When you’re a gig worker, you have to stay on your game in so many ways. Not only do you drive, deliver, and shop (or do all of it), you undoubtedly spend time wondering about the gig economy in general and what might come next. Keeping up with the flood of information leaves us with much to wrap our heads around.
To make it easier for you, we’ve jam-packed all kinds of insight and information into this blog post. We hit on everything from how well the gig economy performed in 2021 to how it might do in 2022 to how much you can earn to what services will help you earn the most … and more.
Here are the basic topics we’ll cover:
- Gig work 2021 in perspective
- Gig driving – 2021 growth
- Gig driver earnings 2021 and future trends
- Gig economy apps 2022
Gig work 2021 in perspective
If anyone in your life is telling you gig work is nothing but a flash in the pan, they are seriously uninformed. According to many experts, not only is gig work here to stay – it will figure prominently in the next phase of economic growth across the planet. As companies find ways to automate many jobs, and corporations continue to seek to benefit from the work-from-home (WFH) model that emerged during the 2020 pandemic, the gig economy is growing and does not show any signs of slowing down.
Gig work encompasses a wide range of activities, from freelance consulting, contracting and odd jobs, and creative work to rideshare driving, food, grocery, package delivery, and the other mobility services that move the world. The flexibility of this kind of work, along with the comparatively high pay, attracts workers who have their own reasons for not wanting (or being unable) to find full-time positions as company employees.
During a January 2022 interview with FORTUNE, TaskRabbit CEO Ania Smith said the pandemic showed the world how important independent contractors are – and caused a huge spike in workers who want to continue working from home. “More and more people are asking to have a flexible work environment, and they’re able to supplement their income in ways that aren’t tethered to schedules,” says Smith. “They want to work and travel and pick up jobs wherever they are. That’s a trend that will only get bigger.”
Some people are more skeptical about how well the gig economy serves the average worker. One of the skeptics is Dustin Gold, who spoke on the Thomas Paine Podcast as an “Instacart Expert.” Gold said the nature of working on app-based services can lull people into behavior that resembles video game addiction; i.e., they keep trying to “get to the next level” on the apps but don’t actually make it very far.
Gold’s perspective is that Instacart and other app-based gigs start out as a great way to earn money. Then, as more people sign up to work for the service, newer drivers and shoppers earn more than those who’ve become used to making a decent amount of money. To get around this, drivers need to be savvy enough to formulate strategies that take some of the games companies play into account.
Gold adds that while gig work can be a good supplement to other sources of income, it shouldn’t stop people from taking steps in their careers that give them better prospects for the future. As we all know, when it comes to benefits, gig work is not the best way to do that.
This, of course, assumes that gig workers will remain as independent contractors.
Other forces in the gig economy push for drivers, shoppers, and other gig workers to be classified as employees rather than contractors. In Canada, Uber reached an agreement with a major union to lobby provincial governments to pay Uber rideshare and Uber Eats drivers at least 120 percent of minimum wage. They will also ask for benefit funds that include pension, sick pay, and other worker benefits most employees receive.
In California, Proposition 22 was passed and went into effect in 2021 and requires rideshare and food delivery companies to provide workers with certain benefits. Read more about Prop 22 in this Gridwise post.
The controversy over Proposition 22 and other proposals like it continues to erupt all around the globe. This is mainly because whether they are considered independent contractors or employees, gig workers grew in number over the last few years, and their labor will continue to feed an industry that is bent on revolutionizing the way business is done.
Gig driving: 2021 growth
The number of gig workers grew tremendously in 2021. The availability of workers and the growing number of services combined with other economic factors make the market ripe and rich for gig driver opportunities and better gig driver pay.
People have different reasons for doing gig work, and this became clear during a December 2021 Pew Research report titled, “The State of Gig Work in 2021.” Of current or recent gig workers surveyed, 23 percent consider the money from gig work essential to their ability to meet basic needs, 35 percent consider it important to help them meet basic needs, and 39 percent said their income from gig work was “nice to have but not needed.”
This may be changing. Pew Research reports that at least 16 percent of all workers in America have tapped on a gig platform to earn money over the last year. On the consumer side, the growth in food delivery alone demonstrates how demand for gig work has swollen.
This Bloomberg graph illustrates how demand for food delivery has continued to grow through 2021.
In presenting this data, Food on Demand points out that by the end of 2021, 50 percent of consumers had ordered food for delivery. While many expected delivery to level off after the voracious growth during 2020, that was not the case. There was a 44 percent year-over-year increase in the percentage of people ordering delivered prepared food between 2020 and 2021.
After topping sales of $57 billion in 2021, food delivery is projected to reach $80 billion by 2024, according to eMarketer. Obviously, people have become accustomed to getting restaurant meals brought right to their doors, and they show few signs of returning to the way they used to forage for food. The desire for delivery is likely to be driven by the WFH lifestyle, in addition to the general observation that it’s easier to call out for delivery than it is to go out for meals.
Total sales for meal delivery increased by 13 percent year-over-year, and the average amount of revenue per order also grew – which shows that the potential for delivery drivers to earn more is on the rise, particularly for DoorDash and Uber Eats.
Grocery shopping and delivery, much like prepared food delivery, also experienced a 2021 upswing. Data from Brick Meets Click, published by Supermarket News, shows some remarkable trends. The graph below depicts patterns in online grocery orders through December 2021.
