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I was just talking to my UBer driver in Manila. He made $550 per month working as a registered nurse in one of the largest hospitals here. Driving for Uber he m
by ciguy 9y ago
I was just talking to my UBer driver in Manila. He made $550 per month working as a registered nurse in one of the largest hospitals here. Driving for Uber he makes $1700 to $2100 per month. I'm assuming Grab pays similarly.
I don't think he's really done the math to figure out maintenance and fuel costs, but presumably he's coming out ahead in any case. This is a major issue in developing countries where institutional wage increases have not kept pace with the "gig" economy. So a skilled and educated professional can make 3x to 5x the local wage by working as a virtual assistant or an Uber Driver.
This pulls educated professionals out of the labor pool for things like medical and drags down the quality of care. Medical facilities in the Philippines can be really nice, but many doctors and nurses are recent grads and quite frankly completely clueless about anything but the most basic issues.
- piva00 9y agoWhat I am afraid of is that these people payments are being subsidised by VC money, when that money runs out and they have to compete truly based on market self-regulated prices I fear the workers will be getting paid less and less to make up for the costs, it's good for a while but people are becoming dependent on something that is still very unstable.
- beambot 9y ago> people are becoming dependent on something that is still very unstable. What industries would you consider stable today...?
- hdra 9y agoStrictly speaking though, the rides aren't what is being subsidised by VC money, that is, the company aren't losing more money with each additional booking. The rates are pretty competitive with existing taxi business, and their entrance to a market hasn't exactly brought down ride prices. I think most of the VC money are used on the "war" to gain dominance. Tech, marketing, lobbying, and such.