The word ‘gig’ is slang, which refers to a job that only lasts a certain amount of time. This is why you hear this word used by musicians, referring to a concert.

The working definition of the term ‘gig economy’ is;

“The gig economy involves the exchange of labour for money between individuals or companies via digital platforms that actively facilitate matching between providers and customers, on a short-term and payment-by-task basis.”

Essentially, gig workers are independent contractors who find work through online platforms. A gig worker would formally agree with a company to provide services to their clients. Some examples of gig workers would be;

• Deliveroo drivers
• Uber drivers
• Amazon delivery drivers

Gig work on the rise

It would be hard to argue that we are living in a new era of working. Many people are now working from home due to the current pandemic and this may be permanent for many workplaces even when the pandemic is over. In addition, it has been clear in recent years that more and more people have chosen to be gig workers. A lot of people shouldn’t be part of the typical Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 business hours,  as they can choose when to work and make up their income with a few different gig jobs. This type of work was on the rise anyway, but there has been a sharp increase in the number of people seeking this type of work during the pandemic.

A couple of factors may be driving this. Firstly, unfortunately, during this pandemic, many people have lost their jobs, so they are seeking a different source of income. Secondly, whilst many businesses have suffered during the pandemic, many have thrived, and some thriving businesses are associated with the gig economy. More and more people have been ordering takeaway deliveries to their homes, which means companies like Deliveroo are becoming increasingly popular. Also, with the closure of non-essential shops and people not wanting to leave their homes, there have been more parcel-to-home deliveries from places such as Amazon. So, there are plenty of jobs to go around for anyone wanting to do some extra gig work.

Gig Worker Statistics

Below, we can see some statistics regarding the rise in searches online for gig work. We have pulled up some data from Google searches where you can see the increase;

There is a clear increase in all of the above Google searches between March 2019 and November 2020, showing the greatest interest in people wanting to either do courier work or fast food delivery. The biggest jump in numbers for all these searches came between March and May 2020, when the UK first went into lockdown. The lockdown explains the jump as this could have been when many people lost their jobs or were furloughed, or it could just be people taking an opportunity to bring in some extra money with the higher demand for these jobs.

We may have seen a rise in the number of searches for these jobs, but other areas of the gig economy have been affected negatively. With people being stuck at home and many non-essentially businesses closed, this of course means the taxi industry has taken a huge hit, which in turn means less work for Uber drivers and fewer people interested in looking for work in this area. We can now look at the statistics for Google searches that involve people looking for gig work as an Uber driver.

This table shows the same pattern emerge but in reverse. The biggest drop in numbers occurs around the time of the first lockdown. The numbers picked up slightly after the lockdown but did not reach the heights they were originally at.

The trends above are more easily seen in the chart below with just 4 popular search terms.

The history of the gig economy

• It is thought that the word ‘gig’ first originated in the 1920’s when musicians performed in Jazz clubs.
• In 1990, around 10% of the workforce were contractors, temporary workers or on-call workers.
• When the internet took off in the late 90’s, the gig economy took off with it.
• Many remote job platforms began to pop up, providing gig workers with a place to find jobs.
• Airbnb was launched in 2008. This enabled anyone who had a spare room to rent it out for an additional income. Ten years later, Airbnb was worth $38 billion.
• Uber came onto the scene in 2010, which hugely influenced the gig economy.

More statistics…

The following statistics have been sourced from a study done in 2018 by NatCen Panel;

The study suggests that 4.4% of the Great British population had worked in the gig economy. Those involved in the gig economy are generally younger; around 56% of those doing gig work are aged 18 to 34.

Courier services is the most common type of gig work, 42% of those involved in the gig economy have done courier work of some description. Transport services were the second most popular (37%), and food delivery services were third (21%)

Uber appears to be the most popular company, as 18% of gig workers say they have used Uber for jobs. Of course, you can use Uber for taxi services and for food delivery.

The levels of educational attainment between gig workers and the general population are very similar.

55% of those involved in the gig economy said they did jobs frequently, around once a month. Only 9% said it was on a daily basis, and 14% said it was a ‘one-off’.

Courier work appears to be the most lucrative type of work, with 32% of people saying they earned £13 per hour or more.

The majority of people involved said they used gig work to earn extra money in addition to their usual wage. Only 8% said that gig work was their only source of income.

53% of people said they were satisfied with their choice to do gig work. This is mostly due to their independence and flexibility.

The gender split of people involved in the gig economy is quite even, with 54% being men and 46% being women.

The future of the gig economy

It appears as though the gig economy will continue to grow. It is estimated that not so long down the line, the number of people doing gig work will outweigh those who work in a full-time steady job. The appeal of working in your own time and having huge flexibility in your job is great for many people. Many of those currently involved in the gig economy are very happy doing this sort of work and will continue to do so, which shows it works as a lifestyle.

We have seen a huge impact that the pandemic has had on the gig economy, some positive, some negative, but this is temporary as we could see a steady increase in interest in gig work before the pandemic hit. Once the world has had time to settle down, there could be people switching from the 9-5 job to work with more options and flexibility.