{"id":32052,"date":"2016-01-02T13:48:56","date_gmt":"2016-01-02T12:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/?p=32052"},"modified":"2016-01-02T13:54:13","modified_gmt":"2016-01-02T12:54:13","slug":"32052","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.w-t-w.org\/en\/32052\/","title":{"rendered":"Entrepreneur Alert: On Demand Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"
David McCabe writes: \u00a02015 was the year that federal regulators, lawmakers, and presidential candidates finally took close notice of the growing on-demand economy, scrutiny that will only intensify in the new year.<\/div>\n
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A growing number of companies are making money by delivering services to customers at just the tap of a smartphone screen.<\/p>\n

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The industry is no stranger to policy fights, with Uber perpetually battling taxi regulators and drivers, and Airbnb at loggerheads with established hoteliers, but the companies face challenges ahead.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tthreats the on-demand economy faces in 2016:<\/p>\n

Class-action lawsuits:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Uber and other on-demand companies have faced criticism for building a workforce of independent contractors, who don\u2019t get the benefits and protections afforded to many employees. Now those companies are being sued over those labor practices.<\/p>\n

The US Labor Department is expected to become more involved in issues over on-demand economy workers, with officials planning to visit Silicon Valley next year for talks.<\/p>\n

Federal guidelines:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first federal regulator to weigh in on the on-demand economy is likely to be the Federal Trade Commission.<\/p>\n

The agency is expected to issue a report touching on the consumer protection and competition questions raised by the rise of on-demand services. Because labor issues are outside of the agency\u2019s purview, they are not expected to address the contractor-versus-employee battle.<\/p>\n

But it also seems unlikely that their guidelines will be particularly harsh.<\/p>\n

Campaign trail scrutiny:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The companies \u2014 particularly those like Uber that have become household names \u2014 risk becoming political footballs in the 2016 presidential election.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, it seemed as if every presidential candidate wanted to show their support for the innovation symbolized by Uber and others.<\/p>\n

On-demand economy firms could be in the spotlight in a presidential election where income inequality is a hot topic.<\/p>\n

State and global regulations:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The most aggressive challenges to on-demand businesses have always come from state and municipal regulators tasked with overseeing the industries, like transportation and lodging, that the platforms claim to disrupt.<\/p>\n

Those battles are likely to continue in the next year, as the companies look to expand into new markets.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a><\/p>\n

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David McCabe writes: \u00a02015 was the year that federal regulators, lawmakers, and presidential candidates finally took close notice of the growing on-demand economy, scrutiny that will only intensify in the new year. A growing number of companies are making money … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entrepreneurs","category-finance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t