The superb and very useful research website, finfacts had this excellent article on job types. I found this as it is relevant to a project I am working on. So, on the one hand these lower paid part time jobs offer some flexibility for the workforce but they also in my opinion start society on a very slippery slope where large companies can treat staff poorly, with little pay and no workers rights.  The fact that 40 million workers in the USA could be involved in this “freelance” work is astonishing. The cynic in me also thinks that our beloved government would love more of these jobs as they can “juke the stats”  as in they would not be on unemployment lists. With the Irish population having one of the highest debt ratios in the EU combined with government debt of over 200 billion euro, this type of job will mean little for the economy or for that matter for the working people on the ground, but as stated may make the unemployment figures in 2015 look a little better. Anyway full article below well worth a read.

http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1027792.shtml