Gig workers only exist because the state has tied more and more programs like 401k and health insurance into employment. The fact that you can't hire someone without also worrying about health insurance is insane. That is what needs to be fixed I don't want my employer involved at all in my personal health care.

Gig working started with Uber as an extension of cab driving. Cab drivers do not get 401k and health insurance. So it makes no sense at all that gig working would only exist because companies didn't want to pay benefits. Your pizza delivery guy wasn't getting benefits either. Neither your waiter, or bartender.

However, Uber and other companies did start right after the dot-com recession, when people needed to both save money, and make extra money. It turns out a lot of people needed to do both. Sure, there were advantages over the previous incumbents (cabs suck), but that's not why there are so many drivers.

Ask your Uber or Lyft drivers sometime how often they work. Many of them, since the early years, told me they work as many hours as they can, for as many companies as they can, just to make ends meet. Of course they're paying for their car and all that themselves, too, so it's not like they're getting ahead. And they definitely would rather not be driving for 14 hours a day.

These companies exploit people in an unequal system in order to make profits.

What do you even mean? I just don't want my employer involved in government retirement programs or my health insurance. "Benefits" from employers are just nicely constructed traps to make it hard to retire or switch jobs.