Uber launches app to help gig workers find jobs in Chicago

NEW YORK (AP) - Uber is launching an app that aims to make it easier for gig workers to line up jobs.

The app connects workers in Chicago with potential jobs such as as bartending, cooking, cleaning, working an assembly line and setting up events. It aims to give workers more details about potential jobs, locations, hours and pay than they could see through an employment agency. The app can also serve as time-tracking tool for users to clock in and out of work.

The launch comes as Uber faces the possibility that it may have to pay its California drivers as employees because of a recently-passed state law making it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors.

Uber and rival Lyft fought the proposal. Both companies are struggling to turn a profit.