Harrow: MusicTank.
23
Attali, J. 1977. Bruits: Essai Sur L’Economie Politique de la
Musique: Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
30 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
24
According to the ONS (2013), nearly 1 in 5 (19%) of people in
the UK aged 16 years or over experienced anxiety or depression
(using the GHQ method which asked if they had experienced
these things ‘recently’) in 2010–11. This was consistent across
the two subsequent years for which ONS data is available (ONS,
2015), with 18.3% of people (nearly 1 in 5) similarly responding
in both 2011–12, and again in 2012–13. Source: ONS Measuring
National Well-being: Health, 2013 (2013): http://webarchive.
nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://www.ons.gov.
uk/ons/dcp171766_310300.pdf (accessed Sept 2016); ONS
Measuring National Well-being: Life in the UK, 2015 (2015):
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_398059.pdf (accessed
Sept 2016).
25
Standing, G. 2016. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class.
London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
26
Valkenburg, P.M., Peter, J., Schouten, A.P. 2006. Social Networking Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents WellBeing and Social Self-Esteem, CyberPsychology and Behavior,
Vol. 9(5), pp. 584–590.
27
BBC Industrial strategy ‘must help’ UK creative industries. 2017:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39604320 (accessed May
2017).
28
ONS. 2018. Trends in self-employment in the UK: Analysing
the characteristics, income and wealth of the self employed:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/people
inwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsin
selfemploymentintheuk/2018-02-07 (accessed June 2018)
29
Green Party. 2017. Manifesto: The Green Party for a Confident
and Caring Britain: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/
files/gp2017/greenguaranteepdf.pdf (accessed June 2018).
30
Van Parjis, P & Vanderborght, Y. 2017. Basic Income: A Radical
Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy. Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
J SOURCES AND FURTHER READINGS
Attali, J. 1977 Bruits: Essai Sur L’Economie Politique de la Musique.
Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.
Banks, M. 2017 Creative Justice: Cultural Industries, Work and
Inequality. London: Rowman and Littlefield International.
BBC. 2017 Bike courier wins ‘gig’ economy employment rights case:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38534524 (accessed April
2017)
BBC. 2017. Industrial strategy ‘must help’ UK creative industries:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39604320 (accessed May
2017
BBC. 2017. Gig economy chiefs defend business model: http://
www.test.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39051721 (accessed May 2017)
Cloonan, M & Williamson, J. 2016. Players’ Work Time: A History
of the British Musicians’ Union, 1893–2013. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
De Gallier, T. 2017 Freelancing made my depression worse,
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/careers/2017/
may/09/freelancing-made-my-depression-worse-heres-how-ilearnt-to-cope (accessed May 2017).
Dizik, A. 2017. The next generation of jobs won’t be made up of
professions: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20170424-the-
32 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
next-generation-of-jobs-wont-be-made-up-of-professions
(accessed May 2017).
Downes, A. 2018. It’s Basic Income: The Global Debate Bristol:
Policy Press.
EC. 2017. The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeper-and-fairereconomic-and-monetary-union/european-pillar-social-rights/
european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en (accessed May
2017).
EP. 2017. Briefing: The Future of Work in the EU: http://www.
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/
EPRS_BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
EP. 2017. Employment: MEPs to discuss plans to reinforce w
orkers’
rights: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-room/
20170407STO70803/employment-meps-to-discuss-plans-toreinforce-workers’-rights (accessed 2017).
ET. 2016. Case 2202550/2015 & Others: https://www.judiciary.
gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/aslam-and-farrar-vuber-reasons-20161028.pdf (accessed April 2017).
Fuchs, C. 2008. Foundations and Two Models of Guaranteed Basic
Income. In Perspectives on Work, eds. Otto Neumaier, Gottfried
Schweiger and Clemens Sedmak, pp. 235–248. Wien–Münster:
LIT Verlag.
Fuchs, C. 2014. Digital Labour and Karl Marx. Abingdon:
Routledge
Green Party. 2017. Manifesto: The Green Party for a Confident
and Caring Britain: https://www.greenparty.org.uk/assets/files/
gp2017/greenguaranteepdf.pdf (Accessed June 2018)
Gross, S & Musgrave, G. 2016. Can Music Make You Sick? Music
and Depression. A Study into the Incidence of Musicians’ Mental
Health. Part 1 – Pilot Survey Report, Harrow: MusicTank
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 33
Gross, S & Musgrave, G. 2017. Can Music Make You Sick? A
Study into the Incidence of Musicians’ Mental Health Part 2:
Qualitative Study and Recommendations. Harrow: MusicTank.
Hesmondhalgh, D. 2012 The Cultural Industries. London: Sage.
Hutton, W. 2016. The gig economy is here to stay. So making
it fairer must be a priority, The Guardian: https://www.the
guardian.com/commentisfree/2016/sep/03/gig-economyzero-hours-contracts-ethics (accessed April 2017).
Kleinman, Z. 2016. Blogger fury over tax credit rejection: http://
www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37275604 (accessed April
2017).
McRobbie, A. 1999. In the Culture Society: Art, Fashion and
Popular Music, London: Psychology Press
Moscone, F., Tosetti, E. & Vittadini, G. 2016. The Impact of
Precarious Employment on Mental Health: The Case of Italy,
Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 158, pp. 86–95.
