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According to a survey of SF drivers[0] 71% of drivers work 30 or more hours, and 50% work 40 or more. More troubling, 53% relied on gig work for all of their

According to a survey of SF drivers[0] 71% of drivers work 30 or more hours, and 50% work 40 or more. More troubling, 53% relied on gig work for all of their income. Another 10% said gig work accounted for at least 75% of their income. [0] https://transform.ucsc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/OnDemand-n-OntheEdge_MAY2020.pdf https://transform.ucsc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/OnDema...

Anon1096 6y ago
Not only are the authors of that survey biased, but they are outright admitting to manipulating the data to suit their ends. From the slides: Key goal: Representative sample of on-demand _work_ being done in the city, not of all on-demand _workers_. (emphasis not mine) The team making the study has selected parameters to examine basically exactly to produce a number where the majority of rideshare is full-time. So is it clear that most rideshare workers are full time? Definitely not. And the fact that the team has weighted their sampling in such a way makes me even more skeptical about the veracity of that fact when taken across the whole population of drivers.
- jonathankoren 6y ago
  Just because you don’t like the findings, doesn’t mean that it’s biased. As far as the distinction between work and workers, it’s who is doing the work. If most people with an driver app are idle, they’ve removed themselves from the candidate pool. They’re irrelevant. It’s no different than talking about active users versus total accounts made. In other words, if you want to know how policies affect people, you look at who is affected.
  - greengreen 6y ago
    Beyond what was mentioned above, some further criticism of the survey acknowledged by the lead researcher himself [1]: 1) low sample size (219 responses) 2) usage of $10 gift cards as incentives. as an online survey, this opened up opportunities for gaming 3) targeting appears to have been geared towards members of Gig Workers Rising, a union-backed group I think Uber's study of all of its drivers [2] in California provides a more measured picture: 74% of drivers work < 25h/week, but only account for 42% of trips So, no, the majority of rideshare drivers aren't full-time, but rideshare companies do rely heavily on drivers who are online >25hours/week. [1] https://workercenters.com/special-report-ca-labor-groups-flack-unrepresentative-gig-survey-they-helped-write/ https://workercenters.com/special-report-ca-labor-groups-fla... [2] https://medium.com/uber-under-the-hood/which-drivers-do-the-most-trips-9c475e99e071 https://medium.com/uber-under-the-hood/which-drivers-do-the-...
gyudin 6y ago
The problem with Uber they kinda spoiled drivers. It was a low-skilled job but for many years even my friends were making around 6 grands a month with a help of tax optimizations and hefty bonuses. And none of them were ready to switch to any other low skilled job and get like $20 per hour ~ $3200 a month before taxes.

Anon1096 6y ago

Not only are the authors of that survey biased, but they are outright admitting to manipulating the data to suit their ends. From the slides: Key goal: Representative sample of on-demand _work_ being done in the city, not of all on-demand _workers_. (emphasis not mine) The team making the study has selected parameters to examine basically exactly to produce a number where the majority of rideshare is full-time. So is it clear that most rideshare workers are full time? Definitely not. And the fact that the team has weighted their sampling in such a way makes me even more skeptical about the veracity of that fact when taken across the whole population of drivers.

jonathankoren 6y ago
Just because you don’t like the findings, doesn’t mean that it’s biased. As far as the distinction between work and workers, it’s who is doing the work. If most people with an driver app are idle, they’ve removed themselves from the candidate pool. They’re irrelevant. It’s no different than talking about active users versus total accounts made. In other words, if you want to know how policies affect people, you look at who is affected.
- greengreen 6y ago
  Beyond what was mentioned above, some further criticism of the survey acknowledged by the lead researcher himself [1]: 1) low sample size (219 responses) 2) usage of $10 gift cards as incentives. as an online survey, this opened up opportunities for gaming 3) targeting appears to have been geared towards members of Gig Workers Rising, a union-backed group I think Uber's study of all of its drivers [2] in California provides a more measured picture: 74% of drivers work < 25h/week, but only account for 42% of trips So, no, the majority of rideshare drivers aren't full-time, but rideshare companies do rely heavily on drivers who are online >25hours/week. [1] https://workercenters.com/special-report-ca-labor-groups-flack-unrepresentative-gig-survey-they-helped-write/ https://workercenters.com/special-report-ca-labor-groups-fla... [2] https://medium.com/uber-under-the-hood/which-drivers-do-the-most-trips-9c475e99e071 https://medium.com/uber-under-the-hood/which-drivers-do-the-...

gyudin 6y ago

The problem with Uber they kinda spoiled drivers. It was a low-skilled job but for many years even my friends were making around 6 grands a month with a help of tax optimizations and hefty bonuses. And none of them were ready to switch to any other low skilled job and get like $20 per hour ~ $3200 a month before taxes.