While ship-to-home outpaces pickup/delivery orders, there is a surprising trend that’s worth noting. According to Brick Meets Click data, the average number of orders for groceries placed online came in at 2.74 per month.
While this was a 1 percent decrease from 2020, it still surprised industry watchers. Why? Because the stat shows that there was not much of a drop in online grocery sales, even as the lockdowns became less severe. In fact, volatility in monthly order frequency in 2021 fell 60 percent when compared to 2020. From this, we see that online grocery ordering has become entrenched in many people’s lives, and that online grocery order volumes are remaining steady at a level that is 35 percent higher than pre-pandemic measurements.
It does seem, as the CEO of TaskRabbit pointed out, that we learned a lot about the services that came to the forefront during the pandemic. Gig work became more than only a convenience; now it’s nothing short of a key part of the overall economy. The expansion in 2021 proves that while the pandemic may have spurred growth, it is not the only force behind upward trends that have continued since then.
People’s habits have changed, and now more than ever they look to delivery to satisfy their needs. Package delivery, for instance, is growing more massive all the time. According to a report on the ReportLinker site, the market for package delivery is projected to grow by almost $147 billion from 2021 to 2025, with a compounded average growth rate (CAGR) of 15. This is further proof that opportunities for gig workers will continue to be available, at least when it comes to delivery.
The story for rideshare is not quite as rosy. The graph shown below from Bloomberg’s Second Measure tells the story of the rideshare world from 2016 through 2021. It’s pretty obvious that rideshare trends ran in opposite directions from those of food, grocery, and package delivery. The pandemic sent rideshare into a tailspin, and it has yet to fully recover from it.
The companies offered driver incentives, but this had only a moderate effect on the 2021 driver shortage. Nonetheless, there is hope that, as people begin to lose their fear of catching a deadly virus, and more businesses open, and the travel and leisure industries rebound, rideshare will also become more robust. For now, though, it appears we’ll have to wait until later in 2022 to see whether rideshare will reclaim its former position as the fastest-growing form of gig work.
What does it mean for drivers now that it’s not as lucrative to work as an Uber or Lyft rideshare driver? Should you think about creating a new strategy for 2022? That’s probably wise, so let’s look at some suggestions for how to best approach the gig economy in order to get what you need and want from it … ways to make more money.
Gig driver earnings 2021 and future trends
It’s pretty clear that driving for one service isn’t what it used to be. Although there was a time when working for just one app was enough, now, drivers must be creative, analyzing their markets and formulating high-earning strategies. Thanks to Gridwise features like When to Drive and Where to Drive, you can get actual data from drivers in your area, telling you when and where you can find the most earnings, from each kind of service.
For a more general idea about what earnings were like for various apps during 2021, check out these Gridwise blog posts:
You may also want to look at this Gridwise post on the best delivery apps to compare and contrast the services you can potentially work for.
While the gig economy is expanding in general, trends haven’t always been so kind to gig drivers. As mentioned previously, companies offered incentives in 2021, but they later took them away. They paid for the incentives by laying out their own money and also charging customers higher fees, and this could only continue for so long.
With the disadvantages of drivers being independent contractors thrown into the mix, it gets easier to see how companies are making out on the business growth much more than gig workers are.
How can you continue to use gig driving as an option to earn more? First, it’s important to know that rideshare isn’t all that bad. Bloomberg’s Second Measure notes that customers are paying more for their rides, and this has allowed rideshare companies to increase earnings. At Uber, average sales per customer increased 28 percent, while Lyft saw a 24 percent increase, year-over-year. While drivers don’t see all of these increased margins, some of the money does spill into their pockets.
We all hope these trends will continue into 2022, of course. Although there’s no way to know that for sure, it’s always interesting to look at some upcoming trends that experts are eyeing. They include, according to Get Circuit:
- A continued trend for technology to be the driving force behind economic growth
- A continued demand for drivers
- More concern about the environment on the part of customers
- Constantly changing customer expectations
- More and different kinds of items provided via delivery
Gig economy apps 2022
In general, your “Best gig economy apps 2022” list may vary depending on your location, your vehicle, your limitations, and your skills. Let’s examine some of the trends that might be tripping you up, and look at some ways to work around them.
Rising gas pump prices.
You don’t have to limit your gig work to driving. Check out this list of side gigs you might want to consider, either in addition to or instead of driving. TaskRabbit, for one, can provide opportunities to learn with and without your vehicle.
Too many drivers on the apps.
Those efforts the companies put forth to attract more drivers worked quite well. As the “Instacart Expert” on the podcast we mentioned earlier pointed out, the companies favor newer shoppers and drivers. What can you do? Sign up with locally based, lesser-known, or specialty apps. Just by reading the list, you can see how niche markets are developing. Take advantage of the fact that they’re hot for finding new drivers! Here are a few you can start with:
- Grassdoor: The Uber of Cannabis
- Favor: Fast delivery, Texas-style
- GoFor: A cool and completely environmentally friendly delivery service
- Curri: Last-mile delivery as an art form
A single app isn’t enough.
Multi-apping is the way to go when you want to make the most money in the least amount of time. Use the Gridwise Where to Drive and When to Drive features that we mentioned before, then track your earnings and mileage from each service. Suddenly, the juggling act of keeping records for all those apps becomes a cakewalk. And … you get all your information spelled out for you in easy to read graphs like these:
Use all these great features, plus airport and event information, great deals and discounts for drivers, weather and traffic alerts, plus highlights from the Gridwise blog, to take your gig driver earnings to the next level!
