in EnglishIn Canada, the significance of the gig economy workforce within the broader economy has grown rapidly. In fact, new data from a recent Payments Canada report estimates that gig workers now represent more than one in 10 Canadian adults, and more than one in three Canadian businesses employ gig workers.
Transitioning to working in the gig economy inevitably impacts how a person is likely paid for their services. Gig workers and the businesses that employ them want the same thing from a payments solution standpoint – fast, convenient, secure, and traceable payments methods. But despite having payment options at their disposal that meet these needs, Canadian gig-workers and the businesses that employ them have identified the need for improvements.
In fact, almost 40 percent of Canadian gig workers want to see improvements to how they are paid.
While there are existing payments options that provide those benefits such as direct deposit, small- to medium-sized businesses — which make up more than 98 percent of Canadian businesses — continue to primarily use Interac e-Transfer (by 42 percent of SMEs) and cheques (by 32 percent of SMEs), leaving gig workers’ preferences unaddressed.
For one in five Canadian gig workers, it currently takes at least a couple of weeks to receive payment after their work is done. Moreover, the gig workers who do get paid on the same day that their contract is done are predominantly paid by cash (59 percent), which creates challenges in terms of traceability.
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