ONS. 2013 Measuring national well-being: health, 2013: http://
webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/http://
www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_310300.pdf (accessed Sept
2016).
ONS. 2015. Measuring national well-being: Life in the UK, 2015:
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20160105160709/
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171766_398059.pdf (accessed
Sept 2016).
ONS. 2016. Trends in self-employment in the UK: 2001 to 2015:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/
peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsi
nselfemploymentintheuk/2001to2015 (accessed May 2017).
ONS. 2017. Contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number
of hours: May 2017: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentand
labourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/
34 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
articles/contractsthatdonotguaranteeaminimumnumber
ofhours/may2017 (accessed May 2017).
ONS. 2018. Trends in self-employment in the UK: Analysing the
characteristics, income and wealth of the self employed: https://
www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/
employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsinselfemploy
mentintheuk/2018-02-07 (Accessed June 2018)
RCJ. 2017. Case No: A2/2015/0196 Pimlico Plumbers: https://
www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/pimlicoplumbers-v-smith.pdf (accessed April 2017).
RSA. 2014. The evidence proves self-employment is great.
Celebrate it! Press release:https://www.thersa.org/discover/
publications-and-articles/rsa-blogs/2014/04/the-evidenceproves-self-employment-is-great.-celebrate-it (accessed May
2017).
SSAC. 20Syntax Warning: Invalid Font Weight
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14. Occasional Paper 13: Social security and the
self-employed: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358334/Social_security_
provision_and_the_self-employed__FINAL_24_SEPT__.pdf
(accessed April 2017).
Standing, G. 2016. The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class.
London: Bloomsbury Publishing
The Supreme Court (UK). 2018. Pimlico Plumbers Ltd and
another (Appellants) v Smith (Respondent), Case ID UKSC
2017/0053: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc-20170053.html (Accessed June 2018)
Tolento, J. 2017. The gig economy celebrates working yourself to
death, The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/
jia-tolentino/the-gig-economy-celebrates-working-yourselfto-death (accessed May 2017).
Valkenburg, P.M., Peter, J. & Schouten, A.P. 2006. Social Networking
Sites and Their Relationship to Adolescents Well-Being and
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 35
Social Self-Esteem, CyberPsychology and Behavior, Vol. 9(5),
pp. 584–590.
Van Parjis, P & Vanderborght, Y. 2017 Basic Income: A Radical
Proposal for a Free Society and a Sane Economy. Cambridge,
MA: Harvard University Press
WPC. 2017. ‘Gig economy’ companies free-riding on the welfare
state: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensionscommittee/news-parliament-2015/gig-economy-reportpublished-16-17/ (accessed May 2017).
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL
HEALTH IN THE GIG
ECONOMY
Policy Perspectives on Precarity
A response is needed to the numerous issues spurred by the
expansion of the gig economy, where flexible patterns of
employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs. In this context
of the exponential growth of the digital economy and underlying
business models the largest nationwide study of its kind into the
impact of the working conditions in the UK music industry
‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ has been conducted by
MusicTank/University of Westminster.
This research suggests the need to consider the future of work not
only from an economic or employment law perspective but from a
mental health one too. What are the psychological implications of
precarious work and how are factors such as financial instability, the
feedback economy and personal relationships reflected in mental
health outcomes or connected to the business relationships most
musicians and other gig economy participants work under?
Authors Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute
consider which policy measures may help or harm gig economy
workers including the taxation of self-employed workers, a universal
basic income, education around mental health issues and access to
mental health support.
www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk
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WELL-BEING AND
MENTAL HEALTH IN
THE GIG ECONOMY
Policy Perspectives on Precarity
SALLY-ANNE GROSS
GEORGE MUSGRAVE
and LAIMA JANCIUTE
CAMRI Policy Briefs 4
THE AUTHORS
SALLY-ANNE GROSS is Principal Lecturer in Music Business
Management, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of
Westminster and a music manager. With George Musgrave she
authored the two-part study nationwide study ‘Can Music Make
You Sick?’.
Dr GEORGE MUSGRAVE is Senior Lecturer in Music Business
Management, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of
Westminster and a musician. With Sally-Anne Gross he authored
the two-part study nationwide study ‘Can Music Make You Sick?’.
DR LAIMA JANCIUTE was Research Fellow of the Policy
Observatory at the Communication and Media Research Institute
(CAMRI), University of Westminster.
ABOUT CAMRI
CAMRI (the Communication and Media Research
Institute) at the University of Westminster is a
world-leading centre of media and communication
research. It is renowned for critical and
international research that investigates the role of
media, culture and communication(s) in society.
CAMRI’s research is based on a broader purpose and vision for
society: its work examines how the media and society interact and
aims to contribute to progressive social change, equality, freedom,
justice, and democracy. CAMRI takes a public interest and
humanistic approach that seeks to promote participation, facilitate
informed debate, and strengthen capabilities for critical thinking,
complex problem solving and creativity.
camri.ac.uk
SERIES DESCRIPTION
The CAMRI Policy Brief series provides rigorous and evidence-based policy
advice and policy analysis on a variety of media and communicationrelated topics. In an age where the accelerated development of media
and communications creates profound opportunities and challenges for
society, politics and the economy, this series cuts through the noise and
offers up-to-date knowledge and evidence grounded in original research in
order to respond to these changes in all their complexity.
