(Sponsored Content—) Respect between gig economy drivers and their customers is a two-way street.
That has been the experience described by Jersey Shore Uber driver Christian Soto.
"Well, I've had like 10,000 rides altogether in the last two-something years, and I've probably had five unpleasant riders altogether," Soto told New Jersey Business Daily. "I think they are in their own way or very unique. And I've had great conversations and also there's certain passengers, they don't like to be bothered, and we respect that too, you know?"
App-based transportation and delivery workers, as well as others in the gig economy, report that they like their jobs. A pre-COVID poll by PYMNTS.com, which reports on payments, retail, fintech, financial services and all of the digital economy, found that more than 75.7% of gig workers won't leave gig work even when they're offered a full-time job.
Last summer, payment company Brodmin.com released a case study that found transportation-based services and asset-sharing platforms are valued at almost 90% of the entire gig economy.
No one says working as a gig economy driver is easy, however. A 2018 Edison Research report found that 51% of gig workers say they work harder for their income than those who work a traditional job.
That hard work pays off. A 2020 MBOPartners "State of Independence" study found that more than half of the full-time independent workforce feels more financially secure in their gig than they would in traditional jobs. While financial security was one of the most important factors in the study when it comes to employment, job security and medical coverage were often big concerns for freelancers.
The first Uber user called up the Uber app and requested a ride July 5, 2010 in San Francisco, according to historical information on Uber's website. The following year, Uber went global with rides being offered in Paris; today, it is worldwide.
Despite the ubiquitous nature of Uber and other parts of the on-demand economy, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has no official definition of the "gig economy," but describes a "gig" as "a single project or task for which a worker is hired, often through a digital marketplace, to work on demand." The BLS classifies gig workers as those doing contingent work or employed under "alternative employment arrangements."
Despite having no official definition, the gig economy has been key to many getting through the ongoing pandemic and the resulting economic downturn.
A report by The Hamilton Project in 2015 found that as the post-Great Recession market recovered, on-demand gig work benefitted workers and the economy by supporting job growth and personal income. The authors of the report pointed out that the gig economy offers flexibility, minimal training costs and low barriers to enter the workforce, allowing workers to supplement their incomes as needed or to create an income for themselves.
The report also found that customers benefit from services offered by gig workers and the low costs associated with them.
For Soto, being an independent ride-hailing driver is his job and most of his customers "have been good" and he finds them "remarkable."
"But I think all of them that I've had, like I said, out of 10,000 maybe five or ten have been unpleasant riders," he said.