Abstract
Economic dependence is consistently identified as a key factor in understanding gig workers’ experiences (e.g., Kuhn & Maleki, 2017; Schor et al., 2020; Spreitzer et al., 2017), but empirical estimates of the rate of economically dependent gig workers vary considerably across sources (e.g., from 3% to 56%). To obtain a reliable estimate of this rate, this work used an inductive approach and an experimental survey design to investigate the significance and size of (1) methodological (i.e., survey item wording) effects and (2) demographic predictors of whether gig workers endorse economic dependence items. Results are also compared across nonrandom but representative samples from two common types of gig work – crowdwork (N = 447, Study 1) and rideshare driving (N = 919, Study 2). This study offers a conservative estimate that 45% of crowdworkers and 74% of rideshare drivers are economically dependent on their gig. Three predictors of economic dependence were significant across both groups – item wording, marital status, and hours worked on-platform. Four more predictors were significant for one group only – hours worked off-platform for crowdworkers only; and age, sex, and gig tenure for rideshare drivers only. Methodological effects were larger among crowdworkers, and sex and marital status showed opposite effects compared to previous research on financial stress. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed with a focus on better understanding economic dependence and improving gig workers’ experiences.
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Notes
Age showed a significant omnibus difference by condition, with F(4,914) = 2.72, p = .03, but none of the Bonferroni-adjusted post hoc tests were significant, with ps ≥ 0.24.
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Brawley Newlin, A. Methodological and Demographic Variation in Estimates of Economic Dependence Across Two Types of Gig Work. Occup Health Sci 8, 161–190 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-023-00168-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41542-023-00168-6