By using Open Access and a concise, easy-to-read format, this peerreviewed series aims to make new research from the University of
Westminster available to the public, to policymakers, practitioners,
journalists, activists and scholars both nationally and internationally.
camri.ac.uk/policy-observatory
CAMRI Policy Briefs (2018)
Series Editors:
Professor Steve Barnett
Professor Christian Fuchs
Dr Anastasia Kavada
Nora Kroeger
Dr Maria Michalis
THE ONLINE ADVERTISING TAX: A Digital Policy Innovation
Christian Fuchs
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE INTERNET OF THINGS
Mercedes Bunz and Laima Janciute
APPEARANCE, DISCRIMINATION AND THE MEDIA
Diana Garrisi, Laima Janciute, and Jacob Johanssen
WELL–BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY
Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute
CAMRI extended policy report (2018)
THE ONLINE ADVERTISING TAX AS THE FOUNDATION OF
A PUBLIC SERVICE INTERNET
Christian Fuchs
WELL-BEING AND
MENTAL HEALTH IN THE
GIG ECONOMY
POLICY PERSPECTIVES ON PRECARITY
Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and
Laima Janciute
A CAMRI POLICY BRIEF
Published by
University of Westminster Press
115 New Cavendish Street
London W1W 6UW
www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk
Text © Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute
First published 2018
Cover: ketchup-productions.co.uk
Digital versions typeset by Siliconchips Services Ltd.
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-911534-89-1 (not available for sale)
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ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-911534-91-4
ISBN (Kindle): 978-1-911534-92-1
DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book32
Series: CAMRI Policy Briefs
ISSN 2516-5712 (Print)
ISSN 2516-5720 (Online)
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit
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The full text of this book has been peer-reviewed to ensure high academic standards. For full review policies, see: http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/publish/
Competing Interests
This research on which this Policy Brief is founded was commissioned by Help
Musicians UK (Registered charity number 228089). The commissioners had a
collaborative role in the design of the study, however, had no role in: the conduct of the study; the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; the decision
of the submission of the manuscript; or in the preparation, review or approval of
the manuscript. The views expressed here are those of the authors and not those
of the commissioners
Suggested citation:
Gross, Sally-Anne, Musgrave, George and Janciute, Laima. 2018 Well-Being and
Mental Health in the Gig Economy: Policy Perspectives on Precarity. London:
University of Westminster Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book32.
License: CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0
To read the free, open access version of this book
online, visit https://doi.org/10.16997/book32 or
scan this QR code with your mobile device:
CONTENTS
Key Messages
4
What’s the Issue?
7
Research Evidence
12
Financial Instability
15
The Feedback Economy
16
Relationships17
Review of Policy Options
20
Increasing Tax for the Self-Employed20
Policy Recommendations
A Universal Basic Income
Education is Key
Access to Mental Health Support
22
22
24
25
Notes26
Sources and Further Reading
31
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH
IN THE GIG ECONOMY
L Key Messages
This policy brief provides research evidence into the working conditions of the UK music industry that indicates
the necessity to consider the future of work not only from
an economic or employment law perspective, but also
in terms of wider societal implications that include the
health and well-being of workers.
In the last d
ecade or so, casual, short-term forms of employment have increased significantly. This development has
been linked to deindustrialisation and, more generally to the
expansion of neoliberal economics globally1. These changes
have had a significant impact on labour relations as employers have moved away from offering long-term employment
contracts favouring instead ‘flexible’ and freelance work,
often based on zero-hours/on-demand contracts.
This mode of employment is now commonly referred to
as the gig economy. These working conditions are often
described as being particular to the so-called digital economy
and its underlying business models. However, long before
the arrival of the internet there certainly have been many
industries that relied on this ‘work for hire’ model such as
the building trade, agricultural work and many of the skilled
trades including areas of cultural labour. However, the creative industries are indeed characterised by these working
conditions, where self-employment and short-term project
based work have been the norm for decades2.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 5
The research which informs this policy brief suggests that
given the expansion of this type of short-term employment,
it is important to understand how these working conditions
impact on self-employed workers, their families and wider
society. This research suggests that:
>> Working within these precarious conditions of employment may have psychologically harmful effects.
>> Key issues raised by musicians are: financial instability, the requirement to maintain an online presence and
network which exposes individuals to relentless opinion
and criticism, and the ambiguity of relationships in the
music economy with blurry boundaries between friendships and work relationships.
Based on the research evidence of the potential harmful
effects that precarious employment conditions may have on
the individuals working in it, this policy brief makes the following recommendations:
>> The sector of freelance and/or creative self-employment
needs to establish health and safety regulations like
those that exist in other institutionalised workplaces.
>> In order to counter the issues caused by the gig economy,
the government should act against the spread of precarious working conditions and promote fair business
models.
6 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
>> Instead of increasing financial and/or administrative
burdens placed on the self-employed, the government
should design policies that provide support to workers
in the gig economy.
>> A universal basic income scheme would enable selfemployed workers to meet their essential needs while
staying in their profession.
>> Fostering knowledge about mental health amongst
workers in the gig economy would enable them to take
appropriate action when faced with mental health issues.
