Pew Research on the Gig 2021 Economy

FromSmallBizLabs, reporting on the Gig Economy: 

Pew Research on The State of the Gig Economy in 2021

The Pew Research Center, a highly regarded non-profit, non-partisan D.C. think tank, recently released The State of Gig Work in 2021 report.  

The report covers the results of an in-depth survey of Americans who earn money from the gig economy, which Pew defined somewhat narrowly.  They only included workers who earned money by providing the following services via online gig platforms: 

"... 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.

This leaves out many independent worker segments and platforms, including professional services.  

But by only looking at a subset of consumer services platforms, the study zeros in on the most controversial online gig platforms and work - ridesharing, deliver services and personal errand services.  

Pew found that 16% of adult Americans have earned money at some point via platforms included in their study, with 4% currently earning money via these platforms and an additional 5% saying they've earned money via these platforms over the past 12 months.  

Since there are about 258 million Americans 18 years and older, these percentages translate to roughly:

10.3 million Americans currently earn money as gig workers

23.2 million earned money as gig workers over the past year

41 million have done this type of gig work at some point in the past

The study's results echo the results of almost every other study done on the gig economy.  The quick summary is:

Most (78%) report having either a very positive experience (24%) or a somewhat positive experience (54%) doing gig work.  Only 17% report a negative experience.

Most work part-time, with only 8% saying they do this type of gig work more than 30 hours per week.

Most (58%) say the income they earn via gig work is either essential (23%) or important (35%) to meeting their basic needs.

The study chart below (click to enlarge) shows the reasons gig workers take on this type of work. 

Just as other studies have found (including ours), most gig workers do this work because it's a flexible way to supplement income.     ..... '