Keep in mind that 'flexible contracts' and 'zero hour contracts' already existed before the Gig economy, and that they still came with all the good stuff that comes with employment.
For the US, where a lot of people were already under the perpetual Sword of Damocles waiting to be told they are no longer required the situation is maybe not all that different. But not all of the world is like that.
The better way to run a life that is free and where you get plenty of time to arrange as you wish is to have a consultancy company where you hire yourself out at a high rate during a few months of the year to take it easy during the remainder.
Nearly 2/3rd of the federal budget is for social programs. What do you mean a "complete lack of a safety net"?
I've done my bit of social security for the United States all the way from where I'm sitting, it's that good.
Not all social programs are safety net programs; notably age- and work-related public healthcare isn't, and neither is work-qualified public pension.
And also a lot of the social spending (safety net or not) is the public portion of the US’s stupendously inefficient hybrid public/private health care system, so even the safety net portions of that (mainly Medicaid) give very little safety net for the money.
By the standards of the developed West, the US has a very weak safety net, however much money it might spend on public social programs.