>> Improving access to mental health support for selfemployed people – with a particular focus on stress and
anxiety management – is vital.
b WHAT’S THE ISSUE?
The expansion of the so-called gig economy, where flexible
patterns of employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs,
is causing numerous issues. The UK Government’s inquiry into
Employment Practices in the Modern Economy is a much-needed
initiative in response to this trend: the number of self-employed
workers in Britain has increased by 1 million between 2008 and
20153, while so-called ‘zero-hours contracts’ have also reached a
record high4. The transformation in British labour relations and
the departure from traditional forms of employment is part of
a global trend that has emerged as a result of new technologyenabled business models. This trend is exemplified in the digital
economy and the decrease in full-time long-term job offers over
the last decade or so. Indeed, according to the Office for National
Statistics’ most recent report on self-employment: ‘the number
of self-employed reporting themselves as working on their own,
or with a partner but no employees, has increased between 2001
and 2016, while those who report themselves as having e mployees
has fallen over the same period’5. This mirrors the conditions
frequently found within the music sector. Apart from the increase
in earlier forms of flexible work, such as part-time employment or
8 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
fixed-term contracts, new patterns of atypical work contracts and
‘on demand’ work have also proliferated6.
Work is increasingly being carried out on online platforms connecting buyers and sellers, or by large project
teams across borders and time zones [. . .] Active labourmarket policies are needed to cater for the changing reality in the world of work. This concerns social security
systems, which must adapt to new, constantly changing,
requirements7.
These shifts have given rise to tensions around access to high
quality essential services by workers of the gig economy. These
include issues such as whether social protection is adequate and
sustainable, whether working conditions are fair, whether there is
a balance between flexibility and security elements, and what and
how high the risks are for both workers and employers8. While
self-employment is seen as key for economic recovery, i nnovation
and competitiveness, ‘the relationship between self-employment
and social security has long been problematic, contested and
complex’9. A recent BBC article reported on the struggle of a
successful blogger and a single parent to qualify for tax credits
for example10. This case demonstrates how the self-employed have
always been evaluated differently under benefit regulations which
makes their claims for support more d
ifficult. In the meantime,
the UK Parliament’s Work and Pensions Committee stated in the
context of its inquiry into the gig economy that the expansion of
self-employment in many cases is bogus and should be interpreted
as the companies’ ‘free-riding on the welfare state’11.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 9
Some stakeholders and commentators, including online
platforms-based companies, defend the gig economy and flexible
employment as a reciprocally beneficial business model, and
say that it is only a ‘natural future of work’ – to be celebrated12.
They also make claims that offering greater employment benefits
would result in less work, overall13. Whilst one could argue that
self-employment is a matter of choice, it has to be noted that
within the creative sector this model of employment is the norm.
Although this may offer the self-employed workers a degree of
autonomy, it has always left them vulnerable to market changes14
as well as changes in income tax and anomalies in social security
benefits.
The Uber drivers’ case brought to the Employment Tribunal15
and other cases16 suggest that models of work with reduced social
security guarantees are often not desirable from the workers’
perspective. The recent UK Parliament Work and
Pensions
Committee’s inquiry, mentioned above, concluded that the
growth of the ‘gig economy’ might be used as a way to escape
the welfare state model and that self-employment is often abused.
The need to reinforce workers’ rights in response to drastic
changes in the labour market that have led ‘to more temporary
jobs and more people being treated as independent contractors’17
has also been seen internationally. The EU has just presented its
proposals addressing this issue18 (involving in many cases social
dumping and unfair competition)19.
‘models of work with reduced social security
guarantees are often not desirable from the
workers’ perspective’
10 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
Those in favour of the gig economy emphasise the flexibility of
this type of work. However, the reality for the workforce is more
complex. For low paid self-employed workers, accessing benefits designed to encourage work – such as working tax credits
and housing benefits – can be frustratingly time consuming and
often futile20. Concerns that such working conditions are bad
for workers in comparison to full-time workers in permanent
employment have been raised on various occasions. Even for
higher earning workers self-employment presents difficulties, for
example it can cause problems when obtaining financial references
and/or statements for renting or mortgages and for other forms of
credit which in turn has implications for their spending capacity
and national growth. The sustainability of the business and
work models of the gig economy can thus be questioned. These
trends can be seen clearly in the study outlined below, which
also highlights the potentially harmful effects of working
within precarious conditions of employment on workers’ mental
health.
‘there is a necessity to consider the future of
work not only from an economic or employment
law perspective, but also from a well-being
perspective too.’
The research suggests that there is a necessity to consider the
future of work not only from an economic or employment law
perspective, but also from a well-being perspective too. The
research findings suggest the potential impact of the gig economy
not only on workers’ earning potential, but also the potentially
negative implication for their health and well-being.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 11
This policy brief draws particular attention to the impact on
the population’s mental health caused by precarious forms of
work, such as those seen in the gig economy. The link between
the two has been observed in various sources21, and the evidence
in this brief should be understood in the context of this existing
scholarship.
M RESEARCH EVIDENCE
A detailed insight into the potential links between precarious
working conditions such as those seen in the gig economy,
and mental health is provided by the research findings from
the study ‘Can Music Make You Sick? Working Conditions in
the UK Music Industry’, commissioned in 2016 by the charity
Help Musicians UK* and carried out by Sally-Anne Gross and
Dr George Musgrave.
