Sponsored Content-- Erin Latessa explained that gig driving allows her to care for her husband and work around his schedule. The flexibility that comes along with driving is key for her.
Many gig workers value the flexibility they get with their jobs.
"Without the ability to "gig" my family would not be able to survive my husband's cancer battle," Latessa told Massachusetts Business Daily on October 25, 2021. "It has been absolutely imperative that I am able to work when I can, take him to chemo when it is scheduled, and be with him in the hospital when he is admitted. If I was committed to an employer at this time I would have lost my job months and months ago due to the unpredictable events of cancer and my unreliability. It has been comforting to know that my job will still be there when I am able to come back to it after taking time off to care for my family."
In the "Freelancing in America: 2019" survey of 6,000 U.S. workers, 79% of full-time and 76% of part-time freelance workers said they joined the gig workforce environment out of a desire for a flexible schedule and the right to decide which days and hours they work.
An MBO Partners report revealed that 59% of male gig workers and 74% of female freelancers like working independently because of the flexibility this type of work offers. Freelance statistics also demonstrate that the majority of independent workers try to stay independent, showing 54% of men and 43% of women earn more money working as freelancers.
A 2021 report from Harvard Business School showed that 76% of the 808 respondents in a survey cited flexibility as being very important to them, while 69% highly valued the opportunity to bring in extra income. 10% of the respondents said that losing flexibility would be the equivalent of taking a 15% pay cut.
The number of customers who utilize Uber went up from 93 million in 2020 to 118 million in 2021, a Business of Apps report said. Uber drivers made over 6 billion trips in 2021, for an average of more than 17 million trips per day.
Over 5 million people around the world worked as Uber drivers in 2021.