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Uber Drivers and Other Gig Economy Workers Are Earning Half What They Did Five Years Ago (recode.net)

According to a new study by the JPMorgan Chase Instittue, drivers who transport people via apps (e.g. Uber, Lyft, Uber Eats, Postmates) made 53 percent less in 2017 than they did in 2013. Recode reports: The average monthly payments to those who worked for a transportation app in a given month declined to $783 from $1,469. Meanwhile, people working for leasing apps -- Airbnb, Turo, Parklee and other apps that let you rent assets like your home, car or parking space -- saw their incomes from those platforms rise 69 percent to $1,736 on average.

This is happening as online gig work has become more popular, thanks in large part to the growth in the number of transportation jobs. The share of the working population that has participated in the online gig economy at any point in a year rose from less than 2 percent in 2013 to nearly 5 percent in 2018. There are a number of potential reasons why the average pay for gig economy drivers has gone down. It could be any or all of the below, according to JPMorgan: drivers on average are working fewer hours; demand hasn't increased to meet the increased number of drivers; trip prices have fallen; or platforms are paying drivers lower rates.

1 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. Re:End result: looking good by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At least I can pay good, old-fashioned, cash for a taxi and not have my CC info, email, name, and other ID info in a database for eternity. Uber/Lyft/the rest of the "rideshare" techbro firms = no privacy.

    Yeah, yeah, taxis have cameras, but facial recognition is still a lot harder than ID from an account "verified" with CC info. F Uber, Lyft, Via, and the rest of them.