‘Can Music Make You Sick?’22 was the largest nationwide study of
its kind exploring the psychological impact on musicians of seeking to forge careers within the UK music industry. A survey of
over 2200 music industry stakeholders alongside thirty detailed
qualitative interviews with artists and industry professionals,
demonstrated that there are cripplingly high levels of self-reported
depression (68.5%) and anxiety (71%) amongst music makers.
Crucially, it also explores the source of their mental ill health. The
research suggests that the conditions of their self-employment
are often the cause of their psychological distress. This research
can help to shed light on the conditions of self-employment in
the digital age. The music industry’s metaphor of the ‘canary in a
coal mine’ was often used to describe the experience of the music
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 13
i ndustries as they faced the technological challenges of the digital
era before other parts of the creative industries and in foreshadowing the future of working conditions in the wider economy more
generally23. Therefore, the way these musicians psychologically
experience their self-employment has lessons for other and later
workers in the gig economy.
‘there are cripplingly high levels of self-reported
depression (68.5%) and anxiety (71%) amongst
music makers’.
The focus of the research was to hear directly from musicians
about their working conditions and how they felt these affected
their mental well-being. In this first phase, Music Tank, which is
part of the University of Westminster, launched an industry-wide
survey to ascertain the scale of the potential problem within this
14 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
workforce. Comprised primarily of musicians, 2,211 respondents
completed the initial survey. Next, the researchers interviewed
thirty musicians from across the United Kingdom with the
following characteristics:
>> An even gender split.
>> A wide variety of musical genres (including Pop, Soul,
Jazz, Urban, Reggae, Classical, Rock, Dance, Folk,
Opera, Dubstep and Musical Theatre).
>> Proportionate geographical spread: (London [50%],
Manchester [10%], Newcastle [8%], Bristol [8%],
Birmingham [8%], Edinburgh [4%], Glasgow [4%],
B elfast [4%], and Cardiff [4%]).
>> Broad age ranges, and stages in their careers (from a rtists
just starting out to long established professionals).
Alongside this, five supplementary interviews were carried out
with record label executives, music managers, and mental health
service providers.
Of the survey respondents, 68.5% reported suffering from
depression and 71% from anxiety. These statistics suggest that
these respondents were three times more likely than the general
public to suffer from these conditions24. Certainly, there is a popular conception of a musician as a ‘tortured artist’ and, anecdotally,
this leads many to perhaps suspect numbers like this because, ‘of
course all artists are mad’. However, a crucial finding from this
research suggests that many musicians and music professionals
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 15
locate the source of their mental ill health in the conditions of
their career. Whilst some of our findings related to the specific
struggles and strains of a musical career, a number are equally
applicable to other forms of insecure employment. Key points
suggested by respondents included:
Financial Instability
For many, the financial precariousness that characterises a career
in the music industry – based on varying levels of income,
inconsistent contracts, and frequently working for free, is profoundly psychologically destabilising. The inability to turn what
appeared to be reasonable levels of perceived success into any
financial peace of mind deeply worries these workers. These kinds
of concerns stem at least in part from the inability to plan one’s
future: as one explained ‘not quite being able to set goals that are
concrete means it’s hard to plan’ (Folk singer, Cardiff). For many,
this means prolonged periods of time living in unstable rental
accommodation or having to live at a parental home. It also means
worrying month to month about being paid on time as payment
for invoices was late, or even not finding any paid work at all.
‘The inability to turn what appeared to be
reasonable levels of perceived success into any
financial peace of mind deeply worries these
workers.’
This creates what is, for many, seen as a kind of extended
adolescence where they struggle to achieve crucial markers of
adulthood, which in turn harms their self-esteem, leading to
profound feelings of both anxiety and depression. Musicians spoke
16 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
of seeing their peers achieving crucial ‘life goals’ such as buying
houses, getting married, and going on holidays, and their creeping
sense of self-doubt leading to feelings of depression. Interviewees
often described a ‘relentless’ pressure that they felt to stay afloat,
which manifests itself in exhaustion, but also simultaneously,
feelings of ‘guilt’ and anxiety about taking any time off.
‘What might be thought of as liberation, is
experienced as detachment; flexibility as fragility;
geographical mobility as placelessness or
rootlessness; and the freedom of freelancing
as anxiety.’
To suggest that musicians struggle financially is of course not
new or novel. However, what the research findings of ‘Can Music
Make You Sick’ point towards, is a greater acknowledgement
of the relationship between financial precarity and emotional
instability. Indeed, the author whose work inspires a great deal
of contemporary thinking surrounding the impact of precarity –
Guy Standing – spoke in his work of ‘the precariatised mind’25. It
is important to consider how a loss of financial certainty has widereaching psychological ramifications for workers. What might be
thought of as liberation is experienced as detachment; flexibility as
fragility; geographical mobility as placelessness or rootlessness;
and the freedom of freelancing as anxiety.
The Feedback Economy
For these types of workers, having a presence and a network
online is fundamental. The entrepreneurial creation of a brand,
seeking new work contracts, and staying connected with others
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 17
given the lack of any fixed place of work, is central. However, a
great number of our interviewees suggested that their anxiety
concerned the fact their working lives took place within a feedback economy of relentless opinion and criticism. These workers
criticise their own work, others criticise their work, they criticise
themselves when comparing themselves to the successes of others, and in doing so, compare themselves to a version of themselves which they imagined they might be. In a hyper-mediated
world of the internet, this feedback loop is infinite.
