Sponsored Content – For many people, ride-hailing services like Uber offer convenience and flexibility in work schedules, allowing them to juggle busy home lives with their work, which is always just a drive away.
For part-time Chicago-area Uber driver Isaac King III, the flexibility proves to be an attraction. Even when he is running errands, he can turn on the app and find a trip that is going the same way he is going, allowing him to make some money on the way to the store.
“I know it's really cool because there's a lot of good benefits there, and it has helped my family quite a bit for a short time,” King said. “My wife, actually, she was driving in the mornings during the morning rush. She used to need some additional income as well. Before school, she would get up and she'd drive a little while. And then after that, she'd come back and do school. And so my oldest son now is a driver as well, and he's driving with Uber when he had his first child was on the way, and he wanted to make sure he could pay off the medical bills as quickly as possible. So he picked it up as a part-time thing to do for income as well as outside of his full-time job.”
Othello King, a full-time Uber driver, said that when he started driving, he was surprised by the amount of money he could make on the weekends. "Well, when I heard about it, I was trying to get an understanding of what it was all about. And then when I went out to try, I was surprised at the amount of money that I could make just on the weekend. And this was back 2015. And then also, when I realized the airports trips and the conventions and just how busy it really was like, 'Oh yes, this is something I can do, and the hours were flexible,"
His desire for flexibility is shared by many American workers. A survey of 6,000 U.S. workers published by Slideshare.com, titled "Freelancing in America: 2019", found that 79% of full-time and 76% of part-time freelance workers were attracted to their positions by the flexible schedule, giving them the ability to set their own days and hours.
According to a December 2018 Edison Research report, 1,044 gig workers were surveyed and 44% said they use the gig economy as their top income source. The report said that the figure increases among younger respondents, with 53% between the ages of 18 and 34 relying on gig work as their key source of income.
Identifying lifestyle as a key factor, Forbes said that 84% of full-time freelancers told the publication their work allows them to live the lifestyle they desire, while just 63% of typical workers say their jobs give them such flexibility. Moreover, according to the Forbes report, another 42% said they could not hold down a traditional job due to circumstances in their life.