In 2009, I first heard the term “gig economy.” I had a hunch about what it meant but clearly underestimated how prevalent it would become. Gigs, or side hustles, now make up an extraordinary number of U.S. jobs. Today, millions of Americans’ chief source of income is treated like a “gig,” meaning they multitask for a year or two, then they may move on to another. New Yorker journalist Tina Brown coined the term.

While side hustles within today’s gig economy have been recently popularized, the practice goes back to at least 1915, when jazz musicians conceptualized the term “gig” in reference to live performances and the transient nature of their jobs. In the 1940s, World War II prompted the opening of the first large companies promoting gig-type work, offering temporary labor to businesses needing to fill workforce........

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