Musicians talked about the difficulties of managing the torrent of
feedback (both good and bad) – something which has received
attention for its harmful impact on young people and particularly
young girls26 and women. Related to this, social media was often
the vehicle through which they would observe the achievements
of others, and would come to compare their own fortunes to that
of their peers and competitors. This could drastically harm the
self-esteem of these workers who, as suggested, had often spent
years or even decades struggling in an environment of insecure
housing and negligible/non-existent wages, and who could, at
times, conceptualise these discrepancies as profound failures.
Relationships
The music industry is a highly networked industry and one’s social
and physical geographical location within this network plays a
significant part in workers’ ability to secure work or even to compete for work, and many of the musicians we interviewed talked
about the problem of the London-centric character of the music
industry despite the new digital practices. It was still very much
expressed that you needed to be embedded within a network to get
18 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
noticed and this was very frustrating for those who lived outside
of the capital. London was felt by many to be just too expensive
for them to exist in, yet without being there they felt their chances
diminished. On the other hand, the relaxed and informal working
culture in the creative industries, and freelance work more
generally, is what many find attractive about it. However, many
interviewees spoke of the blurring of relationship boundaries and
the difficulty in distinguishing ‘friends’ from ‘colleagues’. This
inability to tell when one was in a work environment or a social
environment leads them, at times, to question the authenticity of
their friendships and also made several feel that they were being
emotionally manipulated into working for free on
occasion
because it was a ‘friends thing’. These ambiguous relationships
seemed to add to the musicians’ frustrations and feelings of
inadequacy, and added to their anxiety.
This research suggests that freelance and/or creative selfemployment, typical of that found in the wider gig economy, has
a number of psychologically harmful components that should
be acknowledged. Where the ‘creative’ self-employed may find
comfort and also satisfaction in their creative capacity that
serves to offset some of the issues surrounding their precarious
conditions, increasingly the new members of the gig economy
who lack the potential cushion of creative capacity and fulfilment are faced only with the constraints and pressures of these
conditions.
Central to these findings is the impact of precarious work on
the well-being of workers. This type of work therefore suffers not
only from a precarity of finances, but also a precarity of status, a
precarity of certainty, and a precarity of sociality. As suggested, a
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 19
number of the findings in ‘Can Music Make You Sick’ are relatively
unique to the vicissitudes and challenges of a musical career. However, a number of these features of freelance, independent, and
entrepreneurial musical work, are experienced by other freelance
workers both in the digital economy and in the gig economy too.
‘This type of work therefore suffers not only from
a precarity of finances, but also a precarity of
status, a precarity of certainty, and a precarity of
sociality.’
It is vital to acknowledge the emotional dimension of p recarity.
Just as other institutionalised workplaces have health and safety
regulations, so too must this form of employment. Workers
engaged in self-employment of this kind can be economically precarious, emotionally vulnerable, and suffer interpersonally. Genuine consideration must be given to the psychological dimensions of this style of work, as highlighted by this research.
Y REVIEW OF POLICY OPTIONS
Increasing Tax for Self-Employed
Recently, the UK Government considered a tax increase for the
self-employed that, after a remarkable public outcry, was later
abandoned. As aforementioned, the precarious conditions of
employment and the underlying uncertainty of the likely levels of
income and social security benefits generate a series of tensions
with which a ‘flexible worker’ is left to cope. Tax rates are part
of the ecosystem of self-employment that should be designed in
the way that supports the well-being of the self-employed rather
than creating new challenges. The above research indicates that
the conditions of self-employment are often the cause of psychological distress. Based on that, heavier tax duties, as a source of
additional challenges, would not work towards improving the
mental health issues frequently inherent to flexible patterns of
work, which in turn might have various societal implications due
to their impact on productivity and the stability of family lives,
and in other respects. It is also worth mentioning that the creative
industries – the category under which the sample of the study ‘Can
Music Make You Sick?’ falls – where freelancing or other patterns
of flexible work are widespread, have been so far disadvantaged
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 21
as compared with other sectors in terms of the overall support
and attention assigned in public policy, as articulated in the current
debates around the Government’s Industrial Strategy Green Paper
(2017)27. Indeed, the modal earnings of the self-employed more
generally vis-à-vis employees are typically far lower; around £240
per week as opposed to £400 per week28. Furthermore whilst
some in what the Office for National Statistics calls ‘full-time self
employment’ do indeed earn high salaries, it is important to note
that they do so without the benefits of formalised employment and
the associated protections afforded by it. Therefore, we propose
that the Government should avoid actions that will place more
financial and/or administrative burdens on the self-employed.
The Government should direct its efforts in designing policies
that support this category of the workforce, which operates
in continuous uncertainty with regards to income and work
employment.
O POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
A Universal Basic Income
These findings suggest, more generally, that the Government
should consider policies that disincentivise the spread of working
arrangements that result in precarious working conditions.
