California Voters May Have Just Saved Uber, Lyft, and the Gig Economy
A lengthy philosophical standoff looks like it finally came to an end on Tuesday...at least in California. Voters there overwhelmingly agreed that drivers for ride-hailing services such as Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER) and Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) should be exempt from rules that categorize them as employees rather than contractors. Contractors are much cheaper for companies to utilize, so much so that Uber estimated classifying its drivers as company employees could more than double prices for some of its California customers. It was even intimated that Lyft and Uber may cease operations in the West Coast state rather than operate in such a fiscally restrictive environment.
While the ballot measure only applies in California, it may be a hint of how people in other parts of the country feel about the so-called "gig economy."
Image source: Getty Images.
Source Fool.com
