Summary Response Essay Assignment - Nayla Raissa Hidayat (16321050)

In a recent article from The Jakarta Post called “Uncertainty, money worries and
stress – gig workers need support to cope” posted on 13th March 2022, it is said that gig
workers tend to be more stressed than other types of workers. Gig work is unpredictable,
which means gig worker's income is also uncertain, which makes the gig workers stress to fill
their daily needs. A recent Canadian study found gig workers felt powerless and that financial
strain contributed to increased stress.
The author said in their article how gig workers were more likely to be stressed if they
worked fewer hours each week. This is true to my experience since i have seen a few stories
on social media about Indonesian’s gig workers working late just to reach their target. That
habit will lead to stress and a lot of pressure for them. Sometimes better technology can also
affect their work. They would reach their target with the better technology they have. With
more targets reached, more money is made.
Some other thing was also said in the article, having a higher level of education was
associated with increased stress in gig workers. I slightly disagree with this statement because
i don’t think education is a big aspect in the motive of stress in gig workers. Most of them
have bills to pay or maybe a family to take care of. So maybe including a higher level of
education in the article doesn’t matter much as another reason.
The author also said that emotional support is the most effective coping mechanism
for gig workers. As they said, “The most effective methods were emotional support (from
family, friends, or other gig workers), planning, and active coping strategies that consider
challenges then draw on available resources to seek help and find solutions to overcome
them.” I agree with the statement because for myself, my coping mechanism is also some
emotional support from my friends and family when I tend to burn myself out from a lot of
school pressure. A source from sciencedirect.com says that there are many different
conceptualizations of coping strategies, but the five general types of coping strategies are
problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, social support, religious coping, and
meaning-making. This means emotional and social support is an important aspect of coping
mechanisms. Not only for gig workers but everyone.
Maybe the gig work is not the only reason that causes the stress, but it is the major
motive in causing the stress of the gig workers. But despite the stress, gig workers still need
to face the challenges. A lot of gig workers in Indonesia crave emotional support from their
own community to handle these challenges together to reduce the stress they have. This is a
new area of research and data is difficult to collect with such a wide range of people involved
who don’t congregate in any one workplace.
 Citation

Madeline Sprajcer, Charlotte Gupta. (2022, March 13). Uncertainty, Money Worries and
Stress – Gig Workers Need Support to Cope. Rockhampton: The Jakarta Post.
Retrieved from
https://www.thejakartapost.com/opinion/2022/03/13/uncertainty-money-worries-and-s
tress--gig-workers-need-support-to-cope.html

Trevi Putri, Richard Heeks. (2022, February 3). Indonesia’s gig economy falling short on
decent work standards. Manchester: East Asia Forum. Retrieved from
https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/02/03/indonesias-gig-economy-falling-short-on-
decent-work-standards/#:~:text=Indonesia's%20gig%20economy%20is%20dominate
d,complaints%20about%20pay%20and%20conditions.