Such initiatives should be supplemented with revisions to work
contracts which seek to avoid the granting of basic e mployment
rights. These might be developed alongside new expanded
contractual conditions that could, for example, include time
spent working (hours), output of work and/or reflect a product or
service’s value and income ultimately earned as a result – all along
more equitable lines. This paper will explore the viability of a
bolder policy suggestion – that of a Universal Basic Income. The
concept of a Universal Basic Income (UBI) refers to an income
paid to all individuals within a prescribed area such as a nation
state, which is entirely non-means tested and received without
stipulations or requirements of any kind. Conceptually, there are
two distinct versions of the UBI. The neoliberal version suggests
that everyone receives a small amount per month but that this
should coincide with the dismantling of the welfare state. The progressive version suggests funding UBI out of capital taxation, i.e.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 23
to tax capital and redistribute capital (which is conceptualised as
surplus-value generated by workers) to all citizens. In the United
Kingdom, the Green Party introduced a commitment to the
concept in their 2017 manifesto29. The argument proposed herein,
is to consider the idea that a progressive Universal Basic Income
might be of immense psychological and emotional benefit for
workers in the gig economy, the UK music industry, and indeed
in the wider economy. In this sense, we simply seek to reframe
the debate around UBI, suggesting that it has a psychological
component which should be considered.
The scope of this brief does not allow for a meaningful discussion of
the pros and cons of implementing a policy of UBI more generally
– see Downes (2018) for a comprehensive overview. Instead, the
insights offered are intended only to provide another dimension
to the debate surrounding the potential benefits of such a scheme.
These are multiple, and include the idea that UBI has:
>> ethical and moral benefits, in terms of compensating
for the job losses caused by automation, or facilitating
self-development and the establishment of universal
self-respect;
>> economic benefits, in terms of efficiency savings as
hugely complex and bureaucratic systems of welfare
payments are effectively dismantled, or via the boost in
aggregate demand in the economy;
>> political and democratic benefits, in terms of improving
levels of political and civic engagement - see Fuchs (2008)
for more details.
24 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
Our suggestion is that a progressive UBI also may have psychological benefits, because it alleviates the emotional burden of
precarity, which increasingly shapes the nature of contemporary
work. It is important of course to be pragmatic and consider
short-term practicalities and the realities of trying to implement a
system based on UBI30.
In the absence of Universal Basic Income being meaningfully
considered by the UK Government at this stage, this Policy Brief
makes two further policy recommendations.
Education is Key
Ensuring a greater awareness of the mental health challenges
facing those working within the gig economy is vital. These
educational processes need to take place on a variety of levels.
Within higher education and elsewhere, there needs to be a
concerted effort to embed mental health within the curriculum
of the courses on offer, to ensure awareness of the challenges that
individuals might face, and enable those likely to be employed as
flexible workers to take appropriate steps to prepare themselves
for this work
environment. Courses which feature an entrepreneurial component, or which have a graduate employment
composition featuring the types of work discussed in this p
olicy
brief – for example fashion, journalism, the wider creative
industries – should seek to engage students in debates s urrounding
the links between the challenges of the working conditions they
might face in their working lives and the potential psychological
ramifications of this work.
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 25
Access to Mental Health Support
Access to (and funding of) mental health support for selfemployed people should be improved, paying particular attention
to stress and anxiety management. It was hugely encouraging
that following the publication of ‘Can Music Make You Sick’,
a dedicated 24/7 telephone support service was launched for
the music industry on the basis of our recommendations. This
service – Music Minds Matter – launched by Help Musicians UK,
might act as a benchmark against which other industries might
draw inspiration, particularly those with relatively weak trade
union membership which typifies a great deal of work within
the gig economy. Further research is of course required to gauge
the impact of this and other mental health support services.
D NOTES
Disclaimer: this document should be regarded as an individual
submission by the authors, not representing an official position
of the MusicTank/University of Westminster nor the opinions
of the research commissioners Help Musicians UK.
*
Fuchs, C. 2014. Digital Labour and Karl Marx; Abingdon:
Routledge.
1
Banks, M. 2017 Creative Justice: Cultural Industries, Work and
Inequality. Rowman and Littlefield International; Cloonan, M &
Williamson, J. 2016. Players’ Work Time: A History of the
British Musicians’ Union, 1893–2013. Oxford: Oxford University Press; Hesmondhalgh, D. 2012. The Cultural Industries,
London: Sage; McRobbie, A. 1999. In the Culture Society: Art,
Fashion and Popular Music, London: Psychology Press.
2
ONS. Trends in self-employment in the UK: 2001 to 2015.
2016: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/
peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsi
nselfemploymentintheuk/2001to2015 (accessed May 2017).
3
ONS. Contracts that do not guarantee a minimum number of
hours: May 2017. 2017: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employment
andlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/
articles/contractsthatdonotguaranteeaminimumnumberof
hours/may2017 (accessed May 2017).
4
ONS. 2018. Trends in self-employment in the UK: Analysing
the characteristics, income and wealth of the self-employed:
5
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 27
https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/people
inwork/employmentandemployeetypes/articles/trendsin
selfemploymentintheuk/2018-02-07 (accessed June 2018).
EP Briefing: The future of work in the EU. 2017: http://www.
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/
EPRS_BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
6
EP Briefing: The future of work in the EU. 2017: http://www.
europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/
EPRS_BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
7
Ibid.
