Pew Research Center surveyed U.S. adults in August 2021 and found that 16% of Americans have ever earned money through an online gig platform in at least one of the following ways: driving for a ride-hailing app; shopping for or delivering groceries or household items; performing household tasks like cleaning someone’s home or assembling furniture, or running errands like picking up dry cleaning; making deliveries from a restaurant or store for a delivery app; using a personal vehicle to deliver packages to others via a mobile app or website such as Amazon Flex; or doing something else along these lines.
- Three-in-ten 18- to 29-year-olds have ever earned money through an online gig platform, but that share drops to 18% among those ages 30 to 49 and even smaller for those ages 50 and up.
- Hispanic adults stand out for participating in the gig labor force: 30% have ever earned money in this way, compared with 20% of Black adults, 19% of Asian adults and 12% of White adults. And Americans with lower incomes are more likely than those with middle or upper incomes to have ever earned money through these kinds of sites or apps.
- 9% of U.S. adults are current or recent gig workers, meaning they have earned money through an online gig platform in the past 12 months.
- At the same time, some gig workers say the money they earned through these platforms over the past 12 months has been essential (23%) or important (35%) for meeting their basic needs, while 39% say the income has been nice to have, but not needed.
- 49% say being able to control their own schedule is a major reason why they have taken on these jobs over the past year.
- Among those who’ve done this work in the past year, majorities say they are at least somewhat satisfied with the number of jobs available to them, how quickly they can find jobs and the amount of money they’ve earned over the past 12 months.
- When it comes to perceptions of fairness, 72% of current or recent gig workers say the companies that run these apps or sites have been at least somewhat fair when it comes to how their jobs are assigned, while 64% say the same about their pay.
- By comparison, these workers are more critical of the way companies have handled their benefits. Nearly half of recent or current gig workers (46%) say companies have been unfair when it comes to their benefits, while half believe they have been fair. These sentiments seem to dovetail with broader criticism of the gig economy – that gig work does not adequately address issues around unemployment, healthcare and paid leave benefits.
- A majority (62%) say the most appropriate way to describe drivers for companies that offer ride-hailing apps like Uber or Lyft is as independent contractors providing a service on behalf of the apps or websites.
See more findings here