Shadow work

A consumer dispenses fuel into her own vehicle, a form of unpaid shadow work: after a century of relying on employees to dispense fuel, fuel companies now offer self-service fuel pumps as the norm in much of western world.

In economics, shadow work refers to unpaid labor in the form of self service. The term was first used by Ivan Illich, in his 1981 book of the same title. An example would be self checkout at a supermarket.

Craig Lambert, a former editor of Harvard Magazine wrote about the new trend towards unpaid "shadow work" in 2011 and followed up his research in a book called Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day in 2015. In it, he itemizes many of the unpaid tasks ordinary people do now that others used to do, such as pump gasoline, bag groceries, make travel arrangements, and check baggage at the airport. He includes the rise of technology and robotics as forces leading to the growth of shadow work, and also includes such factors as crowdsourcing and parental over-engagement in their children's' lives. He argues that downloading of tasks to consumers takes away from their time and reduces the amount of casual social interaction in peoples' lives. It also limits the number of opportunities for low skilled entry level work (such as pumping gas).

See also

• Carr–Benkler wager
• Internship
• Self-service