The real cost of shadow work | Financial Times
Calculating its full economic impact could help us understand productivity and employment issues
✒ Shadow work was defined by Craig Lambert (former Harvard magazine editor) in the 2015 book Shadow Work as: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day.
These are the tasks that used to be done by other people, which most of us now do for ourselves, usually with the help of digital devices. Such as:
- Banking;
- Travel bookings;
- Ordering food in restaurants;
- Bagging groceries; not to mention
- Downloading and navigating the apps we need to pay parking tickets or track our children’s school assignments; or even
- Troubleshoot our own tech problems.
The author points out that:
“One could argue that all of this shadow work drives consumer prices lower, by reducing human labour.
Perhaps. But is it productive for the economy as a whole? You have to wonder.
Does it make sense for me, as a well-paid knowledge worker, to spend several hours a week struggling with tasks that used to be done far better by entry-level workers who needed the employment?”
This isn’t a smug question, it’s a reasonable one.