8
SSAC Occasional Paper 13: Social security and the selfemployed. 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358334/Social_security_
provision_and_the_self-employed__FINAL_24_SEPT__.pdf
(accessed April 2017).
9
10
Kleinman, Z. Blogger fury over tax credit rejection. 2016:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-37275604 (accessed
April 2017).
11
WPC. ‘Gig economy’ companies free-riding on the welfare
state. 2017: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/
news-parliament-2015/gig-economy-report-published-16-17/
(accessed May 2017).
12
BBC Gig economy chiefs defend business model. 2017: http://
www.test.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39051721 (accessed
May 2017); Dizik, A., The next generation of jobs won’t be
made up of professions (2017): http://www.bbc.com/capital/
story/20170424-the-next-generation-of-jobs-wont-be-madeup-of-professions (accessed May 2017); RSA The evidence
proves self-employment is great. Celebrate it! Press release. 2014:
https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/
rsa-blogs/2014/04/the-evidence-proves-self-employment-isgreat.-celebrate-it (accessed May 2017), etc.
28 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
13
BBC Gig economy chiefs defend business model. 2017: http://
www.test.bbc.co.uk/news/business-39051721 (accessed May
2017).
14
SSAC Occasional Paper 13: Social security and the selfemployed. 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/uploads/attachment_data/file/358334/Social_
security_provision_and_the_self-employed__FINAL_24_
SEPT__.pdf (accessed April 2017); EP Briefing: The future
of work in the EU (2017): http://www.europarl.europa.eu/
RegData/etudes/BRIE/2017/599426/EPRS_
BRI(2017)599426_EN.pdf (accessed May 2017).
15
ET Case 2202550/2015 & Others. 2016: https://www.
judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/aslam-andfarrar-v-uber-reasons-20161028.pdf (accessed April 2017).
16
BBC Bike courier wins ‘gig’ economy employment rights
case. 2017: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-38534524
(accessed April 2017); RCJ Case No: A2/2015/0196 Pimlico
Plumbers (2017): https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/
uploads/2017/02/pimlico-plumbers-v-smith.pdf (accessed
April 2017). The Supreme Court (UK) (2018) Pimlico Plumbers
Ltd and another (Appellants) v Smith (Respondent), Case ID
UKSC 2017/0053: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/uksc2017-0053.html (accessed June 2018)
17
EP Employment: MEPs to discuss plans to reinforce workers’
rights. 2017: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/newsroom/20170407STO70803/employment-meps-to-discussplans-to-reinforce-workers’-rights (accessed 2017).
18
EC The European Pillar of Social Rights in 20 principles.
2017: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/priorities/deeperand-fairer-economic-and-monetary-union/european-pillarsocial-rights/european-pillar-social-rights-20-principles_en
(accessed May 2017).
19
EP Employment: MEPs to discuss plans to reinforce workers’
rights. 2017: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/news-
WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 29
room/20170407STO70803/employment-meps-to-discussplans-to-reinforce-workers’-rights (accessed 2017).
20
WPC ‘Gig economy’ companies free-riding on the welfare
state. 2017: http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/
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21
Among which EP Briefing: The future of work in the EU.
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2017); Moscone, F., Tosetti, E., Vittadini, G. 2016. The Impact
of Precarious Employment on Mental Health: The Case of Italy,
Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 158, pp. 86–95, etc.
22
Gross, S & Musgrave, G. 2016. Can Music Make You Sick? Music
and Depression. A Study into the Incidence of Musicians’ Mental
Health. Part 1 – Pilot Survey Report, Harrow: MusicTank; Gross,
S & Musgrave, G. 2017. Can Music Make You Sick? A Study into
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23
Attali, J. 1977. Bruits: Essai Sur L’Economie Politique de la
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30 CAMRI POLICY BRIEFS
24
According to the ONS (2013), nearly 1 in 5 (19%) of people in
the UK aged 16 years or over experienced anxiety or depression
(using the GHQ method which asked if they had experienced
these things ‘recently’) in 2010–11. This was consistent across
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25
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26
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Vol. 9(5), pp. 584–590.
27
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30
Van Parjis, P & Vanderborght, Y. 2017. Basic Income: A Radical
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WELL-BEING AND MENTAL HEALTH IN THE GIG ECONOMY 33
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SSAC. 20Syntax Warning: Invalid Font Weight
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WELL-BEING AND MENTAL
HEALTH IN THE GIG
ECONOMY
Policy Perspectives on Precarity
A response is needed to the numerous issues spurred by the
expansion of the gig economy, where flexible patterns of
employment prevail in contrast to permanent jobs. In this context
of the exponential growth of the digital economy and underlying
business models the largest nationwide study of its kind into the
impact of the working conditions in the UK music industry
‘Can Music Make You Sick?’ has been conducted by
MusicTank/University of Westminster.
This research suggests the need to consider the future of work not
only from an economic or employment law perspective but from a
mental health one too. What are the psychological implications of
precarious work and how are factors such as financial instability, the
feedback economy and personal relationships reflected in mental
health outcomes or connected to the business relationships most
musicians and other gig economy participants work under?
Authors Sally-Anne Gross, George Musgrave and Laima Janciute
consider which policy measures may help or harm gig economy
workers including the taxation of self-employed workers, a universal
basic income, education around mental health issues and access to
mental health support.
www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk
